First Borders, Now Stein Mart
The Friendship Heights store will close its doors in late April.
Photos
Stein Mart, located in the Chevy Chase Pavilion in Friendship Heights, is closing April 23, said Janice Murphy, director of investor relations at Stein Mart.
The upscale specialty store is not performing up to expectations, she said, adding that the company looked at its real estate portfolio to assess which stores are performing and those that are under-performing.
Within walking distance of the Friendship Heights Metro station, the Stein Mart location is the only one operating in Washington, D.C. There are no stores in Maryland and 11 stores in Virginia — part of a chain that has more than 260 stores nationwide.
Murphy said that the company likes the D.C. market and that they're committed to it. But she added that the company is focused on locations "where we are serving our customers well."
"It's just a business decision," she said.
Eric S.
10:59 am on Thursday, March 24, 2011
Can't forget the Linen's and Things that left the building a couple years ago, either. Outside of making room for a convenient Halloween store, nothing has really come back there. It's a weird juxtaposition to all the other high end stores, and the new mixed use buildings across the street where the Whole Foods is.
It'll be interesting to see if those areas sit vacant for a long time, to be eventually replaced by high end stores (this IS Friendship Heights) when people have money again, or if they'll be filled by twice as many small places in the short term. That, or the whole thing may start looking like parts of downtown Bethesda, where there's more and more empty storefronts all the time. Depressing.
O h well, I bet TJ Maxx and Filene's are giddy with this news.
Kathleen Bryan
7:39 pm on Saturday, March 26, 2011
Eric, thanks for your comment and the reminder about the departure of Linen's and Things. Stay tuned for an upcoming story in April on the changing face of business in Friendship Heights and Chevy Chase.
Liz
10:20 pm on Sunday, March 27, 2011
Just walked by the old Linens 'n Things and they are now putting in a Nordstrom Rack at that location. There is also the Loehmann's , TJ Maxx and Filene's Basement, so it is an interesting mix of bargain stores and high end retail in Friendship Heights. The Stein Mart was very small and didn't really have a good selection of items so I can see why they couldn't stay in business.