Pictured you’ll see Silia Campanero Di Franco cutting her brother Attillio Campanaro’s hair. The Watkins Mill graduates have moved their salon, Illusions Hair Studio, from the Montgomery Village shopping center to Quince Orchard Plaza.

In 1966, 18-year old Rico Campanero arrived in the United States from Italy, having never given a single haircut. But in 1968 he purchased his first barber shop – Rocco’s located in Silver Spring. Now, six salons later (including locations in Lake Forest Mall and Frederick), 71-year-old Rico, his wife Grace and two of his three children, Attilio and Silia (graduates of Watkins Mill High School) have relocated Illusions Hair Studio from Montgomery Village to Quince Orchard Plaza in Gaithersburg, Maryland due to construction and redevelopment of the Montgomery Village shopping center.


We were just informed of two impending closures at Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg.

Forever 21, the “fast fashion” retailer known for its trendy offerings and low pricing, filed for bankruptcy last month. At the time, the Lakeforest location was the only one of the four MoCo locations that was not listed as one of the stores expected to close.


ViVi Bubble Tea, a New York Based bubble tea chain, will be opening soon in Montgomery Village Plaza (18236 Countour Rd).

They currently have over 30 locations nationwide, most being in New York. The closest ViVi Bubble Tea location is in Rockville and there was previously a planned location in the Spectrum Town Center in Gaithersburg, but those plans seem to have been cancelled.


The grocery store chain was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1974 and is currently headquartered in Hanover Park, IL. They currently have 54 locations in 19 states., including three in Maryland (one MoCo location in Rockville– 15110 Rockville Pike).


“Not only does the new school provide children an amazing fun outlet to learn discipline and respect while exercising but the new school is recognized as a Olympic level school, which gives interested students an opportunity to train to become part of team USA” says owner, David Abraham.

Abraham also believes “Senshi will be a great addition to the community as todays children spend more time behind a phone of table screen then in activities.”


In 2014, Schattner was drenched in sweat at an outdoor summer wedding. He was working in finance at the time and always hated wearing uncomfortable dress shirts. As someone who played sports their whole life, he preferred wearing dri-fit/athletic wear material. That’s when he came up with the idea to bring the two worlds together by creating a moisture wicking dress shirt that contained both fabrics.

​He spent the next couple years working on prototypes and launched Lawrence Hunt in 2016. The company is named after his father’s first and middle names and is based in Detroit, MI., where Schattner has lived with his wife since graduating from the University of Michigan in 2006.


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