Per IKEA, “Our Plan and Order points are smaller stores dedicated to kitchen, bedroom, and living room planning where you can find home furnishing advice and expertise to help design your ideal space.” You can book an appointment to start your design with a planning specialist, or use in-store, self-service tools to design your own solution. “Whilst there are no items to purchase in-store and take home on the day, for your convenience, purchases made at the Plan and Order points can be delivered to your home or picked up from one of our collection points.”

More bout Poke Bros: After the founders were introduced to the Hawaiian staple on a trip to California. The appeal of this fast and casual—while healthy—concept immediately inspired the founders to begin thinking how they could bring this unique dish to the midwest. From its inception, we were confident the foodies of Columbus would love the poké concept, but wanted to provide an inexpensive and accessible product in the larger market. After some intense research and trial and error, the Poké Bros founders developed their own brand of poké bowl flavor they are proud to share and call their own. Modeling similar assembly line casual dining concepts, we developed a unique way to build your “sushi in a bowl” and have fun doing so! As the poké movement has caught on, Poké Bros has rapidly expanded into multiple states across the Midwest and East Coast, offering the same fresh and authentic cuisine to a wider range of customers. We will continue to stick to our roots, as Poké Bros continues to grow, and offer only the best fresh ingredients that fill you up but don’t slow you down.


The Container Store, which currently has one Montgomery County location at 1601 Rockville Pike in Congressional Plaza, will be opening a second Montgomery County location in Gaithersburg.  The retailer specializes in storage, home office organizers and organization supplies, including custom closets and shelving systems. It provides an experience-driven shopping destination with more than 11,000 organizational products offered.

Representatives from the Rockville location were unable to provide us with any additional details about the exact location of the retailer, but we are told that the vacant space in Downtown Crown next to Woodhouse Day Spa is the likely location. The Container Store recently announced that it will be opening six new small format stores in fiscal 2023 and three new stores in fiscal 2024, with Gaithersburg estimated to open in Winter 2023. The Rockville location is approximately 24,000 SF and the small format stores tend to be approximately 15,000 SF.  Visit www.containerstore.com/locationsfor more information about store locations, the product collection, and the services offered. We will have an update with confirmation of the Gaithersburg location being in Downtown Crown as soon as we have it. Below is a list of the six new locations expected to open by the end of 2023.


Spirit Halloween is coming to the former Pier 1 location (30 Grand Corner Ave) in Gaithersburg’s Rio. Currently, the upcoming Gaithersburg store is the only Montgomery County location listed on Spirit’s website. Last year, Spirit had additional locations in Burtonsville and Rockville.  During the Halloween season, Spirit operates over 1,400 stores in North America. The Spirit Halloween website is open year-round, offering its in-store products online. The store usually open 30-60 days prior to Halloween.

In previous years, Spirit has opened at 101 Boardwalk Place in Rio. That location is scheduled to become a new “plan and order” concept from IKEA later this year. Click here to see a full list of what’s new and what’s coming soon at Rio.


Summer Metropolitan Restaurant Week runs from Monday, August 28 until Sunday, September 3, with various Montgomery County restaurants participating (listed below). The event is one of the area’s signature dining promotions that closes out summer and Labor Day Weekend.

“This year’s Summer Restaurant Week cycle is a special one,” said RAMW President & CEO Shawn Townsend. “Not only does the promotional week take place during the DC Jazz Festival, we have multiple restaurants participating from our region’s airports, allowing both locals and travelers to the area to take part in the special offerings.”


Teso Life is coming to 1701 Rockville Pike in The Shops at Congressional Village shopping center. Teso Life is a retail store that collaborates with a variety of well-known Japanese suppliers and has a limited amount of products from China and Korea as well. The company was established in 2017 in Flushing, NY and is based in Queens.

“Teso Life retail store is a great place to shop for high quality daily used products with decent prices, or stick around and enjoy the town! Along with the amazing make-up products, small housewares, kitchen supplier, snacks and more, we look forward to serving the best products in town!” In addition to purchasing in-store, you can order through their website where customers can place both pick-up or delivery orders. An opening date it not yet available for the store.


Spend the day with family and friends at North Bethesda’s premier fall festival– PIKEtoberfest. Get into the fall groove Oktoberfest-style with live music and entertainment throughout the day. Grab a pint of local and craft brews at Owen’s Ordinary beer garden and enjoy a bountiful harvest of eats and treats from the neighborhood’s retail and restaurant partners. Discover artisanal hand-crafted goods at the pop-up Makers Market, play against your friends in exciting games, and get creative with kid’s activities. The event is free to attend and dogs are welcome!

WHAT: PIKEtoberfest at North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose


The ribbon cutting ceremony at Walmart (20910 Frederick Rd) in Germantown scheduled for Friday, August 25 has been rescheduled to Friday, September 1 at 7am. The event is being organized by the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce (GGCC) to mark the completion of recent renovations at the location.  According to the GGCC, “Join us for Walmart Supercenter’s ribbon cutting and unveiling of its new store remodel at the Germantown location! The $7 million remodel includes a new floor plan, parking lot project, new merchandise, food online grocery delivery , and 60 new associate hires. Walmart’s Germantown location currently employees nearly 500 people and is celebrating 20 years of being part of the community.”

Charleys Cheesesteaks and Wings will also opening inside the Germantown Walmart, possibly as soon as this weekend. Charleys is taking over the space formerly occupied by McDonald’s. A representative at the restaurant tells us that they are just waiting for final inspections to be completed.  Featured image courtesy of Google Maps.


Uniqlo will hold its Grand Opening at 914 Ellsworth Dr in Silver Spring on Friday, August 25th at 10am. The Grand Opening will consist of exclusive, limited-time offers that are available only in-store. The event will also feature giveaways and access to new collections, according to the store website. Included in the new collections are locally-inspired ‘Maryland’ and ‘Silver Spring’ designs that have been created by artist Lauren Martin (photos below).

Uniqlo opened its first and only other MoCo location in September of 2018 in Pike & Rose. The Downtown Silver Spring location will be taking over the 10,058 SF space at 914 Ellsworth St that was formerly home to Ulta prior to the move to its current location in Downtown Silver Spring.


Last month we let you know that Dream on Me, the New Jersey-based company that recently purchased Buy Buy Baby’s brand and digital assets for $15.5 million and was a supplier for the store, was the successful bidder for 11 store leases at a bankruptcy auction for about $1.17 million. Buy Buy Baby’s sole Montgomery County location, at 1683 Rockville Pike in Rockville’s Congressional Plaza, closed its doors on Sunday, July 30th, but will be one of 11 stores that will reopen. The store may reopen as early as this fall.

According to a CNBC report, “The group that bought Buy Buy Baby’s intellectual property at a bankruptcy-run auction in June, the owners of baby goods retailer Dream on Me, plans to reopen 11 stores in the Northeast as soon as this fall.” The Montgomery County location in Rockville, which is Buy Buy Baby’s first ever location is included in the openings. The report goes on to say that there is an “ambitious plan to return the brand to its glory years, with 100 to 120 stores over the next one to three years.”


Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry has closed its Rockville Pike (12101 Rockville Pike) location with a sign on the door stating that the store is closed for remodeling. A Peek at the building, and inside, shows major renovations underway (photos below), with the sign redirecting customers to the Jared’s Frederick location at 5617 Spectrum Dr.

In June 2020, Signet Jewelers, the parent company of such brands as Zales, Jared, and Kay Jewelers said it planned to permanently close about 400 stores after all of its stores were temporarily closed in late March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of those closures took place in the last three years. Currently, the space is listed under Diamonds Direct on the Kimco website for the Pike Center, so it’s unclear if the store will return as Jared or as a Diamonds Direct location.


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