The Richest Counties in America

[Caladium]

Alicia, I'm curious what you think of the shops at Brambleton?

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Alicia, I'm curious what you think of the shops at Brambleton?

The Brambleton Town Center restaurants look fine.. new, nicer chains; 'normal' suburbia (sort of like what I said about Fair Oaks in my last post - probably Reston, too). The KC suburbs have a lot of that, but they've also managed to (from way back in the '60s and '70s and continually to this day) stick in quite a few good/creative non-chain places.. sometimes these don't have the capital or interest (or appropriate style) to expand on a large (or at least large-ish) scale, and sometimes they do.

I do think it'd be a bad move to stick a bunch of large, free-standing (or attached-to-a-'Town-Center') chains in a place like McLean, though, which doesn't really have the space. Like I've said before, ideally there'd be at least a few smaller indie cafes/bistros/etc. in existing spaces in the handful of strip malls (which would of course have to be fixed up somewhat).. For example, a place like the Classic Cup, which I mentioned in my last post, and whose original Prairie Village "Cellar" location (which was indeed a suburban KC classic! - looks like it's now being used for 'private dining' ), would be wonderful. Even places that have the potential to *become* chains would be fine, as long as the food is creative and high-quality (say, a Yia Yia's or a Bristol - I haven't been to the KC suburbs in years, actually, so I'm sure there are some new places, too; these are just some of the ones I used to like). Not even full-service, necessarily - just a place where you could get good quick salads and sandwiches.

Mind you, I'm just using suburban KC as an example of a mid-sized city I'm familiar with - lots of other cities (including others in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast) would be semi-sort of similar, I'd suspect.. especially the huge megalopoli. (Incidentally, too, KC has tons of other, and in many cases *better*, restaurants in its more urban locales.)

[bmwguydc]

Originally Posted by normie

I'm as guilty as everyone else. I think having lots of cute little mom-and-pop shops is adorable. I love to window shop at them. I loved the ambiance of having cute little Larry's Pharmacy at Lake Anne, but when it came right down to it I bought my shampoo and aspirin at chain stores because they're more convenient and the same product costs a lot less there. Chain stores may not be cute, but that's where I do my real shopping.

That's how I feel, too. I am all for supporting a specialist mom-and-pop, but not when it's the exact same product that is sold down the street for a much lower price. Stores that exist in the NYC area that are independent, older mom-and-pops do have the community equity of which normie spoke in a previous post, but they also have unique items that are not at every other store in the town.

McLean does have some independent cafes and stores, but they're not of the experimental genre because that's not what the majority of people in the area seek. Falls Church, Fairfax, Vienna, parts of Arlington, parts of Alexandria, and even Oakton have independent businesses (some in strip malls) mixed in that survive because they meet the needs of the consumer. Georgetown is a village within a city that has a good number of places, but it's also a destination, and has a mall too.

Why should I pay $5-$10 more for a bottle of wine at a small store when I am not getting specialist knowledge to go along with the ambiance? And, I do go to some good stores where they have the knowledge and unique products not found at other stores. Most people in this region drive, so it's not even a convenience for walking, though that does come into play in Georgetown where it's far easier to walk than to drive and park for short distances.