To the Editor:

Our quality of life, even in Potomac, continues to deteriorate as yet another retailer folds.

The most recent victim was the closing of Toys Unique after 20 years in the Village. One store after another has closed over the past decade and the closure rate continues to go through the roof. Businesses closing and new ones opening is a normal, healthy cycle. However vacancies are becoming harder and harder to fill (e.g., Hamburger Hamlet) and worse yet the new businesses are just banks and Realtors. Landlords in areas where retail space is limited owe it to their communities to maintain a healthy mix of businesses. It should not be sufficient to be one of the fortunate investors who had the connections to buy some of the very limited amount of retail space. Local governments owe it to the community to make it clear that if landlords can't do right by the community, then they will facilitate zoning of additional retail space. And, speaking of poor oversight by government entities, I would suggest that one of the reasons that gasoline prices are so high in Montgomery County is due to permitting Exxon to acquire Mobil years ago without divesting itself of some of the gas stations that enable Exxon to avoid significant competition.

David Epstein

Potomac