BANANA REPUBLIC, H&M CLOSED AT WHITE FLINT MALL (PHOTOS)

The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 21

Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.

Banana Republic and H&M - two high-profile holdouts at dying White Flint Mall - have finally closed. Shocking, right?

Wow, as the blogger chronicling the demise of White Flint Mall for nearly a year, I suddenly have a lot of deep-pocketed company. The puzzling move by the Washington Post to suddenly acknowledge the end in December seemed to open the floodgates. Since then, just about every moneyed local media site has published the exact same sort of "postapocalyptic" White Flint Mall photo galleries I have been bringing you since last spring.

Now even a national website is trying to get in on the act, directing folks to a one-off post on a travel blog. That post focuses on supposedly shocking and fresh photos of the abandoned "food court" at White Flint (actually called, "The Eatery," not "the food court"). Just one problem: I posted photos of this same food court last August.  Last August! August 3, 2013, to be exact. And, well, the food court was actually abandoned at that time already.

Give credit where credit is due. Just Google "dark side of white flint" to see the ongoing reporting. My articles were easily found in Google by anyone who was as overwhelmed by nostalgia as the Johnny-come-latelies claim to be.

Not a single news outlet ever linked to my White Flint Mall articles or photo galleries. One problem is, my news and photos came with inconvenient analysis and context that did not flatter Montgomery County elected officials, planners and the mall's ownership, who are all choosing to urbanize a suburban commercial area.

What's astonishing is that, after those in line to make a buck (one way or another) got their way in White Flint, the same media who were looking the other way now want to fill their pockets with gold, generated by click-bait and knockoff photo galleries. Sad.

Banana Republic at
White Flint Mall

H&M at White Flint Mall

MORE CLOSURES AT WHITE FLINT MALL (PHOTOS)

The Dark Side of White Flint
Part 12:

Welcome to the latest installment of The Dark Side of White Flint, a candid examination of the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs in Montgomery County. Click here to read Part 11: Bertucci's, and find links to past installments, and demolition photo galleries.

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The latest stores to close at dying White Flint Mall are Expressions Hallmark, and White Flint Custom Tailor. Yesterday, I reported the closure of a major restaurant tenant, Bertucci's.

Expressions Hallmark began clearance sales at 20% this spring, 40% in May, and 75% off in the final weeks. Alas, the bell has now tolled, and no more Keepsake Ornaments will be purchased at White Flint Mall. Why does this matter? Collectors of the ornaments can tell you that ornaments sold out at Montgomery Mall, for example, might still be found at White Flint or Tysons Corner. Now that extra local inventory is lost, resulting in more driving, which is the opposite of what we were told the White Flint urbanization would do for the environment.