Monday, October 13, 2014

ALL SEATING REMOVED AT WHITE FLINT MALL, PLUS: P.F. CHANG'S TURNS PINK

The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 32

Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful,
wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.

In the game of musical chairs at White Flint Mall, the music has stopped, and everyone has lost. The mall has removed all benches and chairs, leaving nowhere for mall patrons to sit. One elderly person seeking relief was propped up on a marble shelf.

Wikipedia has a couple of relevant notes on Musical Chairs that might apply to White Flint Mall and the area's future. "The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game." It is the paying customer who has been eliminated at the mall, first by the closure of virtually all stores and restaurants, and now through the final indignity of having no place to rest. That also reflects the risk the mall's owners are taking, in driving away a huge customer base who will have gone elsewhere (downtown Bethesda, Westfield Montgomery Mall, Pike & Rose and Rio/Washingtonian Center, to name a few) long before any new "town center" opens on the current mall's property. "Playing musical chairs...can also refer to a condition where people have to expend time searching for a resource, such as having to travel from gasoline station to gasoline station when there is a shortage." Sounds like White Flint and downtown Bethesda after all of the gas stations have been redeveloped into luxury condos.



NOTE: Please do not steal these pictures and post them elsewhere without getting my permission first. All photos ©2014 Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row

In other White Flint Mall news, no, the horses outside of P.F. Chang's were not vandalized. Rather, they have been turned pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They are using the hashtag #PaintPFChangsPink.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rober Dyer stole these photos from the light emitting from the sun. FOR SHAME!!!

Anonymous said...

If an elderly person is randomly wandering around an empty mall then the least of their worries is that there's no seat for them to plop onto.

I'm guessing elderly people are simply doing their speed walking around the empty mall, yes? That's the only use for the thing at this point, I'd imagine.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the only people in there are those walking for exercise at this point. Though, when I'm at PF Changs, I still see carloads of folks arriving expecting Dave & Busters and Cheesecake Factory to be open...word hasn't reached everyone.

Elderly folks walking for exercise and no chairs to rest makes no sense. Those are the people that need to take a rest.

Anonymous said...

Why do they even bother keeping the inside of the mall open? It's just Lord & Taylor and P.F. Chang's open now, and they are adjacent.

Anonymous said...

White Flint Mall is still in this state of limbo between life and death.

Anonymous said...

Is Dyer the illegitimate child of Barbara Walters and Richard Nixon? Who am I to say ....

Anonymous said...

Wow that's a dumb comment. My 8 year old agrees.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 9:10am must be of a certain age if he knows who Nixon or Walters are.

Sad to think someone that old is posting such immature and crazy comments.

Anonymous said...

Am I crazy? Or is it the D man who is crazy and I am sane?

It's time to proclaim who I am. I am the winner, the Alpha, the God of Bethesda.

I am Aaron Kraut! Bow before me Dyer. Worship my better blog.

Anonymous said...

In the second photo from the bottom, it looks like the pink horsie is making pink poopie.