This will be the end of an era, as the pharmacy there has been relied on around-the-clock by patients and their doctors for as long as I can remember. The closest CVS stores with 24-hour pharmacies will likely be Cabin John and Dupont Circle after Sunday. A second 24-hour CVS is located at Wisconsin and Cheltenham Drive in downtown Bethesda, but its pharmacy closes at 10:00 PM on weeknights, and 6:00 PM on weekends.
Count this as yet another blow to the "nighttime economy" of downtown Bethesda, after the failure of Councilmember Hans Riemer's Nighttime Economy initiative. Since Riemer took office in 2010, six downtown nightspots have shuttered, one of Bethesda's two 24-hour restaurants went out of business, and Barnes and Noble - a popular nighttime hangout - adopted an hour-earlier closing time.
42 comments:
I get this is inconvenient to a small but important demographic, but to consider an initiative failed we need some kind of baseline to consider the potential outcome sans said initiative. How are businesses doing in other localities or nationwide? Is the closing of 7 restaurant/bars above or below average? Are earlier closing hours for a book store and pharmacy beyond the norm?
Also, how many businesses took advantage of the suggestions of the task force?
How do we attribute which businesses closed because of our in spite of the initiatives?
A blanket statement that such an initiative "failed" is a bit misleading and may not well thought out and researched.
After a late night out at bars, my last stop is always an all-night pharmacy.
Seriously, Dyer, what kind of weirdo are you?
The Barnes & Noble in Tysons also cut back their weeknight hours to 10 PM at tha same time the Bethesda store did.
And the downtown DC store is closing permanently in a few more weeks.
But sure, blame it all on the guy who actually got elected to County Council.
What's this other "24-hour restaurant" that closed in Bethesda recently? Are you referring to the unofficial hours of Steamers, which is what got it closed in the first place?
5:33: First, you need only to consider that having businesses stay open later was a core stated goal of the Nighttime Economy initiative. Not only did that not happen, but more businesses started closing earlier than ever. In fact, nights are so dead, that very few bars even take advantage of the new 3:00 closing time.
You also have to add the taxation and regulatory policies Riemer advocated and voted for, beyond the nighttime economy. It's clear that those policies and votes hurt County businesses.
5:54: What kind of a weirdo are you, supporting a Councilmember whose every initiative has been a resounding failure? He made his "brand" open data and cybersecurity, food trucks, getting government out of the liquor business, and the "nighttime economy".
Then we found out that on his watch, the County was running on the Windows 2000 platform, his political operative Dan Hoffman drove 96% of food trucks out of the County, he's just signed a letter supporting government staying in the liquor business, and the nighttime economy in Bethesda is a fraction of what it was when Riemer took office.
You're darn right folks are blaming it on the guy who got elected - without any vetting from the MoCo machine-controlled local media, despite a $200,000 campaign driven by out of state money from Wall Street crooks, lobbyists and banks that caused the Great "Recession".
Beam me up.
6:25: Hamburger Hamlet was the 24-hour restaurant that closed.
Welp, there goes my Saturday night due to the failed nighttime initiative. My Saturday plans always involved going out in Bethesda, getting drunk, then picking up my prescription at CVS....
Dyer, I totally agree with you that not having a 24 hour pharmacy can be a pain and doesn't help the local community since there are times when a doctor may need to prescribe a medicine late in the evening for a sudden illness. I also agree that the county is doing a horrible job at promoting a nightlife similar to DC's. And that downtown Bethesda is a ghost town after 11:00 PM.
But what I do not agree is comparing a 24 hour pharmacy to nightlife. Unless your idea of a nightlife is getting drunk and then picking up and downing Xanax pills??
A night time economy is not just nightlife. Movie theaters, restaurants, services are all part of it.
The county has taken their off the ball on their crown jewel, downtown Bethesda.
Downtowns need certain things to be functional activity centers.
"Count this as yet another blow to the "nighttime economy" of downtown Bethesda, after the failure of Councilmember Hans Riemer's Nighttime Economy initiative."
I'm more convinced than ever that Dyer just says crap to get a rise out of people/up the comment count. There's no way he's seriously believes some of this shit.
7:02, I agree that last line is trolling.
The Moribund Dyer quoth..."moribund" yet again.
Hamburger Hamlet as example of 24-hour restaurant that closed. Wha? How long ago what that? I mean, that whole chain pretty much failed a few years ago. I'm not sure that is a great example, and besides the long-term success rate of restaurants past 3 years is minutely small.
I'm sure that CVS did its appropriate cost/benefit analysis to determine that it was far more expensive to keep the pharm open full-time than the sales justified. I mean, if the customers are not using it, why keep it open? Besides the location is crap and I'd bet if it was across the street with the Strosniders it would be doing a much better job.
IMHO you are barking up the wrong tree here. Why should all residents of MoCo come down to Bethesda when there is so much development going on around Crown Farm/Rio, Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, etc. that is inarguably adding more diverse choices?
I was in the area the last few nights as I usually go grocery shopping after the kids are in bed, and the Giant on Arlington Road has late hours. There were some people out and about at various places. CVS is definitely an integral part of having a night-time economy.
As for the need to stay open after 9pm, the MedOne clinic on Old Georgetown Road is open 7 days a week until 9pm, so if someone visits them at 8:30pm, they won't have time to pick up their prescription by 9pm at that CVS. Which Cabin John CVS has a 24-hour pharmacy? The one by Seven Locks and Tuckerman?
That CVS in Bethesda isn't crap -- it's always busy every time I go there, whether day or night, weekday or weekends. They have 3 self check-outs and I often encounter a line too. I think it gets a lot more action than the CVS up the road at Bradley and Wisconsin.
A one hour earlier closing of a failing book store chain and a CVS on the fringe of "downtown" not available for drugs at 3am and Bethesda's "nightlife" has failed? Bar/restaurant closings happen everywhere and are expected (especially in places with rents like Bethesda's).
Bethesda isn't Adams Morgan, Clarendon, or H Street, but that probably says a lot more about the area's demographics (how many people moving into those $$$ condos are actually millenials or even under 50?). Plus, it's still waaay more active than Rosslyn.
In any case it really sounds like the author has a serious personal issue with Hans Reimer. Pretty sure objectivity (whatever it means today anyways) is an important principle of serious journalism.
7:34 AM
Dyer isn't the only one disappointed with his performance. The Post pulled their endorsement of Riemer due to his lack of accomplishments and low energy.
Hypothetical: If you're a close personal friend and supporter of Councilmember Leventhal, for example...can you be objective in your coverage of him and the Council?
Deflection. Failed to answer the question.
#dodgingdyer
Deflection. Failed to answer the question.
#dodgingdyer
The Hamburger Hamlet wasn't in downtown Bethesda. You can't just expand your sample size just so that you can get the results that you are looking for.
@ 7:43 AM - Has the Post ever endorsed Dyer?
"taken their off the ball on their crown jewel"
LOLwut???
"his political operative Dan Hoffman drove 96% of food trucks out of the County"
When did this talking point change from "90%" to 96%"?
If a primary staple of someone's nightlife involved trucking way out to Hamburger Hamlet to hang out until 5am, I shudder to think what they opted to replace it with.
I'm talking about Hans right now.
The Post dropped their endorsement due to his low energy and lack of accomplishments.
So, Dyer isn't the only one talking about his record.
The CVS on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda is still open 24 hours a day. I am sure that CVS did an analysis to determine if it was worthwhile to have two 24 hour locations so close to each other. I don't think that this should be any reflection on the nightlife in downtown Bethesda.
I think the pharmacy is not though.
So if the Bethesda and tysons Barnes and Noble both got cutback hours, and DC is closing forever... Does that mean Bethesda is better than DC and even with Tysons?
I guess CVS just can't take the heat from Bradley Drugs.
Isn't that corner slated for re-development?
Dyer, your cannabis up the nose philosophy is a real knee-slapper. Blame the closer if you will on the council-member, but it will stick like a burnt egg to Teflon. NOT! 1) Hamburger Hamlets in the entire DC area are gone, name one that's still open. 2) CVS's are cutting back company-wide. 3) Bars that agree to the 3 AM policy take on a risk that many don't want. Oh, and I guess in your myopic, narrow-minded, universal, that expands and contracts like your sphincter, Quincy's is not considered Bethesda. This is just as bad as your fictional reporting about the opening of BIBOP in Montgomery Mall. I repeat you blew that also. Give up your night job.
@ 6:25 AM: "You also have to add the taxation and regulatory policies Riemer advocated and voted for, beyond the nighttime economy. It's clear that those policies and votes hurt County businesses."
I guess we can't expect any actual citations for this claim, either. Which policies and what were the actual harm that they caused?
@ 6:34 AM: "Beam me up."
Dang astigmatism. I thought that said "beat me up". I would have been happy to oblige.
Barnes & Noble Tysons is in a mall, not in an urban area. Bad comparison!
Unless you work strict bankers hours, this is quite a cut back in pharmacy hours.
Looks like the Crystal City Hamburger Hamlet closed within a few days of the one that was 3 miles north of downtown Bethesda.
Obviously Hans Riemer's fault. MoCo Machine has "taken their off the ball on their crown jewel", as Dyer's shill put it so eloquently.
So it's deceptive to use Hamburger Hamlet's closing as an indicator for MoCo's nighttime economy. Same with B&N. That's just misleading if Dyer knew about it. And poor journalism if he didn't.
4:43: Hans Riemer's record of reduced schedules and closures speaks for itself. Not only is the nighttime economy weaker than before he was elected, but he managed to wipe out an entire business category - food trucks - from the County economy. "So it's deceptive" to claim otherwise.
Deflection redirection.
#dodgingdyer
I guess Villains & Saints isn't considered a food truck.
6:48 AM More like a food trailer. It's not self propelled.
Weidmier is stretched thin.
7:01 AM 1) Linda's Luncheonette 2)Gofishtruck 3)LaStrada 4) Hardy's BBQ; enough?
Btw food trucks aren't always a positive too. Consider they take up parking spaces, pollute heavily, have less than sanitary conditions and food safety issues, are huge eyesores that also block the stores along the street, cause congestion in walkways, etc.
Food trucks = Good
MoCo telling food trucks where they can go = Bad
Hoffman & co. did a terrible job trying to manage all the food trucks. He ran most of them out of downtown Bethesda.
MoCo government needs to stop trying to run liquor and food trucks. The Council can't even manage their own affairs.
I like food trucks too, but can you expound on how you might address the negative issues? They aren't all good.
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