Giant Food located in
The Collection at Chevy Chase to Close

New Full Service Grocery Store to Open in the Space Late 2020

Dear Residents,

Chevy Chase Land Company (the Land Company) officials have informed the Village that Giant Food, located in The Collection at Chevy Chase, has requested to be let out of their lease due to significantly low sales. The Land Company has agreed and has secured a replacement full-service grocer to occupy the space.
 
Land Company officials, confirm that Giant Food will officially close during the first week of January 2020.  Employees at the store were informed this week.
 
Covenants on the property require the Land Company to maintain a full-service grocery store within the development, therefore, the Land Company was required to secure a replacement lease prior to allowing Giant to close. After the closure, the new grocer will take occupancy of the space and intends to perform façade improvements and layout modifications.  The new store will open at the end of 2020.
 
Land Company leadership advised that the lease agreement contains a non-disclosure provision that does not allow them to disclose the name of the new grocer until the new grocer directs; however, the Land Company has assured us that the new company is a well-known name in the retail market that residents will recognize.
 
The positive news is that the retailer has agreed to include the retail space located at the corner of Western Avenue and Wisconsin Circle (currently the Sweet Teensy bakery; which will close by the end of December). The new grocer will internally connect the two spaces so that customers (principally those getting off the Metro) will be able to access the grocery store without having to walk around to the main entrance as they do today (a consistently expressed complaint by Village residents since the renovation in the mid-2000s). The current grocery store’s retail floor actually occupies the space on the level above the bakery.  Customers would enter from the Wisconsin Circle entrance and go up a level to access the grocery store. 
 
Some unknowns at this time are whether the new store will include a pharmacy (Village officials have requested that the Land Company inquire with the new grocer), and whether an additional main entrance can be created on the Western Avenue side of the space (the sidewalk along Western Avenue is a full story below the main entrance located inside the property). Land Company officials have agreed to take that feedback to the new leaseholder.
 
Village officials remain in contact with Land Company officials and we will update the community on any developments as we learn of them.
 
Shana R. Davis-Cook
Manager, Chevy Chase Village
shana.davis-cook@montgomerycountymd.gov