CELINE DE PARIS LINGERIE BOUTIQUE OPENING IN BETHESDA (PHOTO)

The great Bethesda lingerie mystery has finally been solved, and a very bizarre coincidence resulted in a case of mistaken identity.

First, the main story, though: the mystery lingerie boutique opening in the Lionsgate condominium building is Celine de Paris. Not Sylene.

Did you notice a similarity there?

I did, too. But not soon enough.

When I received a tip from a 100% reliable source a while back regarding this boutique leasing the space, I heard it as "Celine."

And my source had it 100% correct.  The problem was, I'm not an expert on local lingerie businesses. I had never heard of a lingerie shop called, "Celine." But I had heard of a shop called, "Sylene" in Chevy Chase.

So, I mistakenly assumed the store was Sylene. What are the chances there could be another lingerie store in the same area, with the same name, just spelled differently?

A 100% chance, unfortunately!

When I contacted Sylene in due diligence, before posting my story, I assumed their brief denial was a standard PR rebuff. 

Then, when a lingerie display appeared in the storefront last week, surely that confirmed it was a Sylene boutique, right?

Wrong.

Fortunately, Sylene owner Helen Kestler contacted me yesterday, and confirmed that the new store is not associated with Sylene in any way.

How could this be? Checking back with the original source, the tipster was absolutely right, and I had heard it wrong.  It's Celine, not Sylene.

So, to clarify, Sylene is not opening in Bethesda, nor is Sylene moving. 

I have apologized to Ms. Kestler for this misunderstanding. And I want to apologize to you, my readers for this honest error.

Also, to clarify, I never stated in any post that Sylene was in fact opening here.   The error was in saying that the owner of Sylene had leased the Lionsgate space. It was the owner of "Celine" who leased it.

Just writing about this is confusing!

I take great precautions against posting any information in error on this blog.  And in 6 years, this is the only real mistake that has slipped through.   Two other minor address errors were taken verbatim from press releases in the past, and I can't really be blamed for that.

Will I beat myself up over this? Will I change my fact-checking procedures?  Do I need new editorial policies?

No, no, and no.

This was a ridiculous situation.  It would be like a 100% credible source telling you "Appell" is releasing a new phone.

You would just hear it as "Apple," right?

I can't really be held responsible if a lingerie company takes the same name as another one nearby, and just spells it differently.

This was an honest mistake, and would never have occurred without that bizarre circumstance. I'm not going to adopt some psychotic gold standard and try to apply it to a bizarre, random situation like this.

I've worked hard to earn readers' trust, and I will put the accuracy of this blog up against any publication in the world. I don't print false information here, even though some are disgruntled when the truth hurts.

My fact-checking standards are so tight, you could bounce a quarter off of them.  I believe my record of accuracy and integrity over 6 years speaks for itself.

So, again, I apologize for the error regarding Sylene and any confusion it may have caused. And I thank each and every one of you who stop by to read this blog each day.

I could not publish this without your readership and support.

Happy holidays,

Robert