Where Will Mayor Menino Buy His Suits?

Howls of despair erupted when Filene's Basement announced it would close for two years for renovations. People would miss the Bridal Dress Catfight Spectacular, and the closing would damage Downtown Crossing's economic prospects.

To top it all off, the signs at Filene's Basement said, "Filene's is closing, but the basement stays." So much for that sentiment.

The Globe went straight to the mayor. Downtown Crossing has been a pet project for the mayor's office. At one point, the office was thinking about giving the neighborhood a fancy new name.

So it's no surprise that the mayor has gone all Crazy Eddie's Mattress Warehouse by pitching Filene's to reporters. He told the Globe, "They are the attraction in the area right now. I'm agitated. It means a lot to Downtown Crossing." The Globe also mentioned that Menino gets his suits at Filene's.

Even though the mayor seems unusually attached to Filene's, his argument is legit - the last thing Downtown Crossing needs is for Filene's Basement to close its doors. And Target, the mayor's other favored discount-shopping mecca, doesn't look like it's coming to the rescue just yet.

If the Downtown Crossing Filene's Basement closes, it also means that the fancier Back Bay Filene's Basement will represent the chain. That will take all the fun out of shopping at Filene's Basement because the whole point of the store is the pleasure of finding a designer goodie in a bargain bin.

The mayor clearly understands that kind of joy, so Bostonist is waiting to see if he'll say anything about the Basement shutdown in his weekly column. He could always threaten to wear a burlap sack if Filene's Basement doesn't move to a temporary location.

Image of a Filene's Basement sign courtesy of Flickr user cambodia4kidsorg. Image of the mayor probably rocking a Filene's suit from the city of Boston's website.