Extreme winter sports will get a double shot espresso boost at Westfield Montgomery Mall this year. A brand-new Starbucks will open later this summer at the Bethesda mall, and snowboarding pioneer Burton will open a store there this fall.
For years, one of the minor complaints about Montgomery Mall on Yelp and Foursquare has been that there was no Starbucks. In an age when Starbucks is - literally - everywhere, it was conspicuously missing at this mall. Westfield has responded to the grumbling, and Starbucks is, at last, going to be part of the Montgomery Mall experience.
Existing mall coffee purveyors Caribou Coffee, Aroma Espresso Bar and Nordstrom's espresso bar will have major competition from the Seattle giant's prime real estate near Macy's on Level 2.
Meanwhile, Burton - arguably the Starbucks of snowboarding - will open a store there this fall. Burton is known for snowboards, gear, apparel and accessories. But the company has been expanding its horizons in recent years, as the wild winter sport has exploded in popularity.
Where snowboarding once meant puffy jackets and baggy snowpants, form has become at least as important as function. Burton recently partnered with Gwen Stefani on a L.A.M.B.-Burton line of high-fashion winter apparel, for example.
But Burton's Montgomery Mall venture may be a new concept entirely. Burton currently owns only a handful of massive flagship stores, two outlet stores, and co-owns a Burton store at the large King of Prussia mall in Pennsylvania.
This store, then, represents a move into more conventional malls by the company, and is one of several firsts Westfield has brought to the rapidly-expanding Bethesda mall, such as China-based fashion boutique Hoamgar.
major complaint? Caribou is 1000s times better than the bitter stuff from Starbucks. I guess it means shorter lines for those of us who prefer the other options.
ReplyDeleteNow, if they'd only put in some decent restaurants and figure out how to make the place not smell like the food court from end to end.