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| Chico's, the latest victim of the exodus of the ultra-rich from Montgomery County to nearby jurisdictions |
While the article by Thomas Heath notes that some small businesses that need heavy foot traffic have closed in the small town of 780 people, and retail stores nationwide are struggling against online shopping, it reports the owner of high-end Highcliffe Clothiers in Middleburg "is wrapping up his best year ever." Heath gives the lay of land in Loudoun's "bastion of wealth and aristocracy," with its Foxcroft "elite boarding school for girls," and renowned "fox hunting, private airstrips, and smattering of aristocracy with names such as Mellon, Birdseye, DuPont, Mars and Firestone."
Estimating that Highcliffe's owner, Mark Metzger, takes in $1 million in sales per year, Heath describes the kind of recession-proof spending power that kept those Chevy Chase shops humming along for decades - - until the Montgomery County Council brought it all crashing down, and the ultra-rich headed for the exits. "They are the under-the-radar rich folks who own homes in the countryside. They think nothing of dropping $1000 at Metzger's shop. For that crowd, he stocks his inventory with high-end goods from the United States and from England and Spain."
37 comments:
Thanks, I didn't get enough eye rolling done this Thanksgiving.
5:06: I didn't know the County Council hosted a Thanksgiving dinner! Thanks for confirming! Was it charged to the taxpayers, like the catered luncheon they couldn't come out of to speak to Macedonia Baptist Church leaders?
Chicos is:
1) closing 120 stores this year
2) not a luxury brand
5:49: "Chico's is a specialty retailer of exclusively designed, private label, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, complimentary accessories and other non-clothing gift items. Virtually all of the clothing, accessories and non-clothing gift items offered at Chico's stores is designed by the Company's in-house product development team and bears the "Chico's" trademark."
6:19AM - Great. Still not a luxury brand.
This says more about the state of brick & mortar retail than it does the county council.
6:28 AM Brick & mortar isn't going anywhere. Dyer recently reported that Amazon Books is opening a store on Bethesda Row.
Chico's is like a lower-end Talbots. My mother, a government worker, shops there. It's not high-end.
6:44: It was on the "Rodeo Drive of Montgomery County" and now it's closed, like many of the other boutiques along there. The flight of the rich. It's something to behold, especially when you get your tax bill from Montgomery County. Ouch.
None of the shops that closed have shops in Middleburg. This has nothing to do with Middleburg, Loudoun County, or Northern Virginia, and everything to do with CityCenterDC.
And the closure of Chico's has more to do with the closures of Linens N Things, f.y.e. and Borders, than the loss of those shops in The Collection.
#FractallyWrong
And more fuel for the Google News Fire....
I concur. It’s definitely not a luxury brand. The description you gave doesn’t even say it. Nor does it imply it.
National bulk closings don’t really support your argument. Not saying it’s not true in general, but this is not strong supporting evidence.
What MoCo really needs is more useless heirs p*ssing away the wealth that their great-grandparents earned.
Wasn't Chico's a recent addition, compared to all those luxury stores? I think Chico's was a response to the luxury stores not doing well -- they put in a mid-range retailer instead.
Speaking of high-end retailers, I'm still amazed that BOTH fur coat places in Bethesda (near True Food Kitchen on Wisconsin) remain in business. Not only are those high-end places, but who buys fur coats any more?
Robert if your mom lets you leave Montgomery County one day you should take a trip to City Center DC and see why the real luxury stores closed, Chicos is not a luxury brand Tard!! Maloney concrete I am starting to think is the other wierd slow guy thats all over Dyers Facebook or its Dyer.. The fact you brought Woodies up is funny and shows how out of touch you are old sport!! If your mom lets you go down to DC you should see City Center and get out of your westbard bubble retard, and don't worry the minorities wont rob you clown
@ 8:20 AM - 5814 Wisconsin Avenue used to be a Mellon Bank. LOL
Once again, more specious conclusions and agenda-bent logical contortions from this blog.
Mr. Dyer, as has been explained to you countless times, retail is in a tailspin nationwide. This is a well-reported, undisputed fact. Laying the blame for national macroeconomic trends at the feet of the Montgomery County Council is intellectually bankrupt — the height of logical moribindity. This store is only one of 120 Chico’s stores closing nationwide — and Chico’s is only one of dozens of companies reducing its bricks & mortar presence.
#UnsignedDyer @ 6:36 AM - Dyer did not publish his report on Amazon Books until 5 days after BB reported it.
And the AB will only occupy one-sixth the floor space of B&N. Whole bookstore chains - Borders, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and Crown Books have disappeared entirely in the past decade and a half.
3:09: Wrong! Montgomery County had a net loss in jobs, while the jurisdictions around us enjoyed a net *gain* in jobs. That means that, yep, you're damn right this is the fault of the Montgomery County Council. What a tool!
"Chico's is high end! Chico's said so!"
Middleburg is horse country. It also has a high-end resort within walking distance from the shops. It's hard to see how that's comparable to MoCo.
"Montgomery County had a net loss in jobs..."
Wrong. There has been a net gain in jobs.
"That means that, yep, you're damn right this is the fault of the Montgomery County Council."
The net gain in jobs is the "fault" of the Council.
@3:09 wrote: "Mr. Dyer, as has been explained to you countless times, retail is in a tailspin nationwide. This is a well-reported, undisputed fact. Laying the blame for national macroeconomic trends at the feet of the Montgomery County Council is intellectually bankrupt — the height of logical moribindity."
Exactly right.
I know Dyer is trolling all of us with his views of how moribund, crime ridden, inept, incompetent, .etc is our current state of affairs, in his opinion.
I occasionally read this blog because I find it incredibly amusing -- the discordance between Dyer's view of any event or fact, and my own.
I wish Robert the best if he decides again to run for an At-Large-Seat on the Council. I am looking forward to his candidacy.
6:48: Total BS. The Bureau of Labor Statistics stats show a net LOSS in jobs in Montgomery County since 2005. What numbers are you looking at? George Leventhal's grades for this semester at UMD?
That's how bad things are in MoCo now - you have to lie to even engage in the debate. Sad!
7:57: If you take off your distortion lenses, you'll find it's all horribly real.
6:42: In addition to the high-end resort, it also has the homes of some of wealthiest people to defect from Montgomery County to Northern Virginia. Hence why Loudoun County is #1 on the Forbes Richest Counties top ten list, while MoCo has entirely dropped off the list.
Hey, Dyer - I don't know on what data set you are basing your claim that Montgomery County has "lost jobs since 2005", but this is what I have:
December 2005: 467,997
September 2017: 554,677
That's an INCREASE OF 86,780 OR 18.5%.
"[Middleburg] has the homes of some of wealthiest people to defect from Montgomery County."
Out-of-cotrol speculation is not a statement of fact.
"What numbers are you looking at? George Leventhal's grades for this semester at UMD?"
Thanks again for showing that you have no clue what a Ph.D. is, or how one is obtained.
9:16: BS. Post the direct link to the chart showing the job numbers for each year from 2000-the latest available date, or you have no credibility. I see no such numbers as you cited on the BLS site. I know for a fact, based on the actual BLS stats, that we have a net LOSS in jobs in MoCo.
9:30: And thanks for reminding us that George Leventhal has pursued expensive graduate degrees using taxpayer funds while claiming the Council is a "full-time job." I want video - it would be like the Rodney Dangerfield movie.
Where do you get your info? A grad degree doesn't have to be expensive and doesn't have to interfere with a full-time job. Most everyone I know worked full-time while getting their Master's or Doctorate.
How is he "using taxpayer funds?"
Anna, Dyer seems to believe that Leventhal spending his salary, which is paid by the Montgomery County government, equals "using taxpayer funds".
4:42: Sorry, WE pay Leventhal's salary. The government doesn't generate cash. They collect taxes. Mr. Leventhal misrepresented his Council obligations, and demanded more money. It now appears at least one ulterior motive was to provide enough cash for him to go back to college like Rodney Dangerfield, and pad his resume and future salary demands at taxpayer expense with advanced degrees. He never even publicly announced his enrollment.
Maybe I can run for office like George Leventhal, and demand a higher salary to put myself through law school.
"A GED, or a Ph.D.!!!!" - Matthew Lesko
3:35: The Council said they were a full-time 24-hour job. Based on their explanation, they would have no time to pursue a Ph.D. Grad school certainly isn't cheap, either. That's why Leventhal needed the extra green from us.
That's a bold faced lie. Why do you do that? Lie about someone or something to demean or defame them? Toss in a fact or two so you can say it's all the truth but everyone reading knows what is fact and what is your pathetic supposition.
Yes, you can work a demanding 24-on call job at the same time.
There are plenty of post-grad students who are due an apology from you.
Whine, whine, whine...sour grapes, whine, whine, whine.
If you hadn't run for office I would have written this site off as all satire.
Sorry, but a government official spending their salary however they see fit DOES NOT equate to "using taxpayer funds." I'm pretty sure even the most cynical Trump White House staffer would call such a claim exactly what it is -- A LIE.
Signed,
Someone who works a full-time job and is also pursuing a (not-very-expensive, actually) graduate degree
Um, Dyer... all nine Council members are paid the same salary. Leventhal isn't receiving any special favors.
Dyer the MORIBUND Dotard. IT'S ALL THE FAULT OF THE COUNCIL. ROTFLMAO!
"Maybe I can run for office like George Leventhal, and demand a higher salary to put myself through law school."
You've already run for office several times. And the voters rejected you decisively each time.
And you still don't understand what a Ph.D. is. Pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Policy is not the same as attending law school.
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