MoCo businesses receive approximately $2.5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds
17,323 MoCo businesses received loans from the Small Business Association’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Congress passed the PPP in early April to boost small business damaged by the pandemic.
Texas Bar-B-Q Factory is Now Open in the Clarksburg Outlets
The Filipino-owned barbecue spot was a fixture in the Lakeforest Mall food court for over a decade before closing.
Don Pollo Chicken opening soon in Downtown Silver Spring.
The local chain will open their Ellsworth Ave. restaurant in about three weeks. Don Pollo currently has five MoCo locations: Glenmont, Briggs Chaney, Rockville, Bethesda, and Germantown.
The Montgomery County Government recently announced that they have made visits to 1,900 MoCo businesses to ensure that safety procedures are being followed. Two hookah lounges, a bar, and a restaurant have been closed for not properly following opening guidelines.
Per the county’s instructions, residents who have concerns about a business not following COVID-19 restrictions should email [email protected] or call 311.
Salt & Vine, which took ownership of Ricciutis Kitchen back in February, announced on social media earlier this week that they will debut a new pizza truck.
According to Salt & Vine owner Thomas Zippelli, the truck will be parked out front of the restaurant until renovations are finished.
Signage for Crumbl Cookies was added recently to a storefront in Rockville’s Federal Plaza. Crumbl Cookies is a nationwide bakery franchise that offers different freshly baked cookies each week. They sell 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, pictured here).
It does not seem like Crumbl will open anytime soon– the Crumbl website announced their new stores opening in July and the upcoming Rockville location was not included yet.
Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg has found creative ways to make social distancing a little more fun.
In order to promote carryout from local restaurants, they have drawn ‘picnic circles’ on the open grass areas, providing expansive seating 6 feet apart with a view of the water.
Home Goods and T.J.MAXX in Olney Village Center have reopened to the public after previously being closed due to the ongoing pandemic.
Both stores have implemented new policies to protect both customers and employees. These include plastic shields separating customers from the registers, arrows designating which way to walk through the stores, and a requirement for masks.
Mimi King’s Kitchen is Coming to the Clarksburg Outlets
The local food truck will be in the Clarksburg Outlets parking most starting this Friday, July 3rd.
Back in April, Attman’s Deli announced that they had closed their Cabin John location and were planning to move into a new spot, somewhere nearby. At the time of the announcement, no official location was disclosed.
There have been rumors that they might potentially move into Park Potomac, in the spot previously occupied by Zoe’s kitchen. Today, we heard that there appeared to be people loading furniture and equipment from an Attman’s truck into that space.
The Westfield malls in Montgomery County reopened this past Monday, June 23. Here are some more details on what Wheaton Mall specifically looks like:
Even though it’s the first week, many people are already frequenting the mall. All stores must follow a set of safety guidelines designated by both Westfield and the government, which includes mandating customers to wear masks, prohibiting outside food and drink, and disinfecting high-contact areas frequently. These guidelines are posted on signs throughout the mall.