A few weeks ago, Phillip Kennicott wrote a nice piece in the Washington Post about the death of the shop window in Washington. The thrust of the piece was that more and more, stores are blocking up their front windows in order to increase their shelf space.

Around town, nobody seems to be more of a purveyor of these blocked windows than CVS. And so it’s a pleasant surprise that CVS has recently made huge changes to the front of their two Georgetown stores to open up their respective shop windows.

Above is a photo of the M St. CVS. You can see that with the introduction of the self-check out kiosks, the store has removed the front counter. This enabled them to clear out the whole front window. Just compare it to what it used to look like:

A lot better, don’t you think? (Although turning it back into the Biograph would be an even better step).

They brought similar changes to the Wisconsin Ave. CVS as well. Here it is before:

And here’s what it looks like now:

In short: Thank you, CVS, for bringing a little more transparency to Georgetown.

Cross-posted at Georgetown Metropolitan.

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Tagged: blank walls, cat:retail, dc, georgetown, public spaces, retail

Topher Mathews has lived in the DC area since 1999. He created the Georgetown Metropolitan in 2008 to report on news and events for the neighborhood and to advocate for changes that will enhance its urban form and function. A native of Wilton, CT, he lives with his wife and daughter in Georgetown.