Bed Bath & Beyond a Reasonable Distance
Can someone provide a reasonable explanation as to why there is not a Bed Bath & Beyond in or near downtown Silver Spring? I really think that's a market research fail on the part of BB&B corporate. In the past few years they've added urban locations in both Chinatown and Columbia Heights, yet we've been completely ignored. There was a rumor that one was coming a few years back, but sadly that amounted to nothing. I really think locating one here would be like printing money. I've got quite a collection of the 20% off coupons that they frequently mail me, yet nowhere to use them.
Presently, the most "convenient" location is in Rockville Pike Hell. I've had a $10 item I've needed to return for months, but have never bothered since I calculated the trip wouldn't be worth the time or money required. Until the entire company failed, at least there were a few Linens N Things locations that were marginally more convenient.
The optimal location for a BB&B would of course be City Place. That might even get people through the doors of that sorry excuse for a mall.
Also...
- I recently went to the Giant in Long Branch for the first time in a while and was happy to see that it had received a thorough makeover. It's wasn't purely cosmetic, either - I noticed particular items that they now stock which weren't available before. The produce even looked fresher, though I could have been imagining that. I generally prefer to go to this store rather than the downtown location. Not only is it somewhat more convenient to my house, but there's always plenty of parking and the staff seems a lot more pleasant. At the Giant downtown, they get annoyed if you have the audacity to ask them a question. Kind of like Metro employees.
- This Saturday is the Silver Spring Library's bookfest. There will be a book and bake sale in the basement as well as pony rides (!) and a petting zoo on the front lawn. Be there when it opens to see the spectacle of dealers with their scanners cherry picking all the good books in under 90 seconds. Note to the S.S. library: some libraries have banned these scanners from book sales.
- The small Post Office on Colesville Road will not be closing after all. I used to use that location quite frequently, and I would say my experiences were mixed. Most memorable was the time the witch lady who works behind the counter essentially called me a liar to my face when she refused to believe I had a book in the package I was sending via Media Mail rather than a stack of papers. As if I was trying to rip off the USPS...
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Among the features of the Silver Spring Library's Bookfest on Saturday will be the unveiling of the plans for the new library by the County Executive. This will take place about noon.
Also, the Friends of the Library's new 2010 "Vintage Silver Spring -- Then and Now" calendars will be available. The calendars feature 14 historic photos accompanied by photos of the same locations now (14 photos = 13 months -- December 2009 through December 2010 -- plus the cover). The calendars are $10 at the Bookfest and later selected weekend hours at the library or $12 by mail. Mail orders should go to Calendar, Friends of the Library, Silver Spring Library, 8901 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910. 100% of the proceeds from the calendar sales go directly to benefit the library.
I'm ecstatic over the Colesville Post Office getting a stay of execution :-)
As to book scanners, so what, as long as they put the books back where they grabbed them from and pay for their purchases - who cares? A sale is a sale.
Sad to say I think we missed the BBB boat - don't think anyone is in the expansion mode now.
Looking fwd to the pony rides...
I was at a book sale at the New Carrollton public library a couple years back and saw two men get into a fist fight over a cart of books. When I walked in, I thought the PG cop standing there was going to have a boring day, but noooo.......
I agree that a Bed Bath & Beyond is exactly the kind of store that Sh**ty Place Mall needs. It certainly cuts across a wide swath of demographics and would attract other decent retailers to the mall. At the moment the usual collection of cheap jewelry stores, cell phone stores, and trashy teenage clothing stores still dominate a facility that is totally wasted. I thought the place went under new management a while back and they were going to improve the quality of the stores, but obviously that hasn't happened.
I would settle for a good sized Target in Sh**ty Place. BB&B's are kinda fail. I don't need a big box store for suction cup shower mirrors.
Yes, but there are already two Targets that are reasonably accessible from Silver Spring.
If you get enough people to write enough letters, anything is possible. That's how the Trader Joe's in Burnt Mills came to be.
We shop at the Bed Bath and Beyond in Columbia off Snowden River Parkway. It is far (though no farther than Rockville for me) but there is never any traffic.
And, I mean, City Place does get a fair amount of business, even if they aren't a well-heeled crowd. They could use more high-end stores, but it isn't exactly a "dead" mall.
Considering where it is located, City Place is dead. Ellsworth could be packed, yet you go into Shitty Place and there's a dozen people in there. Half of them are probably just cutting through, too.
I've often wondered why there isn't a BB&B more conveniently located to DTSS. Good point! I only go to the BB&B in Rockville when I absolutely have to, which is usually only because a) someone has their wedding registry there or b)someone's gotten me something useless from there.
On the other hand, we do have Strosnider's around the corner, which stocks a fair amount of shower and kitchen items. I find the service at Strosnider's way more helpful and friendly than any BB&B. I can't help to think that their business would suffer if Bed and Bath moved in over here.
There is a BB&B in Columbia Heights. That's just 15 minutes in a car, and parking is only $1 for an hour, or a 20 minute bus ride S2/4/9. Plus you've got Target, Best Buy, Giant, Commonwealth, Pete's. Why would you go to Rockville?
Going to Columbia Heights is not that easy and the DCUSA parking garage can be a total nightmare. Try going during church time.
Um, take the Metro to Columbia Heights, people. You do realize it's only about a 20-minute train ride, right? I do it all the time on the weekends and, from the SS station, I've made it within as little as 15 minutes if I catch the Green Line right at Ft. Totten.
Yes, it can also take a bit more time, but it's hardly a schlep. Sometimes it cracks me up how people in the DC area think anything more than 15 minutes away is, as my mother likes to say, like going to Kishinev.
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