A Metamorphosis in Downtown Silver Spring
By Silver Springer • Jul 7th, 2008 • Category: Arts, Food and Entertainment, MORE NEWS
Chalk another one up for the locally based shops in the Downtown Silver Spring project. Perhaps I’m really, really late on this since they claim they’ve been open since November and if so I apologize in advance but I couldn’t find any info on the other blogs.
Isn’t it great to see more small businesses like Metamorphosis Jewelery Designs moving in? Now that I think about it further, I’ve seen the sign up there on the building corner but it’s never clicked for me to check it out, it’s the same spot where the Interior Design store used to be.
Ok, so is Chainsville really warranted for Downtown Silver Spring anymore (was it ever)? Can we really call it Disneyland (still don’t get that one) with Pyramid Atlantic expanding into the area and a local pet store moving in? Locally based merchants are replacing now defunct national chains in Silver Spring, you can’t say PFA isn’t trying but will the people support it?
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Yes, chain stores and restaurants were warranted in the beginning. Big chains like Borders, Austin Grill, Red Lobster, and Ann Taylor have the capital to invest in new property, in economic risky areas. I still consider Silver Spring a risky investment for retailers because the market socioeconomics are very mixed. The safest bet in the entire region lies in Chevy Chase and Bethesda. Needless to say, the chain stores served as anchors in the new downtown project and people came into Silver Spring in great numbers to eat and to shop. It was a success.
However…
We are seeing a trend away from the chains and towards independent local stores. This is a wonderful development. What is happening here? I think many large chain stores are vulnerable in this recession. Even though an affluent region like Washington, DC continues to spend money, other regions of the country are in a severe economic downturn. This in turn, puts many retailers like Bombay in a precarious position next to bankruptcy. They have to close the shops nationwide to recover from the losses. However, a local-owned business is somewhat insulated from the scary market conditions that exist outside of the National Capital region.
By the way, any developments with Hook & Ladder brewery in the old firehouse on Georgia Ave.? I am getting impatient. I need some new suds in Silver Spring.
This is what people who bitch about the place fail to understand in the first place. They haven’t an economic clue.
Any news on these?
Across The Street Cafe (on Colesville)
Saboroso? (next to ATSC)
The renovated building on Colesville across from Discovery
The Fractured Prune
I noticed “Pieces in Silver Spring” (or whatever preposition separated those words) bit the dust when I walked past Silver Spring Ave and Georgia this weekend. We’ll need to run a number of non-chain businesses through these storefronts before we find the good ones. I look forward to this process.
The building across from Discovery damn well better bring back my Carolina Kitchen.
I am beyond sick of hearing people champion mom and pop stores that are more expensive and lack selection. People are looking for value with a quality product. Not value for a crap porduct and not a good product for an exhorberant price. I’m not talking about restaurants, i’m talking about jewlery and boutique clothing stores. No one shops in them. Especially people outside of major cities. There is a reason stores like that aren’t in Tyson’s or other extremely profitable malls around the country - because they can’t make a profit.
If you want growth in SS, which is what we all want so our property values go up, you need to appeal to a demo that has money but is still growing their income potential - people ages 22 - 40. Mom and pop stores like Metamorphis appeal to people with mature (read old) income levels. We need stores like Pottery Barn, Bannana Republic and Victoria Secret, not Steve and Barry’s (which is failing), Ulta (or whatever it’s called) and Red Lobster. Additionally you need to appeal to teenagers whose parents have moeny and will buy them things. Pyramid Atlantic is not it. Abracrombie & Fitch, NY & CO (which we have) and Hot Topic are it.
Silver Spring needs to find a niche between Bethesda and Wheaton which lie on both sides of the spectrum. Right now SS is a small notch above Wheaton.
Thanks for listening. This email was not meant to attack anyone on this thread, just to state my opinion.
Dan,
The problem is that chain stores like Banana Republic and Pottery Barn are in a risk-averse mode during this economic recession. Silver Spring is a RISKY investment for many national retailers.
Local independents are taking a risk as well but the entrepreneurs know the Silver Spring market better than any corporation that is based in California.
This is a business trend right now. BTW…I would pay MORE for products sold by a local business owner than a chain store any day. This is my value and I don’t compromise them for the sake of the “free” market system.
The Pyramid Atlantic Store is fantastic, it is exactly what I’ve been looking for. It gives a lot of people for whom there was previously no reason at all to walk down Ellsworth (and lots of reasons to avoid doing so) a very good reason. Get out your editorial voice, and tell folks to support local artists, and support community spaces with activities for kids that don’t cost a fortune!