Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.
Welcome to
The Dark Side of White Flint:
Millenial Edition.
"Hot, young millennials" are ostensibly the target audience for the new, urbanized "more muscular" White Flint. Last night, the only business currently drawing millennials to White Flint was packing up and moving out of town. Ordered out first by the owners of White Flint Mall, and then by a court ruling, Dave and Buster's has complied, closing its doors for good after 18 years.
The rotating D&B sign was stilled, then removed. Arcade machines like Gone Fishing, and Whac-a-Mole were being boxed up for shipping. Teddy bears lay on a brick wall inside the restaurant. In the corridors last night, the only sound was the hum of the escalator leading up to Dave and Buster's. A security guard informed a young, millennial couple approaching the arcade-restaurant that the business had closed. With a dramatic flourish, he flipped a switch, and the escalator stopped moving. Silence. Dave and Buster's was no more.
For those with scorecards in hand, here's the latest update on the urbanization of suburban White Flint: Zero chef-driven restaurants coming on board. Zero Fortune 500 corporate headquarters signed on. And zero 30-story, Class A office towers with Intelsat or the CEB headquarters, as Fairfax and Arlington counties recently celebrated.
The only thing remotely like Dave and Buster's on the boards right now for White Flint is Pinstripes, a bowling alley, bocce court and bistro all-in-one. A sign posted at the shuttered Dave and Buster's just about says it all. "Want to have fun, kids? Hit the interstate for Arundel Mills Mall!" A highly-successful indoor mall, to boot! Drive, drive, drive!
Gone fishing, indeed.
 |
| No more fun and games! |
 |
| Click to enlarge to spot the teddy bears on the wall |
 |
| A final look inside Dave and Buster's |
 |
| Hasta la vista, millenials! |
 |
| The sign no longer turns, the escalator no longer hums |
 |
| Close-up of the dismantled, formerly-rotating sign at Dave and Buster's |
 |
| Don't worry, there'll be plenty of barista and jeans-folding jobs available for millenials in the new White Flint! |
 |
| Time to cut bait |
 |
| The moles won! Whac-A-Mole is shipping out in search of hipper vibes |
 |
| Game over |
_1.jpg) |
| Turbo Theater now just a walk-in closet |
_1.jpg) |
| Hey, millenials, we don't have Dave and Buster's anymore, but we do have a repainted Metrobus. We call it, "Rapid Transit." How 'bout it, kids? Hello? Hello?! They hung up on us! |
 |
| And then there were two |
No comments:
Post a Comment