Starbucks closes at Hyatt Regency Bethesda hotel (Photos)

Starbucks has permanently closed at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda hotel at 1 Bethesda Metro Center. The closure ended a seven year run at the busy hotel and Metro station. Most signage has been stripped from the exterior, but a tenant sign out front has simply been taped over, and a garbage bag tossed over the Starbucks logo sign inside the hotel. A sad luggage cart was the sole witness to the devastation. Once seemingly eager to have a store on every block in America, the Seattle-based coffee giant is now in the process of shuttering hundreds of stores, and laying off 900 employees.

Mavi opening at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

Jeans have been a hot fashion topic in recent months, and another retailer plans to get in on the denim trend at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Mavi, a Turkish denim label founded in 1991, will open a new boutique on Level 1 of the mall, across from Lily Pulitzer in the Nordstrom wing. Celebrities who wear Mavi include Lady Gaga, Liam Hemsworth, Colin Farrell, Katherine Heigl, Jessica Alba, and Kate Hudson.

Kate Hudson

"I like comfortable clothes such as my Mavi Jeans, Belstaff jacket and Armani button-down shirt," billionaire Sir Richard Branson told Mavi.  "They are comfortable enough for flights and nice enough for meetings." Apparently they also work for spaceflight, as Branson sported a pair of Mavi jeans when he flew aboard his VSS Unity spacecraft in July 2021.

Sir Richard Branson

Considered a premium denim brand, the company's "Perfect Fit philosophy" leads to jean styles that fit a variety of lifestyles and body types. You can rightfully feign amazement and surprise that the firm is also committed to sustainability, blah, blah, blah. Mavi offers some lines of jeans that are made from hemp or plastic water bottles. And its overall "green" efforts have been praised, endorsed, highly-ranked, and/or certified by a variety of environmental organizations.

Bethesda construction update: Cheltenham apartments (Photos)

Let's return to the construction site of the Cheltenham apartments at 4725 Cheltenham Drive in downtown Bethesda. Equipment and materials are being moved into place for the assembly of a tower crane at the former Midas property. A 102-unit apartment building, it has gotten the most attention for not including on-site parking. A public parking garage is located directly across the street.

Late night happy hour at Guardado's in Bethesda

Any new developments in the nightlife scene - or what's left of it - in downtown Bethesda are worth noting. Through the end of October at least, Guardado's will be hosting a special late night happy hour Thursday through Saturday, from 9:00 PM to midnight. There will be $5 shots on select spirits, happy hour drink pricing, and a late night tapas menu. Guardado's is located at 4918 Del Ray Avenue in the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood of Bethesda.

When a Kenwood home just isn't enough (Photos)

It's safe to say that a majority of people would consider almost any of the full-size original homes in Kenwood to be a dream house. Few can afford to make the dream come true, however. But recent times have witnessed the unprecedented: some of the first teardowns in the prestigious Chevy Chase neighborhood. Here we see the new construction home being built at 5900 Kennedy Drive by development firm Terra Innovations, in partnership with Bethesda-based GTM Architects, and Castlewood Builders.

Fortunately, the English Tudor architectural style of the new home is one already present in the Kenwood community, as is the use of white brick. In short, if the renderings are accurate, this house is unlikely to stick out like a sore thumb. Very few new construction homes are fitting in with the established architectural styles of their neighborhoods these days, so it's impressive to see the effort being put into ensuring this one blends in with its surroundings. The finished home will have 8 bedrooms, 9 full bathrooms, and 1 half bath. It is being marketed by The Heider Company of Washington, D.C.

BabyCat Brewery Bethesda construction update (Photos)

There has been a lot of visible progress recently on the outside of the new BabyCat Brewery taproom and restaurant at 4850 Rugby Avenue in the ground floor of the Gallery Bethesda II apartment tower. Now, let's take a look at the most recent progress on the interior of the space. You can see a bar with BabyCat logos on the counter surface. Some of the heavier brewing equipment is visible through an arched wall opening. At least one private event was held here last week, so I would expect an opening date announcement soon.

Assault at Bethesda gas station

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault at a downtown Bethesda gas station on Thursday morning, September 25, 2025. The assault was reported at the Exxon station at 8240 Wisconsin Avenue at 4:56 AM. No further information is available at this time.

Hyatt Regency Bethesda Starbucks closing

The Starbucks inside the Hyatt Regency Bethesda hotel at 1 Bethesda Metro Center will permanently close "by the end of this week," according to a sign posted at the store. That sign is identical to one posted at the Aspen Hill Starbucks that is also closing this weekend. Both closures are part of the company's move to close hundreds of stores nationwide by next week. This Starbucks opened in the Hyatt in June 2018.

M&M Appliance opens in Bethesda

M&M Appliance is now open at 7201 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda. This is the local independent appliance retailer's fourth showroom in the region, following Washington, D.C., Alexandria, and Bel Air. M&M Appliance was founded in 1997, and carries several major brands of refrigerators, washers and dryers, stoves, dishwashers, microwaves, grills, garbage disposals, and espresso machines, just to name a few. Brands include Bosch, Electrolux, Frigidaire, GE, Miele, and Whirlpool. Operating hours are 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Tuesday through Friday, and 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturdays.

Bob's Shanghai 66 expanding to downtown Bethesda

The owner of Bob's Shanghai 66 and Bob's Noodle in Rockville is opening a new restaurant in downtown Bethesda. Bob's Bethesda will be located at 7776 Norfolk Avenue, in the ground floor of the Windsor Bethesda apartment tower. That is the space recently vacated by Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza, next to Medium Rare. Bob's Shanghai 66 is a fixture on top restaurant lists in the D.C. region, both in wider competition against all cuisines, and in the Chinese category. Many call it the best Chinese restaurant in the D.C. area.

This won't be the first Bethesda venture for the "Bob's" empire. Ten years ago, owner Ivan Liang opened a variation on the Shanghai 66 concept in the Dining Terrace food court at Westfield Montgomery Mall. It closed two years later. Reviews of the mall concept were favorable, however.

Construction is getting started on Bob's Bethesda. The windows of the space were papered over yesterday. Boxes have been loaded in over the last several weeks. Don't record the "Bob's Bethesda" name in stone yet, though - the Montgomery Mall restaurant changed names at least twice before opening in 2015.

New signage at Burke & Herbert Bank in Bethesda (Photos)

A sign installation crew has added the latest elements to the recent exterior makeover at Burke & Herbert Bank at 7815 Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda. Burke & Herbert logo signs were attached to the front and side facades of the building. The signs were manufactured and installed by Empire Graphics of Accokeek, Maryland. It will be interesting to see if they utilize the drive-thru left behind by former tenant EagleBank.

Canal House taking shape at Westbard Square in Bethesda (Photos)

The Canal House structure that will anchor The Green town square at Westbard Square in Bethesda is beginning to round into shape at the top of the civic green. First seen in renderings released by developer and property owner Regency Centers in 2021, the Canal House is meant to resemble the lock houses along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Its facade utilizes the local quarry stone seen on many older structures around Bethesda - including the Westwood Shopping Center that was demolished to make way for Westbard Square. 

Regency Centers has kept its plans for the Canal House close to the vest. The architecture firm hired by Regency has described it only as "a retail pavilion." Others have speculated it could be used as a restaurant space. Its two story height and large front porch lend themselves to many possibilities.