Reply to Why is Friendship Heights so empty and lame?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The area was hopping around 2007. Barneys was there, Bloomingdales was brand new. Lots of shopping options in the pavillion. I loved seeing movies at Mazza. (Ward 3 needs more cinemas, but that's another post.)

I think online shopping and covid were the causes. But I'm not sure the new options are going to be much better from a retail perspective. DC used to be the place to go to shop, not people in DC have to go to the burbs to shop. 
[/quote]

I think there were two major problems — in addition to things like internet shopping and the impact of COVID. The retail isn’t meeting essential needs of the people who live there — and it’s not special enough to be a destination for people who don’t.  The closing of Borders was a critical change, I think.  There is no longer a normal grocery store or a normal drug store in Friendship Heights. There are also no options with late night hours.  If I have to go outside of the neighborhood for basic essentials and spur of the moment purchases, I won’t typically go out of my way to make a second stop or trip for the few things that I need that I can still find locally in the neighborhood.

I’m truly hoping for a Trader Joe’s in the H & M / Pottery Barn spot.  I’d love a good Giant with a pharmacy and a bookstore, but those days are long gone.

Another problem is that FH does a horrible job of promoting the things that it DOES have.  There was a pop up bookstore on Wisconsin Ave. near the old Sur La Table space.  I didn’t find out about it until I happened to walk by the space —after it had closed.  The Heights Food Hall has now been open for a few weeks.  I wouldn’t have known this if I hadn’t been following one specific restaurant.  There are thousands of people in Friendship Heights Village alone, many of whom would be thrilled to patronize local business — if we knew that they were open.  [/quote]

FWIW, I love the Amazon Fresh store.  It is much better than the Giant it replaced.

That said, the space is too small for a decent-sized store.[/quote]

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