Historic Bethesda Community Store Closes Its Doors

BETHESDA, MD — A bite of Bethesda’s culinary history is gone with the recent closing of Bethesda Community Store and Deli.

The 350-square-foot store on the corner of Old Georgetown and Greentree roads, across from the entrance to the National Institutes of Health, wrapped up business May 16.

Owner Arnie Fainman, who was a regular customer of the store when he was a student at Walt Whitman High School, said business had been difficult since security gates were added at the NIH in 2001. A barbecue wagon he operated in the parking lot, along with Christmas tree sales during the holidays, kept the store going. But business dropped off in the past year.

“The last year hasn’t been very good at all for whatever reason … and I’m tired. So I didn’t renew my lease,” Fainman told WTOP.

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Property owner Stan Smith told Bethesda magazine he plans to add on to the building, increasing its size to about 1,000 square feet and add a basement. Smith said he wants a tenant such as another community market or coffee shop.

Fainman is one of the owners of Quincy’s Bar and Grille set to open soon in the space that used to house a Hard Times Cafe on Del Ray Avenue.

Meanwhile, fans of the 92-year-old store will miss its menu of barbecue ribs, chicken and brisket, along with lobster wraps, breakfast sandwiches and sliders.

According to a history of the store by Althea Izawa Fuhr posted on the store’s website, an original store was built around 1892. Historians aren’t clear on what happened to that building, but the current store was built in 1924. The location near the end of the Tennally Town and Rockville Trolley and the Bethesda Amusement Park — now the Bethesda Woman’s Club – was owned by John and Mary Huffman.

The store’s architecture from an earlier era earned it a historic designation by Montgomery County in 1986.