The Harris Teeter grocery store at 4805 Battery Lane in downtown Bethesda has temporarily reduced its operating hours. For the time being, the store will now close at 9:00 PM. A store employee cited a shortage of employees as the reason for the reduced hours. Harris Teeter opens at 6:00 AM.
9:00 PM is much earlier than competitors Giant and Safeway close. It appears the ending of enhanced unemployment benefits has so far not spurred a run on restaurant and retail job openings.
This Harris Teeter previously dropped 24-hour operation in 2018, in response to the cratering of downtown Bethesda nightlife following Montgomery County's disastrous "Nighttime Economy" effort. Nineteen clubs and bars closed, and restaurants, 24-hour grocery stores and pharmacies proceeded to reduce nighttime hours as well.
9 comments:
Thanks for the post. Can you list the 19 establishments that closed, or link to the information? Curious what has slipped away from us in recent years.
I would be worried about the future of that store. I like Teeter a lot being married to a Southerner I am very familiar with it and think they do a great job. Many think it's more expensive than our local players. I will say this, there is almost no one in their Old Geo'twn extended store off the Pike. I don't know how that one stays open. At least Bethesda has walkers, neighborhood folks, etc, etc. It is very walkable there. But this isn't a great sign.
"It appears the ending of enhanced unemployment benefits has so far not spurred a run on restaurant and retail job openings."
Anti-labor Republican talking point ends up being wrong?? *pretend surprise face*
This is fine. Everything is fine. Nothing to see here. Let's Go Brandon!
Amazon is shaking things up, sending out all those $10 off grocery coupons at the new Friendship Heights Amazon Fresh.
I'm trying to get more info on the "nighttime economy" statement you made. I'm not familiar with it but I do know that Bethesda 10 years ago had way more of a nightlife scene than it does today and have noticed the decline. I found this article on the "nightime economy" policies but I don't quite understand why these would be disastrous or negatively impact those businesses. It reads like they're meant to make it easier to sell alcohol and stay open later, do you have an article where you explain more in-depth?
http://councilmemberriemer.com/2017/03/update-on-the-nighttime-economy-task-force.html
Mike, what happened was that the County Council and Executive said we weren't hip enough, and didn't have enough nightlife. Councilmembers Riemer and Berliner were the most prominent voices, and enjoyed a tremendous media blitz at the time, in which they said they would give this greater nightlife and hipness to us. Many of those puff-piece articles can still be found online in a Google search, including The Washington Post and Bethesda Now (R.I.P.).
So at this point, they had loudly taken ownership of nightlife in Montgomery County. If you're going to take all the credit, then you risk also taking all the blame.
Alas, they not only failed to deliver on their promises, but nightlife ended up tanking, especially in Bethesda.
It was a combination of the policies you referred to either being the wrong priorities, or not going as far as most bar owners knew they needed to go, as well as other new taxes, parking fees and regulations that increased rather than lessened the burden on nightclub and bar owners. They even banned food trucks that used to set up outside bars at closing time.
Chief among these mistakes was the failure to end the County monopoly on liquor sales, not to mention refusing to allow sale of beer and wine in grocery, drug and convenience stores. Staying open until 3 AM is a moot point if you are having to pay more for liquor than your competitors in other jurisdictions.
By the end of the nighttime economy initiative, and in the years immediately following, 19 nightspots ended up closing. Bethesda was now dead by 9 or 10 PM, even on weekends.
The Council was never held accountable, and their new talking point is that we don't really need nightlife. Kind of like how they were all about "smart growth" by Metro stations ten years ago, but now support urban growth everywhere.
Amazon is destroying America
Come in cheap kill off competitors then raise prices
So ironic Maryland supposed to be “democrat” but elite democrats have no problem with a company which forces it workers to pee in bottles as no bathroom breaks
Let’s go Brandon
@12:21 PM I didn't know Amazon was selling nightlife to go that would kill of our economy. That's a new item that should be flying off their shelves.
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