Why is Friendship heights shopping district so ... unsatisfying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm clearly the odd one out because I adore FH. I lived and worked in Georgetown for seven years, and would often drive to FH. I like that it's less crowded and I like the shopping choices. Now I'm in Bethesda and it's still my go-to place. It's just easy. Street parking isn't impossible. I like perusing Rack. I grab lunch at Booeymonger. Love L&T, World Market, and Bloomies. I find the underground connections convenient, too.

FWIW I was born and raised in 20016 and 20815 and obviously still live locally. I wonder if the area just feels like home to me?

For most people in North Bethesda, Montgomery Mall, Pike and Rose and even Tysons are more convenient options than FH. I live near the Connecticut Ave interchange with 495 and it takes 12-15 minutes to get to Tysons on weekend mornings in no traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is design/architecture issues. It doesn’t *feel* appealing, somehow.

this is the answer. it's got a pretty decent concentration of stuff, but it's not appealing at all to walk around. the cars are whizzing by, the buildings are not very attractive, there's nothing interesting to see or do as you are walking from one building to another. it all feels very disjointed. and the parking situation is confusing and kind of a pain. just bad urban planning/design. maybe some kind of sidewalk vendors would be nice. or a xmas market in the open space in front of bloomingdales with a few vendors selling jewelry, crafts, donuts . . .

+1. It doesn't have the pedestrian-friendly feel of 14th ST or Georgetown. That area isn't designed in an aesthetically appealing way, poor urban planning, and it's not a fun destination to go to. The times I go there, it's to visit a specific store. I go there then go home. Like pp said, there's nothing interesting to see or do other than go to the store to get the items on your list. You're not passing cute outdoor cafes, boutiques, or artists selling their wares on the sidewalk.

Not sure what could be done at this point, but it does feel like a wasted opportunity to provide a retail/destination spot up here.

lady, it's freezing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No location is keeping retail. Look at Cleveland Park, Glover Park, Georgetown. Empty storefronts and rapid turnover in the occupied spaces. We like Amazon, but this is the result.

Chevy Chase DC on the Connecticut Ave side is a pedestrian-scale, vibrant neighborhood atmosphere shopping and dining area. It’s success belies the tired refrain by Big Development and Greater Greater (Hog)Wash that successful commercial districts in DC require upzoning to build a lot taller and denser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love friendship heights but am increasingly worried. I hope the lord and Taylor can hold on! I wish DC would put some resources toward attracting and keeping retail alive there.

I'm not sure I can think of a worse use for tax dollars than subsidizing Lord & Taylor.

Far more people now live EOTP, and they now have many more options for shopping that aren't so far away. Even if the richest DC residents are still nearby, the balance of purchasing power that keeps stores in business has shifted. Meanwhile, NIMBYs prevent nearly anything from changing in nearby neighborhoods.

If people near Friendship Heights want nicer things, they should allow more homes to be built WOTP.

A word from Ward Three Vision Zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love friendship heights but am increasingly worried. I hope the lord and Taylor can hold on! I wish DC would put some resources toward attracting and keeping retail alive there.

I'm not sure I can think of a worse use for tax dollars than subsidizing Lord & Taylor.

Far more people now live EOTP, and they now have many more options for shopping that aren't so far away. Even if the richest DC residents are still nearby, the balance of purchasing power that keeps stores in business has shifted. Meanwhile, NIMBYs prevent nearly anything from changing in nearby neighborhoods.

If people near Friendship Heights want nicer things, they should allow more homes to be built WOTP.

Adding hundreds of micro apartments in millennial dormitories isn’t relevant here, GGW. No one needs an Orange Theory and SweetGreen every 50 yards.

We need the Lofts at Friendship Heights Town Center Commons now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is design/architecture issues. It doesn’t *feel* appealing, somehow.

this is the answer. it's got a pretty decent concentration of stuff, but it's not appealing at all to walk around. the cars are whizzing by, the buildings are not very attractive, there's nothing interesting to see or do as you are walking from one building to another. it all feels very disjointed. and the parking situation is confusing and kind of a pain. just bad urban planning/design. maybe some kind of sidewalk vendors would be nice. or a xmas market in the open space in front of bloomingdales with a few vendors selling jewelry, crafts, donuts . . .

+1. It doesn't have the pedestrian-friendly feel of 14th ST or Georgetown. That area isn't designed in an aesthetically appealing way, poor urban planning, and it's not a fun destination to go to. The times I go there, it's to visit a specific store. I go there then go home. Like pp said, there's nothing interesting to see or do other than go to the store to get the items on your list. You're not passing cute outdoor cafes, boutiques, or artists selling their wares on the sidewalk.

Not sure what could be done at this point, but it does feel like a wasted opportunity to provide a retail/destination spot up here.

Not too many years ago, the only pedestrian friendliness of 14th St was from the Ho’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tenleytown and Chevy Chase, DC have just about anything anyone needs, very walkable and a lot of independent shops. FH is cookie cutter in a bad way.

Bowser, the DC Office of Planning and their developer cronies see Friendship Heights as the template for development south along Wisconsin Ave to north Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love friendship heights but am increasingly worried. I hope the lord and Taylor can hold on! I wish DC would put some resources toward attracting and keeping retail alive there.

I'm not sure I can think of a worse use for tax dollars than subsidizing Lord & Taylor.

Far more people now live EOTP, and they now have many more options for shopping that aren't so far away. Even if the richest DC residents are still nearby, the balance of purchasing power that keeps stores in business has shifted. Meanwhile, NIMBYs prevent nearly anything from changing in nearby neighborhoods.

If people near Friendship Heights want nicer things, they should allow more homes to be built WOTP.

Adding hundreds of micro apartments in millennial dormitories isn’t relevant here, GGW. No one needs an Orange Theory and SweetGreen every 50 yards.

Then don't complain when your stores close.

We miss and wanr replacements for Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, maybe Gucci, H & M ... no one is pining for $27 hand crafted cocktails with ethically-sourced mint garnish in FH.

You're missing the point. My dollars, and all the dollars of people EOTP who had little choice but to trek to FH, helped to support those places for years. Many of us didn't much like shopping in FH back then, either, but it was the best option we had. Now there are more of us, with more dollars, and we no longer need or want to travel that far to access these same stores. There are the same number of you, because you won't let any meaningful amounts of new housing be built anywhere nearby. The balance of purchasing power has simply shifted.

Sorry to break your bubble, but you're more dependent on the Sweetgreen-eating riff-raff than you think. This is all just evidence of it.

On the bright side FH crime has dropped steadily along with EOTP visitors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ten or fifteen years ago, it was hard to get many people to shop downtown, and there were far fewer major stores there. Friendship Heights was on the Metro and had higher end stores than Pentagon City, and was close to the majority of UMC shoppers in NW DC. Tyson's was still an up and coming shopping area with some high end stores, but it wasn't on Metro. Now downtown attracts many more shoppers and it's much closer to many UMC shoppers who have populated neighborhoods close to downtown. Tyson's is both larger and more Metro accessible. Add Amazon to that and it's hard to see what the point of the Friendship Heights shopping area is anymore.

This is the answer. Developers and retailers now have more geographic area in DC/lower MoCo to spread around their amazingness than they did in 1995.

I disagree about the Tysons-Metro part though — the Galleria has always had ultra high-end stores, and nobody who's truly in the market for a $10,000 watch or fur coat is going to take public transportation to the store to purchase those items.

You guys forgot about City Center. All of the really high end boutiques moved out of FH and went downtown.

[Anonymous]

Rumor is the Giant in FH is closing in January, but there's a covenant in the lease or something that says that space must always offer a full-service grocery store so something else is taking its place ASAP.

[Anonymous]

Once a bookstore leaves - hello FH and Bethesda - then I’m outta there. No, Amazon books doesn’t count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No location is keeping retail. Look at Cleveland Park, Glover Park, Georgetown. Empty storefronts and rapid turnover in the occupied spaces. We like Amazon, but this is the result.

Chevy Chase DC on the Connecticut Ave side is a pedestrian-scale, vibrant neighborhood atmosphere shopping and dining area. It’s success belies the tired refrain by Big Development and Greater Greater (Hog)Wash that successful commercial districts in DC require upzoning to build a lot taller and denser.

That is hardly vibrant. Bad shopping, dirty, and nothing good to eat. The Politics and Prose block is better, but not a lot there. Much better food. Great community bookstore with events every night.

[Anonymous]

In the early 90s I was an assistant manager in a retail store in FH. At that time, FH was a major draw for very wealthy foreigners as a shopping destination. When I worked there we had Princess Diana and many Saudi Royals coming through.Maybe the expansion of Tysons Galleria killed that?

Chevy Chase Pavilion did not seem like a vibrant shopping area at the time. My friend was a manager at the Express, and she said it was one of the lowest grossing locations in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rumor is the Giant in FH is closing in January, but there's a covenant in the lease or something that says that space must always offer a full-service grocery store so something else is taking its place ASAP.

Aldis please!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rumor is the Giant in FH is closing in January, but there's a covenant in the lease or something that says that space must always offer a full-service grocery store so something else is taking its place ASAP.

Aldis please!!!

Real curious what's going in there. Probably not a safeway, considering there are two within a mile of that location. Trader Joe's is right up the road already. Seems too small for a whole foods. Harris Teeter would be nice, I guess.