This D.C. neighborhood used to be synonymous with high-end shopping. Now it’s mostly abandoned.
Retail has collapsed in Friendship Heights. The neighborhood, which sits on the Washington, D.C., and Maryland border, was once known as a high-end shopping destination. The commercial district is made up of several distinct groupings of businesses including Mazza Gallerie, which was once anchored by Neiman Marcus, the Chevy Chase Pavilion, which held a number of specialty retailers including H&M and Old Navy, The Shops at Wisconsin Place, which once held MAC and Anthropologie, a stand-alone Lord & Taylor and a row of luxury retailers. And, with an average household income reportedly between $170,000 and $200,000, residents were once primed to spend money at those stores.
But those stores are gone now, along with most of the retailers, even as plans for revitalization have emerged. Here’s a look at the current state of the once bustling center.