Reply to Chevy Chase Retail is Subpar

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]You forget that Friendship Heights used to be a major hub of retail...at its peak in like 2005, you had a Neiman Marcus, Hechts, Saks Men's store (Saks store is still there), William Sonoma, AMC theatre, etc.

You also had the Chevy Chase Collection with a Cartier, Jimmy Choo, Tiffany (still there), Brooks Brothers (still there), etc.[/b]

Nobody would think to open a high-end boutique on CT avenue from Livingston to the Circle, when they were all clustered merely 4/10 of a mile away.

The Internet and Covid killed FH...and to some extent City Center DC killed the Chevy Chase Collection as all the very high end boutiques migrated downtown.  As others have mentioned, you also have downtown Bethesda very close by and there you have your Apple store, North Face and many other boutiques and shops.

We will see if FH can make a rebound with the Total Wine opening and the Trader Joe's rumored to open any day now.  There is also a Wonder Food Hall supposed to open and some other shops / restaurants.[/quote]

You acknowledged that Friendship Heights went downhill because of Covid, yet Tysons Galleria has only gotten nicer since then and it has the same high end department stores. So it is not Covid per se because there are a lot of other retail areas in the region that have gotten nicer since 2005. University Park retail in MD is much nicer, City Center, The Wharf,  the Mosaic District, Tysons, Clarendon, Ballston, Del Ray, and Old Town are all much nicer than they were in 2005 and none of these places has gotten worse since Covid.

Even places that are immensely walkable from where Supreme Court justices live, like Brookdale Market and the stores in that strip mall, are subpar for the neighborhood. Why can’t a nicer grocery store exist there? Snider’s in Silver Spring and the Grosvenor Market are nicer and they are in much lower end neighborhoods and aren’t surrounded by $2-$3 million homes.

The juxtaposition between Chevy Chase retail and housing stock is incredibly odd.[/quote]

You keep mentioning the justices like 9 households are going to drive retail decision-making.  Kind of funny.

Short answer as to why Tysons in particular has grown is mostly down to the structural advantages of being the highest end mall in the region.  In particular, malls have a huge advantage over multi-owner strips because they can manage tenant balance and rental costs to aim for an optimal mix.  In a multi-owner strip its so hard to get say one owner to lower their rent for a tenant who would be a good addition to the overall retail mix, when they might be able to wait another 6-9 months for a national tenant signing a 15-20 year lease. [/quote]

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