Four Bethesda, MD companies on the Fortune 500 list

Three Bethesda based companies made Fortune Magazine's annual list of the 500 largest U.S. companies. Lockheed was highest at 54th place. A distant second is Marriott International at number 208. Followed by Coventry Health Care at 226. Bringing up the rear is 449th ranked Host Hotels & Resort.

Maryland had a total of seven companies in the Fortune 500. In addition to the Bethesda companies there are Baltimore's Constellation Energy (125), Black & Decker (408) and new to the list this year is another Baltimore company, Legg Mason at number 500.

If the Fortune 500 countries were evenly distributed among the states there would be 10 each state, so Maryland did a bit below what you would hope for, but 7 isn't so bad and 4 for Bethesda is really good.

I saw this at WMDT channel 47

Bethesda, MD: Good news edition

I previously talked about the bad news, but there is good news too. First, there is often retail turnover in the new year, all the stores who didn't have as good a holiday as they hoped close and new ones take their place. I found a few "coming soon" signs on Bethesda Avenue and look forward to checking them out when they open.

Organic To Go is replacing the Marvelous Market. They have breakfast and lunch as well as a juice bar and smoothies. Sounds good. (4832 Bethesda Ave, Bethesda, MD)

Sweetgreens salad & yogurt sounds like an interesting food place. Unfortunately their web site is really annoying flash that takes forever to get to the real site. Since I don't like flash based websites and I don't like annoying websites I haven't linked to it.(4831 Bethesda Ave, Bethesda, MD)

The storefront between Potbelly and The Barking Dog will soon have a "ShoeFly" store As you might guess, they sell flies, I'm excited about this one because I have been looking for a local source of Madagascar Hissing Flies. No wait, I just checked their website and it's shoes they sell. (4731A Elm St, Bethesda, MD)

This type of renewal is common and it is encouraging to see this many soon to open stores.

Bethesda, MD: Bad news edition

The poor economy is starting to take its toll on Bethesda. I previously mentioned the Pier 1 Imports closing, but that is not the only casualty. There are also a couple of other stores closing including Maurice Villency which has a really hard to read sign so probably was filled with high-end something or others and Hadji rugs. These rug stores are constantly going out of business, usually they are replaced by another rug store with pretty much the same stock, so it is hard to say if this one is economy related or just the normal course of business. I also noticed in the same area as Pier 1 there are a bunch of kitchen and bath and related design stores. I'd expect these to be hard hit by the recession, don't be surprised if they start closing soon.


I went down Bethesda Avenue to see how it was doing. I found a bunch of stores missing. Artsy Fartsy (4836 Bethesda Ave.) is gone but there is still furniture in the store. Bowhe and PEaRe is closed with no replacement (4803 Bethesda Ave). Also gone are Marvolous Market, and Cameron's Seafood Market.

Life isn't all bad news so stay tuned for the good news edition.

[where: 4803 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD]
[where: 4836 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD]

Bethesda Pier 1 closing

I read that Pier 1 Imports is closing their Bethesda, MD store. They are currently having a store closing sale with discounts of 20% to 50% off (I have doubts about their long-term viability, but for now, it is just this store closing). Funny thing though. A month ago they were having "the pier 1 sale" with up to 75% off. That sale made sense, clear out the leftover christmas stuff. This sale, however, is curious. Did they take the same merchandise that didn't sell at 75% off and now mark it "up to 50% off"? Or, did they put an entirely new season of merchandise in only to mark it down a couple of weeks later? (Above, a picture from February 9th with the 20%-50% off signs. Below, a picture from January 8th with the up to 75% off signs.)

[where: 6801 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda, MD]