Georgetown Becoming A Little Less Like a Typical Mall

Photo by Knowsphotos.

Recently GM sat down to compile some of the new stores that are planning on opening up in Georgetown in the near future and a realization occurred to him. Georgetown is in the midst of a shift in terms of the retail mix.

What does that mean? Well consider the chain stores that have closed in Georgetown over the past two years, or so:

• RRL
• Chico’s
• Pottery Barn
• Smith & Hawken
• Talbot’s
• American Eagle
• Banolino
• Puma
• Ed Hardy (thankfully it looks like the second coming of this store also closed recently)

They’re all perfectly fine, average stores you could find in just about any mall in the country (RRL was perhaps a slight exception to that; there are only five of those in the country).

What has moved in over that same period of time, however, has been decidedly less common. Some, but not all, offer “higher end” goods. But in almost every case, they are stores that you can’t find in Anytown, USA’s mall:

• Barbour (GM estimates fewer than ten stores nationwide)
• Camper (also probably fewer than ten)
• Madewell (20 stores nationwide)
• Uggs (10 stores nationwide)
• Calvin Klein Underwear (one other store in the U.S.)
• Rag & Bone (six stores nationwide, and half of those are in SoHo or the Village)
• All Saints (nine stores nationwide)
• CB2 (Eight stores nationwide)

On top of these, we also added a couple definitely common stores: the North Face, City Sports, and (the soon to be) Brooks Brothers. So it’s not a uniform shift, but GM will point out that these three stores are on the nicer end of the quality scale.

Is this good? Bad? GM’s not sure. Losing Pottery Barn and Smith & Hawken was definitely a bummer. But the new stores do seem to give the neighborhood a little more glint. And providing a retail experience just a little bit less like a typical mall experience is probably a good thing.