What's inside the abandoned Sears at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda (Photos)

The Sears store at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda closed almost four years ago. A redevelopment project that would include the footprint of the shuttered department store appears to have been put on hold, while the mall's owner attempts to find a buyer for the property. So what's going on in there? Surprisingly, a sneak peek around the entrance barricades reveals a space that still looks very much like a Sears store, and not filled with dust and cobwebs. 

Tenleytown Target construction looks ahead of schedule (Photos)

Will Target be the new CVS? After opening a number of smaller, urban-format stores - including the new one in downtown Bethesda, the retail giant is preparing to open a full-size location at CityLine, at 4500 Wisconsin Avenue in 2020. But as you can see here, the construction appears to be ahead-of-schedule, with the interior shell, lighting, and a good amount of flooring nearly complete. No signage has been installed yet, and there are obviously a lot of shelves, counters and massive inventories to be brought in.

This location, as longtime residents of Bethesda, Friendship Heights and Northwest Washington know, is one of the most historic department store sites in town. It was originally the first Sears Roebuck in Washington, D.C. when it opened on October 2, 1941. The parking structure was a marvel of engineering itself, and a heck of place to be when the nearby Civil Defense siren was tested Wednesdays during the Cold War. Only the rear pick-up at Toys R Us in Rockville, or underground pick-up at Montgomery Ward at Wheaton Plaza, could match the excitement heading down into the interior tunnel at Sears to pick up an oversize purchase.

The Tenleytown Sears, at the intersection of River Road and Wisconsin Avenue, was the Sears of choice of most Bethesdans in those days. In more recent years, Sears closed in the 1990s, and the structure was converted into a luxury residential development with retail below. Alas, the grand parking structure was lost, replaced by a new garage when Best Buy took over the 46000 SF that was left of Sears, with the rest going to housing and other retailers. When this was Best Buy, the garage was fine, but it used to try to close before Best Buy did. Not a way to encourage repeat business, to threaten to lock your car in for the night.

Alas, most of the great aspects of the legendary department stores, including Woodward & Lothrop in Chevy Chase, White Flint Mall's original anchors, and the old Tenleytown Sears, will be unknown to future generations. Target is quite pale by comparison, but it's what we've got left. And of course, it has groceries, and sometimes pharmacies, which department stores virtually never did years ago.

Sears signage removed in Bethesda (Photos)

Workers have now finished removing the exterior signage at the closed Sears store at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Despite the removal, the logos' lettering remains seared into the facade where the physical letters once were.

Sears sign coming down in Bethesda (Photos)

Sears has been closed for several months at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. But workers have now begun removing the iconic sign from the department store's facade.

How Sears looks now in Bethesda

The entrances of Sears are now sealed off, since the venerable department store closed for good at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda at 5:00 PM on January 20. I like the makeshift barricades of potted plants and furniture. It reminds me of the kind of blockades our corrupt Montgomery County Council might hastily throw up at the doors of 100 Maryland Avenue, when the FBI finally investigates their criminal activities and begins to make arrests.

We still haven't had literally the first investigation into the missing $7 million embezzled from County taxpayers this decade. Who else was in on it? Who knew what, when? Why was it covered up? Who else got some of the cash? Where's the money now? Is the Washington Post's Jennifer Barrios covering for them, or just the worst political reporter in America? There's no way, with so many County employees and officials knowing about this, that someone didn't blow the whistle to the Post. #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmm

Bethesda Sears store closes - Watch it close for the last time! (Video + Photos)

Sears has closed forever at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The official closure date has been moved up repeatedly, from March to February, and now to January 20. In a last fake-out, signs in the store Sunday evening stated the store was closing in five days. However, all merchandise minus a few rugs and fixtures was gone, and store employees said yesterday was actually the last day. Now watch and listen to the final minutes of this store's life, and the final closing announcement as Sears closed for the final time:

A bin filled with promotional materials included an announcement for the venerable Wish Book, once a Christmas tradition in American mailboxes each fall. Fast Eddie Lampert killed the Wish Book a number of years ago, but brought it back halfheartedly in what would wind up being its final encore i 2018.