Will Anthropologie's Terrain Cafe outdoor seating at Bethesda Row go here? (Photos)

One of the big questions about the arrival of Anthropologie & Co. in the former Barnes & Noble bookstore space this fall at Bethesda Row has been how the outdoor seating for its Terrain Cafe will co-exist with the public gathering space and fountain on the plaza there. As construction picks up inside the store, some mystery work has begun on the outer edge of the Woodmont Avenue sidewalk alongside the future store. A portion of the sidewalk has been fenced off, and several parking spaces temporarily blocked off.

It appears possible that this space is being reconfigured to replicate the same outer sidewalk pattern of outdoor seating you find along the rest of Bethesda Row, rather than it being placed directly outside the doors of Anthropologie. This strategy could leave most of the public space on the plaza intact. The same approach could be used on the Bethesda Avenue side.

Anthropologie has stated the Terrain Cafe will include 260 SF of outdoor seating. Perhaps someone better at math can figure out if taking one or both of these sidewalk edges will provide that space in total, leaving the gathering space on the plaza untouched. Of course, there are some trees and vegetation along both areas that would have to be worked around.

AROMA ESPRESSO BAR UNVEILS DESIGN FOR FUTURE OUTDOOR PATIO AREA AT WESTFIELD MONTGOMERY MALL

Aroma Espresso Bar is having a soft opening tonight in Bethesda, but the new coffee hotspot is already planning an expansion of its space at Westfield Montgomery Mall.

Located near the mall's Entrance 4 (Old Navy wing), Aroma will claim space outside its walls this summer - literally.  The new expansion will be an outdoor patio, where customers will able to enjoy food, coffee, beer and wine on summer and fall days with good weather.

Seating will be at high tables with stools, or on stylish outdoor chairs complete with low coffee tables.

Aroma expects construction on the outdoor space to be completed by this summer. Click to enlarge the photo below for a preview of the new patio:

VINO VOLO ADDS OUTDOOR SEATING, BETHESDA GRAND OPENING TONIGHT (PHOTOS)

Vino Volo will finally open at Bethesda Row with a grand opening reception tonight.

First, however, the wine bar has added outdoor patio seating out front.

The comfortable accomodations include outdoor space heaters.

Vino Volo is under more pressure with this belated opening, after not only canceling the original opening at the last minute, but also leaving many in the community feeling snubbed by its unusually-exclusive local marketing.

Perhaps appropriately for a business expanding out of the airport market, Vino Volo descended on Bethesda, apparently determining who they thought the important local media outlets were from 30,000 feet.

Although those few were invited in some form or another to the wine bar, strangely, no one has yet posted an actual review of the concept or - more importantly - the food.  The result has been that maybe 3 or 4 online voices are talking about Vino Volo, rather than the dozens of influential local/food bloggers who might have been.

The exclusive media streams then made it difficult for those planning to attend last week's grand opening to find out it had been abruptly postponed.  I myself was informed just prior to the start time of the opening.  Not to mention that I've never heard of a well-publicized grand opening being canceled.

Then there are the passersby who have been asking me just what has been going on behind those papered-over windows the last two weeks.  Honestly, I don't know myself.  It appears there have been dozens of exclusive, private events of some kind.  Almost as if an entire nearby city was invited to dine, while residents of our fair city were shut out.  Occasionally, an attendee tweets from one of these events.  But I haven't been able to figure out just who these attendees are, and why they were invited.  What I do know is that a lot of potential customers have approached the storefront hopefully, and found yet another private event going on.

So it's definitely been an unusual opening strategy.  Which is a shame, because I thought the menu sounded great.  And Vino Volo is a perfect fit for Bethesda Row.  This is the Federal Realty property where the company has really matched the tenants with the demographics of the area.

I think The Parva, Vapiano and Boloco have shown how to do a grand opening:  getting actual community members and influential online entities into their restaurants, letting them sample the menu, and then posting their reactions en masse on their Twitter and Facebook accounts and/or blogs.  That's how you engage the locality you are going to rely upon for the bulk of your customer base.  You really can't afford, in the social media age, to ignore social media and the free advertising it provides.