It’s the end of an era, both for retail and for Tribeca. The fourth-generation sports retailer Modell’s, founded in 1889, has filed for bankruptcy, according to Crain’s, and will start liquidating stores on Friday. For us downtown, that includes the location at Chambers and Broadway, which has been there since 1949, and the Fidi location at 150 Broadway, just north of Liberty Street.

This is excerpted from Tom Miller’s post on the Sun Building, or 280 Broadway: “Following the end of World War II, Henry Modell, owner of the sporting goods chain, established the Modell Veteran Training Center in a retail space. Mayor William O’Dwyer officially opened the facility on March 23, 1946. The dual-purpose establishment both trained wounded and handicapped veterans for private life and sold surplus war supplies. By 1949 the training center had been phased out, replaced by a Modell’s store. It was at the Broadway location that the mayor cut the cake to celebrate the chain’s 60th anniversary.”

The chain has 153 locations, so along with the Sports Authority, Eastern Mountain Sports, and City Sports, which all filed for bankruptcy in recent years, that should just about wrap up the northeast sports retail business. The only one left standing is Dick’s, which has 700 stores.