Anonymous wrote:Since when did all 9 Justices live in Chevy Chase? I think it's only two (who happen to be conservatives). I believe three live in DC. One lives in Falls Church. Not sure about the others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we can all agree that the chevy chase safeway is an absolute embarrassment, and half the restaurants are way past their prime. There are some gems though like Magruder's, the avalon, Opal, Birdsong, core 72... and Wheelhouse coming in (owner of millies)

This! Around the country Chevy Chase is synonymous with wealth and opulence and is on par with Georgetown as being the DC neighborhood with the most upscale cache. The country club costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to join, I’m guessing, and it is home to two Supreme Court Justices. If you took someone from Arizona or California to the “Chevy Chase Safeway” or the “Chevy Chase [insert random store]” what they saw would not match their preconceptions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we can all agree that the chevy chase safeway is an absolute embarrassment, and half the restaurants are way past their prime. There are some gems though like Magruder's, the avalon, Opal, Birdsong, core 72... and Wheelhouse coming in (owner of millies)

This! Around the country Chevy Chase is synonymous with wealth and opulence and is on par with Georgetown as being the DC neighborhood with the most upscale cache. The country club costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to join, I’m guessing, and it is home to two Supreme Court Justices. If you took someone from Arizona or California to the “Chevy Chase Safeway” or the “Chevy Chase [insert random store]” what they saw would not match their preconceptions.

Anonymous wrote:we can all agree that the chevy chase safeway is an absolute embarrassment, and half the restaurants are way past their prime. There are some gems though like Magruder's, the avalon, Opal, Birdsong, core 72... and Wheelhouse coming in (owner of millies)

Anonymous wrote:OP, the problem is that this area is not walkable. At all. Old Town Alexandria is in no way comperable, because it is designed for foot traffic.

You can't walk from the nice parts of Chevy Chase to the retail area quickly, safely and efficiently. Thus the lack of cute restaurants, which bring cute retail, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I lived a short walk from Friendship Heights in 2005-10 and it was never good shopping there, and nothing to eat. That little sandwich shop on Western Ave was the only decent food. Maybe the Thai place on Mass Ave., it was tolerable.

It's always been a shame, but the decline started long before COVID. In 2010 they shut down the Lord & Taylor and TJ Maxx. There was nothing left really.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:For a place with exclusive country clubs, multimillion dollar pre WW2 homes, and the kind of cache that comes with the name Chevy Chase, it is odd that the area’s retail isn’t that nice, specifically along Connecticut Avenue. Similar neighborhoods on the edges of other East Coast cities like Brookline near Boston or Bronxville near New York City have stretches of high end boutiques, grocery stores, and restaurants that match the character of the charming $1 million+ pre 1940s SFHs around them. What’s been keeping Chevy Chase from having the same type of retail?

I’m not saying the retail is horrible, it just doesn’t match a neighborhood that has that kind of historical prestige and the same types of neighborhoods in other East Coast cities with the same cache and housing stock have far nicer options.