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The Pretzel Bakery is Now Open

By MCS Staff

Back in November we let you know that The Pretzel Bakery, which opened it’s DC location at 257 15th Street SE in DC back in 2012, was coming to Cabin John Village in Potomac. The bakery is located in the space formerly occupied by the Hair Cuttery at 7961 Tuckerman Ln. According to its website, the Pretzel Bakery serves small batch, hand-rolled, Philadelphia-style soft pretzels fresh-out-of-the-oven all day.  In addition to traditional pretzels, they also sell pretzel dogs, pretzel calzones, stuffed pretzel “bombs”, and pretzel sliders.

It is now open. According to Google, the hours of operation are as follows:

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Michael Kors Has Closed in Montgomery Mall

By MCS Staff

Michael Kors has closed its Montgomery Mall location permanently, according to a google listing. The store removed all signage a couple weeks back, but remains listed on the Michael Kors website, and Westfield Montgomery directory. The phone number still leads to a Michael Kors recording with temporary hours, but a representative from the Tyson’s location confirmed today that the store has closed.

In July 2020, Reuters reported that American luxury group Capri (Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Versace) estimated a 70% loss of sales due to the corona pandemic. The report stated that Capri may permanently close up to 170 stores, mostly Michael Kors, over the next two years. It seems as though the Montgomery Mall Michael Kors location was one of those casualties.

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Chef Gregory Webb, Who Competed Against Bobby Flay, is Bringing Laperaux, the journeymanchef’s Bistro to Germantown

By MCS Staff

A new restaurant, Laperaux, the journeymanchef’s Bistro,  is coming to 18056 Mateny Rd in Germantown, the former home of Gumbo Ya Ya, Dickie’s BBQ Pit, and Cafe Mileto (located in the same strip as Shoppers). Chef and owner Gregory Webb, who has earned such accolades and awards as “Chef of the Year 1998” in Houston, Texas, “Winner all Categories” at the Texas Open Wild Game Cookoff, “Top Chefs of Mexico City” and many others, will be bringing a French bistro to the location, which hopes to open this Spring.

The restaurant will offer high casual cuisine created by Webb, who has competed against Bobby Flay on The Food Network, and won numerous ‘chopped style’ competitions put on for various local charity and fund raising events, including DC Central Kitchen’s Chefs Cook Off. Webb decided on the location because it’s close to his Gaithersburg home. Previously, he spent 7 years as the executive chef at Downtown Crown’s Paladar. He looks forward to continuing to serve the community and is hoping for an August opening. We’ll have updates for you as construction progresses at the upcoming restaurant.

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Local Dollar Tree Stores to Add $3 and $5 Items

By Patrick Herron

National chain Dollar Tree, which has MoCo locations in Damascus, Derwood, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Montgomery Village, Rockville, and Silver Spring, has begun adding “Dollar Tree Plus” sections to area stores. Items in the “Plus” section will be priced $3 and $5.  New higher priced items include cookware, headphones, chargers, and t-shirts (Baby Yoda, Lilo & Stich, etc.)  similar to those found at FiveBelow.

In January, Dollar Tree raised the price of all items in their stores from $1 to $1.25. The company said the price hike was not a result of inflation, but rather to “allow the company to offer a wider range of merchandise.” Regarding the new “Plus” pricing, Dollar Tree’s President and CEO Michael Witynski  said, “For decades, our customers have enjoyed the ‘thrill-of-the-hunt’ for value at one dollar – and we remain committed to that core proposition – but many are telling us that they also want a broader product assortment when they come to shop. We believe testing additional price points above $1 for Dollar Tree product will enable us over time to expand our assortments, introduce new products and meet more of our customers’ everyday needs.”

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Two MoCo Restaurants Top Eater’s ’15 Hottest New Restaurants Around D.C.’ List (April Edition)

By MCS Staff

Two Montgomery County restaurants (the only ones on the list) took the #1 and #2 spots in the latest Eater DC list, pointing diners toward the 15 most intriguing or otherwise buzzworthy new restaurants in the D.C. area.

#2 went to Planta, an upscale plant-based restaurant featuring a menu by Chef David Lee, that opened at 4910 Elm St at Bethesda Row in the location formerly occupied by Cafe Deluxe. Planta was founded in 2016 and currently has several locations in Florida, New York, and Toronto. Planta has been notable for serving a long list of different celebrities who aren’t plant-based like Rob Gronkowski, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and more, pushing that the restaurant was created for everyone. The Bethesda Row location seats approximately 140 people inside, as well as an additional 50 people on an outdoor patio.

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Two MoCo Pizza Spots Top Eater’s ‘7 Exciting New Pizza Places to Try Around D.C.’ List

By MCS Staff

Eater has released a list of ‘7 Exciting New Pizza Places to Try Around D.C.’ and the top two spots have got to two new Montgomery County restaurants.

Coming in at #2 is the recently opened Underground Pizza, which opened its first Montgomery County location in February after serving the area via pop-ups since 2020. Underground Pizza is located at 8235 Georgia Ave in Silver Spring. in the space that was formerly home to Olazzo.

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Alex Baby and Toys is Coming Soon to Montgomery Mall

By MCS Staff

Alex Baby and Toys, a new concept from FYE, will be coming soon to Montgomery Mall. It will be located downstairs next to Old Navy. Though the FYE website lists two locations at Montgomery Mall (doesn’t specify that the locations are not yet open), we are told there will only be one in the mall.

Signage is up on the exterior of the upcoming toy/baby product store, but construction remains ongoing inside. As of now, there aren’t many details as to what the store will provide, but the name is pretty telling.

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Shady Grove Burger King Reopens; Now Includes HUGE PIZZA from Ripieno’s and Jo Jo’s Express

By MCS Staff

The Burger King located at 16004 Shady Grove Rd has reopened after being closed for renovations since the start of 2021. Along with Burger King comes Ripieno’s of Ocean City and Jo Jo’s Express, which has a location in Salisbury. All three restaurants have separate menus and cashiers and the setup of the restaurant is similar to that off a food hall/food court with a common dining area.

Ripieno’s features its famous 28” wood-fire pizza, calzones, and subs. JoJo’s Express features “American style” dishes like fried chicken, steak, and fried seafood. The Burger King has the standard Burger King menu and is available from the drive-thru (the other two restaurants are not available via drive-thru). All three restaurants also share a salad bar. Check out this video of how huge the pizza actually is.

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Curious to See How Much WRS Paid to Acquire the Anchor Sites at Lakeforest Mall in February?

By MCS Staff

On February 28th, WRS Inc., a real estate investment firm based out of South Carolina, purchased Lakeforest Mall’s four anchor sites. The firm previously purchased the core, ponds, and forest conservation of the mall back in 2019. Last week, Gaithersburg’s Office of Economic Development released the dollar amount the properties were acquired for, per Maryland Land Records.

A total of $75 million was paid to acquire Lakeforest Mall.

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Progress at Upcoming Pollo Campero Location in Gaithersburg

By MCS Staff

Back in January, we let you know that Pollo Campero would be taking over the location that was home to KFC until December 2020 at 426 N Frederick Rd in Gaithersburg.

The building has been fenced off and construction has been ongoing since then. The exterior of the building has also been repainted as the restaurant moves closer to opening.

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