Mall makeovers, Chick-fil-A, bye bye Buredo and trouble for Taylor Gourmet

Here’s your retail & restaurant scoop for the week of Sept. 13th, 2018.

There’s a lot of reshuffling at Westfield Montgomery mall this month as longtime tenants renovate their spaces in a rush to reopen before the holidays. Here’s an update on what’s happening:

• Bath & Body Works is reconfiguring its store to provide a new showcase for the White Barn candle line. Renovations will be complete around the end of October; in the meantime, Bath & Body Works has set up a temporary storefront in the former Sharper Image space.
• The Champs sporting goods store also is operating out of temporary quarters in the Macy’s Home wing. Renovations should be done in late October/early November.
• Old Navy is renovating the space next door and is scheduled to move there just before Halloween. The new store will be noticeably smaller than Old Navy’s current location.
• Francesca’s has closed for a mini-facelift and is expected to reopen Sept. 22nd.
• Pandora has completed a major expansion and returned to its original location near the center of the mall.

We also have two closings to report. The glass-enclosed Peloton bike kiosk is gone after the company opened a full-sized store in downtown Bethesda. And the Zero Degrees Thai ice cream kiosk, which never appeared to have any customers, is out after just three months.

No more sushi burritos at the Wildwood shopping center: Buredo has closed its doors after just a year in business. It’s the second closing in the past few weeks for three-year-old Buredo, which has four locations in D.C. but never seemed to pick up momentum with the Wildwood crowd. Perhaps it’s just as well that another sushi burrito chain, Maki Shop, called off plans to open at Georgetown Square just across the street. So does this mean sushi burritos are over? Maybe. But poke bowls are still going strong. More on that in an upcoming issue.

Sept. 27th is opening day for Chick-fil-A at Research Row, the new development rising off I-270 at West Montgomery Avenue in Rockville. The complex also is home to a new One Life Fitness gym, and it just landed another major tenant: Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant. See our Aug. 30th edition for details.

You know the new Taylor Gourmet restaurant that just opened at Pike & Rose? It may not be around much longer. The sandwich chain tells the Washington Business Journal that it’s trying to renegotiate or terminate some of its leases, as its customers are increasingly choosing takeout and delivery over dining in. The Pike & Rose location, which opened this past May, is among those that may get the ax. (Editor’s update: All Taylor Gourmet locations closed in late September.)