The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 41
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.
I'll conclude on behalf of the mall that thrived until the owners pulled the plug with the words of Bill Shakespeare:
“But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.”
Thanks for siding with the mall and against the "White Flint Mall failed" propaganda. What a sad and wasteful scene this is.
ReplyDeleteThe parking lots were never "jammed". Blockbuster movies never premiered at the theaters there. Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs are hardly "fine dining".
ReplyDeleteAnd ending with a quote from Hamlet? What an insane drama queen you are.
7:00 AM Are you kidding? The lots at White Flint were jammed during the holidays. I'm talking about when they had more than 5 stores open..lol.
ReplyDeleteBefore Lerner's managed decline strategy.
We do know that the mall is an inanimate object correct? It is just is a bunch of materials without feelings or a will of its own.
ReplyDeleteThe parking "lots" were never jammed, only the front surface lot was jammed because people either were too dumb to realize the abundance of parking around the mall or were too lazy to drive around. The garage with the back entrance to D&B was never even close to getting full.
ReplyDelete7:14 AM Depends what year you're talking about. When the place was fully leased, with the book store, etc., it was packed.
ReplyDeleteCheesecake Factory and PF Chang are hardly "fine" dining lol but glad there are nearby locations.
ReplyDeleteThe mall opened with such excitement and fanfare. Bloomies, L&T, I Magnin. And YES, the lots were full, although you could usually get a spot up top on the garage.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not fine dining, Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang were upscale compared to most malls' food courts.
After I Magnin left and the bookstore took over the 2 level space, the mall was still jumping.
For some reason, it fell out of favor with management, who ran it into the ground. Literally.
"The mall opened with such excitement and fanfare."
DeleteAs did every single other dead mall in the country.
Keep living in the past.
That's a bit harsh but yeah, most things open with excitement and fanfare. It's sad this mall died but there's hope for something much better with this new plan. Hopefully it can get going sooner than later
DeleteWe are going to a fancy sit down restaurant tonight Mom. They got even got paper menus!
ReplyDeleteHow nice, Dyer's troll is taking his mom to dinner tonight.
ReplyDeleteDyer's shill couldn't even wait two minutes before responding. LOL
DeleteAs weird as some of the dyer attacks are, defenders are being just as weird to do quickly jump to his defense no matter what
ReplyDeleteI came here to share my thoughts about the mall when it opened. Remembering things fondly does not mean you live in the past.
ReplyDeleteYou folks are so mean. Calling me names, and disparaging me. For what? Because I lived here then?
You should be ashamed of yourselves. Neanderthals.
Can't wait for another disaster to be built.
ReplyDeleteBetsy must be the shill. Posted in 3 minutes.
ReplyDeleteYou got me! :)
DeleteJust saying back in the mid 90's White Flint was very much packed and I remember having to park on the outer ring area near those doctor's offices and back entrance to the PetSmart.
ReplyDeleteGuest,
ReplyDeleteThanks for a glimmer of humanity.
Back before there was a Petsmart or a Shoppers, it was a different strip mall. People used it as overflow parking for the mall during the holidays.
Before then, on that spot was a Government Employees Mart, also known as G.E.M.
It was a pre-cursor to Costco-type businesses.
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DeleteAnd, since I'm feeling nostalgic, before the Pike & Rose development, before the Toys-R-Us strip mall, it was a field with trees. Quite the kerfluffle ensued when the site was to be developed into a Korvette's.
ReplyDeleteLol. This is what all the NIMBY's never think about. Before their own homes were there, it was something else. But to develop their home was fine. Anything further is a travesty.
DeleteThe "kerfluffle" was about the crows. It was a nationally recognized crow breeding ground. Not the residents complaining. The bird people put up the fight.
ReplyDelete"And, since I'm feeling nostalgic, before the Pike & Rose development, before the Toys-R-Us strip mall, it was a field with trees."
ReplyDeleteIt was a farm. It's a fascinating story, actually. The owner still runs a small farm in downtown Silver Spring: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-farmers-dream-in-downtown-silver-spring/2011/06/09/AGmmbLPH_story.html
@12:48 PM this is 11:59 AM - G.E.M is before my time but my parents still occasionally mention that store!
ReplyDeleteBack in the 90s, before everyone had high speed internet, this mall was packed. Great work, detectives.
ReplyDeleteI guess Lerner/Tower kicked out Bloomingdale's and Borders too right?
ReplyDeleteAll the area malls below have been forced to redevelop in some way, shape, or form in order to to survive. They had full parking lots 20 years ago too...
- Landmark Mall, Alexandria
- Springfield Mall, Springfield
- Ballston Common Mall, Arlington
- Landover Mall, Landover
- Lakeforest Mall, Gaithersburg
- White Flint Mall, North Bethesda
- Owings Mills Mall, Owings Mills
- Frederick Towne Mall, Frederick
- Laurel Mall, Laurel
- Hunt Valley Mall, Hunt Valley
and that's just in this area...
Market forces/trends are constantly changing and you have to adapt to survive. Maybe the author (and his friend in the comments) refuse to use Amazon or any other form of online shopping, but that isn't the case for most of America.
The market can only support a handful of traditional malls that need to be larger than 1m SF, separated by at least 10-15 miles, and supported by strong demographics. Examples: Arundel Mills, Westfield Montgomery, Pentagon City, Mall at Columbia, and Tysons Center.
White Flint failed because they never had a Hot Shoppes or Roy's.
ReplyDeleteGuys, Westfield Montgomery and Tysons were packed this holiday season. Broadband isn't the problem, it's owners who pull the plug (or "accidentally" run their property into the ground) in hopes of a bigger payday from luxury apartments.
ReplyDeleteIt's their right I guess.
DeleteThe Lerners built a new Bloomingdales in Chevy Chase and closed the one in White Flint?
DeleteThe Lerners caused the entire Borders chain to fail?
Oh, really?
I grew up in the 80s and 90s here in MoCo and White Flint has always been really empty compared to Montgpmery Mall. It was really nice for sure but just really empty.
ReplyDeleteAlso, worst eatery ever.
That eatery was pretty pathetic. The only real draws were the Pf Chang and D&B, and those even I grew out of. Then I only went for the post office.
DeleteThe movie theater was a last choice kinda affair.