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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.

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

You make a good point—it is true that all of these other areas have had a significant retail upgrade over the past ~15 years…Covid impacted most of them for a few years but they bounced back.

The thing holding Chevy Chase back is the near-highway that is MD-185 running through the Main Street. Nobody wants to be hanging outside on a patio or walking along to visit shops while 6 lanes of traffic fly by. At some points with turning lanes it can be 7 lanes wide. It is impossible to attract nice retail on a 7 lane throughway unless you build an indoor mall.[/quote]

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