Altar'd State is closing permanently at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, at the close of business today, May 21, 2023. The Christian women's apparel boutique opened here in April 2018. This closure we can blame on Montgomery County's hostile business climate and County Council, as the brand is neither going bankrupt, nor closing stores elsewhere in the country. In fact, a company press release exactly one month ago described Altar'd State as "a rapidly growing women's fashion brand with 123 Altar'd State stores, 25 Arula boutiques, six Vow'd boutiques and two Tullabee boutiques in 38 states."
How and why do you attribute this store's closing to "Montgomery County's hostile business climate and County Council," with zero reporting to back that up?
ReplyDeleteI'd attribute it much more that women in Montgomery County -- particularly down county where the store was located -- are much more secular and less likely to identify as fundamentally "Christian" -- than women in other parts of the country.
I'm a Montgomery County woman and I wouldn't be caught dead in a Christian women's store."
As a career journalist myself that was some sloppy work.
I don't think it was sloppy at all. I researched the company and its current financial standing, and found that it is not faring poorly nor closing stores elsewhere in the country.
DeleteThe chain has a number of stores in the northeast. I would hardly describe Long Island, NY or the Boston area as hotbeds of evangelical Christianity. None of those stores are closing.
What is left is the business climate in Montgomery County, which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers - and the County's structural budget deficit - confirm is abysmal. We were recently beaten by Prince George's County in job creation, as one of many examples.
I would believe Mr Dyer before a Montgomery County "career journalist."
ReplyDeletei.e. you'd believe a conservative, whinney, little brat.
DeleteThere is nothing “Christian” about the clothing brand. I looked on the website. They have astrology sign jewelry. The clothes are not modest.
ReplyDeleteMontgomery County's hostile business climate and County Council
ReplyDelete