Back in May we let you know about ‘That Smoothie Place’ coming to Damascus, taking over the location that was formerly home to Sprint in the Damascus shopping center at 9815 Main Street, suite 106. The store is now expected to open within the next couple weeks.

That Smoothie Place has been operating as a food truck since 2018, frequenting Damascus and other surrounding areas.  They offer a variety of smoothies known as “Rock Star Smoothies” named after popular rock stars of the past and present. The featured photo shows a special known as “The Lennox” named after Annie Lennox of the popular 80s group Eurythmics and contains apple, banana, apple cider  and a few other ingredients. Other smoothies on the menu include the Ozzy, Ringo Starr, Jagger, Morrison, and more.


Back in June we let you know that a Nike Unite store is coming to Downtown Silver Spring, taking over the location that was formerly home to DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse location at 910 Ellsworth Drive. The store has set an opening date of November 3rd, per its Google listing (photo below, first reported by Source of the Spring).

An employee at the Nike Unite store told us that the pricing and products offered at a Unite store are similar to that of a Nike Factory store (often found at outlets), with a slightly different layout and a specific return section for items purchased on Nike.com. Nike describes the Nike Unite concept as:


Back in March we let you know of a the third Crumbl Cookies location that will be coming to Montgomery County, as a new store signed on at 277 Kentlands Blvd, next to Panera, in the space that was formerly home to TD Ameritrade. We stopped by yesterday and a representative let us know that the cookie spot will open on Thursday, October 6th (which is also what Google lists as the opening date in the screen capture below).

Crumbl Cookies is a bakery with locations nationwide that sells chocolate chip and sugar cookies every day, but the rest of their offerings rotate. Their flavors range from experimental (watermelon chilled sugar cookie), to cookie twists on classic desserts (peach cobbler cookie), to more traditional cookies (peanut butter brownie cookie). The first MoCo location opened at Federal Plaza in Rockville in 2020 and opened a Germantown location earlier this month.


Fatburger, which was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1947, has opened a restaurant in nearby Manassas, VA at 8097 Sudley Rd. The restaurant opened earlier this month and is the first Fatburger location in the DC area.

While FatBurger is a fast food restaurant, the food is cooked and made to order. It was originally named “Mr. Fatburger” until the “Mr.” was removed in 1952. Some Fatburger restaurants have liquor licenses as well as “Fat Bars”. Its franchise headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California. In addition to the United States, the chain operates in 19 other countries, and there are east coast locations in Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.


Rockville-based Silver Diner, which opened its first restaurant in Montgomery County back in 1989, will open its first DC location at 1250 Half Street, SE (Ball Park/Navy Yard) on October 5th. The unique two-story location will have two two restaurants– Silver Diner downstairs and Silver Social, a 21+ terrace lounge, upstairs.

This will be the 18th restaurant for Silver Diner, which has locations in Maryland and Virginia, and the first to offer the Silver Social concept (previously referred to as Bar Silver). The 8,000-square-foot location will have seating for approximately 300 people and an outdoor terrace overlooking Nats Park.


Spencer’s in known for selling novelty items like lava lamps, shot glasses, t-shirts, and 18+ items like lingerie and sex toys. According to their website, Spencer’s is “the mall destination for entertainment, excitement, and fun” and has been in business of over 65 years.

From their website: “Starting out as a mail order company in 1947, Spencer’s opened its first retail store in 1963 at New Jersey’s Cherry Hill Mall. From the outset, Spencer’s quickly became an oasis within the mall environment offering our guests an entertaining experience both through its merchandising and product mix and grew to a national chain by the mid-’70s. In 2003, under new management, Spencer’s lifted the bar higher and set out to reinvent itself. Remaining true to its roots, this reinvention set Spencer’s on the path to greatness in a subtle shift from Spencer Gifts to Spencer’s in newly re-designed funky, industrial spaces with an award-winning downtown club look.


Cabin John Village, formerly known as the Cabin John shopping center and mall, is  named for the adjacent creek and regional park. It has been a pillar of the Potomac community since 1967 and was acquired by EDENS in 2016. Per EDENS: “EDENS has transformed the traditional shopping center experience into a welcoming communal environment that naturally fosters meaningful social interaction. Complementary retail options include a curated mix of home goods, dining, health and wellness and more outdoor greenspace welcomes the opportunity for community events.” Below you’ll see a list of some of the places coming soon to the shopping center:

Augie’s: Augie’s Mussel House and Beer Garden is coming to 7747 Tuckerman Ln (Cabin John Village), the former site of Lahinch Tavern. Augie’s currently has a location at 1106 King Street in Alexandria, VA. In addition to mussels, menu items include a 10-Day Cured & Smoked Brisket Sandwich, Chicken Pot Pie Empanada, Chicken & Waffles,  and Soft Shell Crab.  Opening information has not been announced.


Coming soon signage is up for Royal Jewelers (RoyalDMV) in Westfield Wheaton Mall. Royal describes itself as a one-stop-shop for exuberant hip-hop jewelry. Royal will join Ardene, Classic Diamond by Pandora, Crown, Elite, Gold Palace, Kay, Paradise, Ruby,  and Sun’s on the list of jewelers located at Wheaton mall. No opening date has been announced.

In related news, former NFL star Antonio Brown stopped by Crown Jewelers (also located in Wheaton Mall) recently for some early morning shopping. Video below:


Popular Tex-Mex restaurant Guapo’s will open its 7th traditional restaurant location in the building that was formerly home to Chevy’s at 3052 Gate House Plaza in Falls Church, according to a BizJournals report. Late owner Hector Rincón opened the original Guapo’s in Tenleytown (DC) 31 years ago and has since opened locations in Shirlington, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Fair Lakes, Tenleytown and Georgetown (the most recent location, which opened in 2018). The Rincon family still operates all Guapo’s restaurants.

Chevys is an American chain of Tex-Mex restaurants that was founded in 1986 by Warren Simmons in Alameda, California. In the late 90’s the chain grew to approximately 100 restaurants nationwide, including a Gaithersburg location where Buffalo Wild Wings operates today in the Quince Orchard shopping center (photo seen below). As of last year, there were 22 Chevys Fresh Mex restaurants located throughout the United States, mostly in northern California (9 locations). The closest Chevys locations are located in Arlington and Greenbelt.


Specialty furniture brand Lovesac is planning to open a new location in Gaithersburg’s Downtown Crown. The company’s name comes from the brand’s original Durafoam-filled bean bags called Sacs and will be located at 111 Crown Park Ave, next to LA Fitness in the space that was formerly home to Couture Bridal of Maryland (which is now located at 322 East Diamond Ave in Gaithersburg).

Stamford, Connecticut-based Lovesac was founded in 1998 and first came to the area when it opened its Montgomery mall location in 2017. The retailer specializes in a patented modular furniture system called “Sactionals.” Sactionals combine both multiple “seats” and “sides,” as well as custom-fit covers and accessories that allow patrons to configure different styles of seating. Sactionals can fit most spaces, no matter the size or layout, because patrons can add, subtract and arrange pieces in an infinite number of ways. There are more than 250 available fabric options and more than 150 available covers that are machine washable, according to the company’s website.


Coming soon signage is up at Miss Toya’s Southern Kitchen at 229 Boardwalk Pl. in Rio. The restaurant will be located in the 2,741SF space previously occupied by BGR, which closed back in June. Miss Toya’s Southern Kitchen in Rio will be a fast-casual restaurant, while the recently opened Miss Toya’s Creole Kitchen at 923 Ellsworth Dr in Downtown Silver Spring is full-service (wait staff, etc.).

The restaurant is part of Jeffeary Miskiri’s Miskiri Hospitality Group, which describes itself as a unique collective of Black, family and woman-owned products and restaurants in the DC area. Miss Toya’s will serve southern-influenced dishes such as red beans and rice, macaroni and cheese and a southern fried chicken sandwich. It will be joining the recently announced Sportrock Climbing Centers and Charley Prime as well as the recently opened Donutchew, as locally-based businesses opening in Gaithersburg’s Rio. No opening date has been provided.


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