Updated – 10 a.m. – The high-end retail store Louis Vuitton has closed its doors in Chevy Chase.
The windows of the store at the Collection at Chevy Chase were covered Wednesday with what appeared to be plastic and the location has been removed from the company’s website.
A sign on the door at the Wisconsin Avenue store thanked customers and directs shoppers looking for Louis Vuitton to the Saks Fifth Avenue across the street.
The closing was not surprising. The Chevy Chase Land Co., owners of The Collection, is planning to revamp the shopping center and to move it away from high-end retail tenants.
Company officials detailed a redesign plan this spring that calls for bringing more open space to the shopping center and updating its façade, as well as introducing retailers that offer products a niche above major chain retailers, but below high-end luxury stores. The redesign will also lead to changes in the tenant lineup at the neighborhood shops that make up Chevy Chase Center along Wisconsin Circle.
The Louis Vuitton store is among other pricey retailers that closed at the center in the past few years: Barney’s CO-OP closed in 2012 and the Dior and Gucci stores closed earlier this year. The Gucci store moved to CityCenterDC.
Still, several high-end retailers such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Jimmy Choo remain open at the shopping center.
Miti Figueredo, Chevy Chase Land Co.’s vice president of planning and entitlement, said Wednesday that some of the high-end stores will remain through the redesign of the shopping center, while some will exit as the company attempts to find the right mix of tenants.
“It’s not a wholesale turnover by any means,” Figueredo said.
She said the company expects to announce in the next few months the names of new stores and restaurants that will join The Collection’s retail lineup.
Workers were clearing out the store Wednesday morning and throwing items into a dumpster behind the store. Credit: Andrew Metcalf
Update: A previous version of this story said the Gucci store at the shopping center remained open, it in fact closed in February and moved to CityCenterDC. The story has been updated.
