Driver crashes car into Whole Foods in Bethesda (Photos)

A driver accelerated forward over the sidewalk at the Kenwood Station shopping center shortly after noon today, crashing through the front of Whole Foods Market at 5269 River Road, and driving all the way through the produce department. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer said one person was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The cause of the crash is still being investigated. A reader who was at the store forwarded these photos. 

Amazon grocery store to anchor Chevy Chase Lake retail

Uncorked, Truist also sign leases

What grocery store is coming to Chevy Chase Lake? has been one of the burning questions as the former site of the Chevy Chase Supermarket is redeveloped. The answer is Amazon, which will anchor the retail of the new Chevy Chase Lake development now under construction along Connecticut Avenue. At 46,274 square feet, this will be the largest Amazon grocery store yet in the region. Two sources tell me it will be branded Amazon Fresh, although the square footage is more typical of Amazon's Whole Foods Market brand.

The Chevy Chase Lake store will be Amazon's first in Montgomery County to have the company's Just Walk Out technology. Amazon Fresh in Friendship Heights offers the Dash Cart checkout system instead of Just Walk Out. Just Walk Out has previously been limited to smaller Amazon Go stores. That is changing, as Amazon opened a Fresh store with the technology in Bellevue, Washington earlier this year, and will offer it at two new Whole Foods stores in 2022.

Amazon joins two other retail tenants to sign on at Chevy Chase Lake. Uncorked Chevy Chase will be a fine wine and craft beer retailer. And at the corner of Manor Road and Chevy Chase Lake Terrace at the development will be a Truist bank branch.

Whole Foods/Kenwood Station shopping center to get facelift

Kenwood Station, the shopping center home to the popular Whole Foods Market at 5227 River Road in Bethesda, is going to get an exterior makeover later this year. The property owner plans to spend $1 million updating the facade and appearance of the structure, which dates back to the 1980s.

Before its current configuration as a retail center, the building was home to a Brunswick bowling alley. At one point, local hardware chain Hechinger was interested in opening a new location there, but backed off under heavy blowback from nearby residents.

Alas, there's no indication the parking lot will get any updates. It shares the title of Most Frustrating Parking Facility in Bethesda with Trader Joe's - or at least the ones people talk about most often. I could give a pretty long list of others in Bethesda that are just as difficult to use. A one million dollar expenditure suggests the landowner has no immediate plans to redevelop, wisely awaiting the secretly-planned extension of the Purple Line to River Road.

Nighttime noise ahead for some Kenwood residents

Kenwood residents who live near the Kenwood Station shopping center at 5241 River Road may get a rude awakening next week. Cooling towers are scheduled to be installed at the Whole Foods Market grocery store there between 9:00 PM April 3 and 5:00 AM April 4, 2019.

The contractor performing the installation has requested a nighttime noise waiver from Montgomery County to allow the overnight work hours. Stock up on earplugs this week.

Amazon plants flag at Bethesda Whole Foods store (Photos)

Amazon has moved quickly after purchasing the Whole Foods Market grocery chain to make its presence known in their notoriously-expensive stores. A large banner has been put up on the storefront at their River Road location in Bethesda. Inside, small signs in the produce aisle announce new savings on tomatoes, apples and more.

Instead of rewarding Prime subscribers or forcing Whole Foods customers to join Prime, the signs cast the deals as coming from the generosity of the internet retail giant. Missing at the Bethesda store, however, are the Amazon Alexa units patrons are finding at other Whole Foods locations.

A photo of
lemonade from Bethesda's own
Honest Tea, for good measure

Whole Foods apologizes for "miscommunication" of threat to arrest Westbard cemetery protesters

Protesters at the edge of
the Whole Foods shopping center
in Bethesda moments after police
informed them the store would
have them arrested if they set
 foot on the property

Protesters marching against plans Sunday to redevelop land in Bethesda where the desecration of an African-American cemetery has yet to be investigated were stunned to be informed that Whole Foods Market had threatened them with arrest if they set foot on their property. Yesterday, a representative of the organic grocery chain expressed horror at what she described as a "miscommunication."

"I am confident Store Leadership at our Bethesda store did not tell the group that 'anyone who set foot on the property would be arrested,'" Mary Ann Sack, Mid-Atlantic Executive Marketing Coordinator for Whole Foods wrote to community members in an email obtained by Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row. "[W]e are all upset that somehow this message was communicated. We feel fortunate to be a part of the Westbard Bethesda community and value our relationships with the neighborhoods that surround the store. Whole Foods Market is genuinely invested in bringing together our community partners—so what happened on Sunday doesn’t sit right with us."

Sack said that the property owners make the ultimate decision on who can or cannot enter the property, not the store. She added that the store would consider donating food or flowers to a future Macedonia Baptist Church event, to demonstrate "we are 'kind and peaceful' neighbors."

Ancestors of the MBC congregation are among those buried in the cemetery.

CAVA MEZZE FOOD AND COOKING EVENT 4-7 PM TODAY AT WHOLE FOODS BETHESDA

Stop by Whole Foods on River Road today between 4 and 7 PM, for and evening of food, cooking demonstrations by Chef Dimitri of Cava Grill at Bethesda Row (and several other locations), and promotion of local agriculture.

Call ahead just so they know how many to expect; the event is FREE.

WATCH OUT FOR THAT - OUCH! - TRENCH ACROSS RIVER ROAD IN BETHESDA! (PHOTO)

A trench - likely man-made - has appeared on River Road in Bethesda, between Ridgefield Road and Whole Foods (Kenwood Station shopping center).

Part of it appears to have collapsed slightly, creating a pothole rut in places (enlarge photo to see more detail). Apparently, somebody thought this was a brilliant idea.

Just wanted to pass this along, as the polar temperatures are likely to only make it worse by the time the evening rush hour comes around.

Pass it on, if you know people who take River Road through there.

BETHESDA URBAN PARTNERSHIP, HONEST TEA DELIVER BIKE RACK TO WHOLE FOODS BETHESDA

Cyclists have one more reason to hit the Capital Crescent Trail out of downtown Bethesda today.  Bethesda's own Honest Tea built a bike storage rack made out of 15,000 Honest Kids juice pouches, and donated it to Whole Foods on River Road yesterday.  Assisting in this effort was Bethesda Urban Partnership.

Whole Foods Bethesda

Now you can take the CCT over to River Road, lock your bike at Whole Foods, and take advantage of what's in the Westbard area.  Obviously, shopping at Whole Foods is one!  You also have Ledo's Pizza, which is one of the few chains that has an original pizza recipe, rather than just a knock-off of Pizza Hut or Dominos.  How about a sandwich at Georgetown Bagelry?  The only McDonald's left in Bethesda is diagonally across the street.  At Westwood Center II, get a steak sandwich at West River Deli, or sushi at Yirasai.  Then bowl a few frames at Bowlmor Lanes.

Not bad for a zero-environmental impact Saturday afternoon.