Sunday, December 25, 2016

Saks Jandel holding "End of a Legend" closing sale in Chevy Chase

Just in time for day-after-Christmas shopping, the legendary Saks Jandel is holding an "End of a Legend" closing sale, with everything in the store but the furs going for 80-90% off. Unlike many closing "sales," this one sounds like it is truly a liquidation, and offering bigtime savings for customers who might otherwise not have had the means to shop here.

Saks Jandel served First Ladies and the elite of Washington for 128 years, bringing the finest and latest fashions from Paris to D.C. It closes as the ownership decided to retire rather than hand off the coveted name and business to someone else. The doors shut as almost all of the other stalwarts that accompanied it along Chevy Chase's vaunted "Rodeo Drive" have gone out of business or moved into the District. Wealthy clients who kept them afloat in even lean times have fled Montgomery County's high taxes for greener pastures. Where they can keep more of their green.

As I reported earlier this year, the wealthy are fleeing tax-weary, economically-moribund Montgomery County in great numbers. Exiting residents took $1.8 billion in adjusted gross income with them to Frederick County alone, according to a study by the website How Money Walks. $643.09 million went to Fairfax County with MoCo expatriates; those leaving also took $615 million to Howard County, and $494.85 million to Anne Arundel County. When you examine the size of the yearly County budget shortfalls, it's obvious how our impotent and incompetent County Council is forcing the rest of us to shoulder an ever-larger tax burden of their own spendthrift design.

The dearth of the truly rich is being felt in many ways. One was the inability to raise money for victims of the Flower Branch Apartments explosion - in thirty days, only $600,000 had been raised for those left homeless by the catastrophe. Small change that could have been donated by just one tycoon alone, and that was the extent of noblesse oblige in the post-rich Montgomery County.
I'm glad to present this final historical photographic record of a historic business that put Chevy Chase on the map around the world. The County Council has left its mark through a historic tax increase, the capstone on many other tax hikes they've given us.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Income migration claims like those made in polemics like "How Money Walks" are deeply problematic. And the fact that Arthur Laffer, discredited economist of Laffer Curve fame & trickle-down economics, endorses your source is not helpful to your case.

Anonymous said...

I heard that Dyer shrugs and mutters excuses for bringing no presents on Christmas Day, but then hastily buys and distributes his gifts on the 26th.

Anonymous said...

Bethesda a haven for illegals and ms13 and migrants from SE NE Washington now becoming the crime capital of the north east
Burgularies home invasions and auto thefts every day
What happened to our beautful little town?

Anonymous said...

@1:11 you could move and take your delinquent children with you. your son can join you after he serves his sentence of up to 10 years.

Anonymous said...

Only Robert Dyer could find a way to link the retirement of the family that runs Saks Jandel, with the Flower Branch explosion.

Anonymous said...

Friendship Heights is moribund thanks to the hillbillies in neighboring Westbard.

Anonymous said...

@ 6:51 am - I just got "Robert Dyer's Connect-the-Dots" game for Christmas. I have already managed to connect Robert Dyer to Adolf Hitler, the JFK assassination, and Florence Foster Jenkins!

Anonymous said...

6:51AM My thoughts exactly.
What's wrong with a nice send off for a family business that was in Chevy Chase since the buildup all those years ago?
A business known for its attention to its customers. It had a store at the Watergate for years, too.
Choosing to close since the business wasn't the passion for the children as it was for the founders.
And that's the honest truth.

Anonymous said...

When was the last time you saw anyone under fifty buying a fur, you birdbrained loser. They and the rest of the Rodeo Court merchants of greed are not the retail of choice now days. They may strike luck in 2017 in DC with the alt-right crowd (btw you will feel right at home) but not here.

Robert Dyer said...

10:23: "No one under 50 buys fur?" Don't apply for a job at a fashion magazine anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

10:23AM You obviously don't have money, or you would understand the culture. This is no different than other brick and mortar clothing stores closing rather than dive into online sales.

Anonymous said...

7:17AM Well then, you just don't know enough people, or don't know enough people with money. I'm seeing it everywhere. Fur jackets and vests, hats, trim. Not the "mink coats" of old, they're being re-worked and refreshed into both trendy and classic. Shearling, leather, and suede too. How about fur-lined loafers and boots?

The runways were full of fur. Stars were wearing fur. Rihanna. Kartrashians.

Spring 2017 is showing fur too. Pastel.

Anonymous said...

Bethesdians don't take their fashion cues from the Kardashians.

Anonymous said...

9:55 = Gardenhose Furs

Anonymous said...

9:55 = associate editor at WWD.