Thursday, December 07, 2017

Calypso St. Barth to close at Bethesda Row

Calypso St. Barth, an island-themed resortwear and home goods boutique at 4810 Bethesda Avenue, has announced it will close. The shop opened in the former Dunkin' Donuts space in August 2014.

Even large, upscale chains are not immune to the flight of wealth from Montgomery County in recent years, although Bethesda Row's variety and market positioning has kept it from experiencing disaster such as the County's "Rodeo Drive" in Chevy Chase has recently. The latter strip was anchored entirely by shops targeting the ultra-rich, many of whom have fled to Northern Virginia, and Frederick and Howard counties.

The store is holding a going-out-of-business sale, complete with the "nothing held back" and "everything must go!" signs now all too familiar in the windows of moribund Montgomery County's shops. MoCo has lost more than 2000 retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Association of Retailers.

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:21 AM

    It's too bad federal realty will replace this tenant with yet another sure-to-fail retailer.

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  2. Reading this you'd think that retail was thriving everywhere in the country except for Montgomery County MD, where the wealthy are fleeing like this is a toxic Superfund site.

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  3. Anonymous6:20 AM

    #DeadMall

    #SponsoredContent for Federal Realty

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  4. Anonymous6:47 AM

    A quick view of Robert Dyer's own archives show that Bethesda Row has had much more retail turnover than Friendship Heights in recent years.

    https://robertdyer.blogspot.com/search/label/Bethesda%20Row

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  5. Anonymous8:07 AM

    Not news, this is even happening (for a long while now) in trendy strips like Rodeo Drive, La Jolla Drive, the Miracle Mile, etc. You're just a myopic dolt that can't see beyond his own nose. Get some new glasses four eyes.

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  6. Anonymous9:08 AM

    Also closed their stores in Tribeca, Greenwich CT and Sarasota, and others.

    The store is in Chapter 11, Dyer, you fucking fool.

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  7. Anonymous9:40 AM

    Also closed in Dallas, Westport, CT, Naples, Palm Beach and Seattle.

    https://nypost.com/2017/11/10/calypso-st-barths-skirts-on-paying-bills-amid-major-cash-crunch/

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  8. Anonymous5:26 PM

    Their shop in Georgetown, which had opened before the one on Bethesda, closed on June 24 of this year.

    https://georgetowner.com/articles/2017/06/21/whats-up-with-retail-rents-too-high/

    Georgetown - February 6, 2014 - June 24, 2017

    Bethesda Row - August 1, 2014 - December 2017

    Sorry, nothing to do with Hans Riemer or the "MoCo Cartel". Silly Dyer.

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  9. Anonymous5:57 PM

    Hey Dyer - this is why the belief that wealth trickles down from Fortune 500 executives is stupid:

    https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/07/569088557/struggling-toys-r-us-plans-to-pay-executives-millions-in-bonuses?

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  10. 5:57: You're talking to the wrong person; I've never endorsed "trickle-down" economics.

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  11. 6:31PM - I think a lot of readers will agree with you on that stance.

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  12. Anonymous5:08 AM

    The store wasn't appealing. I bought more stuff at the place on Bethesda Row, before it became Runway whatever. No wonder it's bankrupt.

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