Busy season ahead for Pike & Rose, Bethesda Bagels rolls into Wildwood and more

Busy season ahead for Pike & Rose, with three big openings in the next three months. West Elm, offering modern furniture and home decor, will arrive the week of Sept. 30th. Sunday Morning Bakehouse, the first brick-and-mortar store for the popular farm market vendor, will debut in the next few weeks. And The Block, a new Asian food hall, will open its doors in November with a whole new assortment of quick-serve eateries and snack spots. Stay tuned to Store Reporter as these opening dates firm up.

Bethesda Bagels is planning a late September opening at Wildwood, where it’s been under construction since last winter in the former Coco Blanca space near CVS. Owner Danny Fleishman says he hopes to open in time for the Jewish High Holidays, which begin on Sept. 30th this year. This will be the fifth restaurant for Bethesda Bagels, a family-owned enterprise that’s approaching its 40th year in business.

This week we say goodbye to Kneipp, the bath and body shop that closed its doors after a three-year run at Westfield Montgomery mall. Kneipp (pronounced K-nay-p) is a German company that opened eight U.S. retail stores in 2016, going head-to-head with big players like Kiehl’s, Lush and Bath & Body Works. All eight stores, including the one in Pentagon City, will be closed by the end of October. Kneipp products will continue to be sold online and in specialty shops.

GameStop, a mall favorite in the early 2000s, is having a hard time these days as gamers increasingly abandon physical platforms in favor of digital downloads and subscription services. This summer, GameStop’s CEO told investors that a turnaround will require an “ongoing sense of urgency that is off the chart.” The company recently shut down ThinkGeek.com, the nerdtastic gift site that it acquired four years ago. But inside GameStop’s stores, the shelves are increasingly stocked with figurines, toys and quirky fan merchandise. Watch for much more of that this holiday season.