Per the City of Rockville:
Rockville will hold two virtual forums in November, for shopping center owners, property managers and tenants, seeking feedback on how the city can provide greater support. The forums will be held 9-10:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 14 and 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15. Both are open to the public.

The city, Rockville Economic Development, Inc., and the Rockville Chamber of Commerce have worked together to create smoother and more timely development and permitting processes, as well as improvements to requirements for permanent signage that allows shopping centers greater visibility.

To support new and existing businesses, future actions under consideration include changes to parking standards, improving opportunities for existing and new businesses, and supporting redevelopment.

The forum will be conducted online via WebEx. Details are available on the city’s online calendar at www.rockvillemd.gov/calendar. For more information, email Seth Rivard, [email protected], or Katie Gerbes, [email protected].

Charik African Fashion will be opening soon at 520 N Frederick Ave in Gaithersburg, the former site of Carter’s.

The family owned African fashion store sells shoes, clothing, and accessories. The company previously had a location inside of Lakeforest Mall.

The store tells us they are planning for final inspections to be completed this week and will announce an opening date very soon.

Photos below courtesy of Charik’s Instagram page.

Visit their website at www.charikshoponline.com.

Montgomery County has announced that all 26 of its ABS (Alcohol Beverage Services) retails stores have returned to normal hours. Montgomery County reduced the hours back on January 12 due to staffing issues.

Per Montgomery County:

“Starting today, 25 of the ABS stores will be open from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. every day. The Poolesville spirits-only store will be open from noon-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It will be closed on Sundays.

A complete list of all ABS stores, including locations, hours, and phone numbers, can be found at https://montgomerycountymd.gov/ABS/stores/.

ABS is the alcohol wholesaler of beer, wine, and spirits for Montgomery County and operates 26 retail stores throughout the County. In addition, ABS manages alcohol licensing, enforcement, and education for more than 1,000 businesses. Generating more than $30 million in net income annually, its profits are used to pay down County debt with a large portion deposited in the general fund to pay for resident services that would otherwise be funded by County tax dollars.”

National chain Dollar Tree, which has MoCo locations in Derwood, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Montgomery Village, Rockville, and Silver Spring, has raised the price of all items in their stores from $1 to $1.25.

According to Market Watch, Dollar Tree says the higher prices are not a result of inflation, but rather to allow the company to offer a wider range of merchandise.

Dollar Tree began rolling out the price increase at its 2,000 locations in December. We’re told the price increases at the MoCo locations began this week and the company says they will have all stores switched over to the $1.25 price by the end of the first quarter.

“Lifting the one-dollar constraint represents a monumental step for our organization and we are enthusiastic about the opportunity to meaningfully improve our shoppers’ experience and unlock value for our stakeholders,” said Dollar Tree president and CEO Michael Witynski.

Last year Kohl’s announce a major partnership with Sephora that would open 850 Sephora “shop-in-shops” in Kohl’s locations across the country by 2023, in a similar deal to the one struck between Target and Ulta. Sephora previously had a partnership with J.C. Penney that has been slowly winding down ever since J.C. Penney filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

Kohl’s has Montgomery County locations in Aspen Hill, Calverton, Gaithersburg, and Germantown, and is about to start construction on the first Sephora shop-in-shop location at the Calverton location, which is in the orchard Center on Cherry Hill Road. This will be the first Kohl’s location in Maryland to add a Sephora.

Germantown will likely be next, as a Sephora is anticipated to open within Kohl’s this upcoming summer. As of now, there are no plans to open Sephora shop-in-shops in the Aspen Hill or Gaithersburg locations, but that could change as the year goes on. Sephora products are available online and can be shipped to any of the Kohl’s locations in the area.

The first 200 shop-in-shops have already opened across the country, with the next wave opening throughout this year. The Sephora shops-in-shop will be about 2,500 sf and will be located at the front of Kohl’s stores. For stores with two entrances, one will be dedicated solely to Sephora.

Updated 12/26/21

Back in the 1980s, a law was passed which prohibited booze from being sold in Maryland grocery stores.  At the time that this law passed, four MoCo supermarkets were allowed to be the exception due to a grandfather clause: Shoppers, Giant, Safeway, and Magruder’s. However, these stores are only allowed one location each to sell beer and wine.  For a while, two 7-elevens in the county also sold beer and wine, but that permission was revoked after legal battles. Some specialty stores, that are also considered grocery stores, also sell beer and wine (Balducci’s, Roots, etc.).

Currently, all counties in Maryland have dry grocery stores with the exception of : Caroline County, Prince George’s County (one location allowed per store brand), St. Mary’s County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, and Worcester County.

In 2018, Comptroller Peter Franchot urged Maryland to allow alcohol sales in grocery stores.  He planned to propose a bill to loosen regulations, but this plan was stopped in its tracks after setbacks with other alcohol reforms.

A bill was introduced by District 15’s Delegate Lily Qi in February of 2021. The bill would have guaranteed access for a Class A beer and wine license for grocery stores in specific areas and make it allowable for grocery stores in other areas to obtain these licenses as well. The areas with guaranteed access, labeled as “areas of priority funding”, have fewer grocery stores and residents are less readily able to access fresh food.

Besides allowing easier access to beer and wine in grocery stores, proponents said that this bill would encourage new grocery stores to move to certain areas because they would be incentivized by the guarantee of having a beer and wine license.  In turn, this would allow residents to have easier access to new sources of fresh food.

The bill stated that in order to be eligible for a Class A license, the stores must offer a full line of food products in at least six different categories– some of these categories include fresh fruits and vegetables, uncooked meat/poultry/seafood, dairy products, and more. Other stipulations include that at least 50% of the square footage is dedicated to the sale of food or (non-alcoholic) beverages.

The county council spoke for around 40 minutes about this topic at the February 22nd, 2021 County Council meeting before eventually deciding to table their decision.  One of the main factors that came into play was that the discussion of the bill was added as a last minute agenda item and council members were not provided with a briefing beforehand.

Some council members support the bill, Councilmember Hans Riemer said it was “long overdue.” Councilmember Andrew Friedson asserted that “residents are understandably confused about our complex alcohol laws, probably the biggest one they’re confused about is why they can’t purchase beer and wine in grocery stores– this is a rare restriction across the country.”

Some members raised concerns–  including that it could be detrimental to small businesses.  There was a worry that a large store such as Costco would be able to offer beer and wine and that smaller stores would not be able to compete with the low prices.  However, the bill states that only stores “for which the premises do not exceed 15,000 square feet” would be admitted a license under this bill. (For reference, a typical Costco is anywhere from 73,000-200,000 square feet and would far exceed this limit.)

Ultimately, the council decided to table any further action until their next meeting, largely due to having a lack of time to read more about the bill. On March 17th, 2021, the bill was withdrawn by Delegate Lily Qi. As with many bills, we expect this one to be tweaked before it gets reintroduced in 2022.

Featured photo courtesy of Michelle Katz

DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) will be closing its location at 910 Ellsworth Dr on January 22
and will be opening a new location in Ellsworth Place at 8661 Colesville Rd, according to a report by Source of the Spring. DSW will be taking over the space formerly occupied by Guitar Center and expects to open on March 24.  The Silver Spring Guitar Center closed back in January of this year, while the Rockville Guitar Center at 12401 Twinbrook Pkwy remains open.

We reported in November that DSW will be opening a new location in the Milestone Center in Germantown (20900-B Frederick Road), at the former home of Modell’s. The company currently has already has one store in Germantown, located in the Germantown Commons shopping center just under 3 miles away from the upcoming location. We were told there are no current plans to close the current Germantown location.

DSW was founded in 1969 as Shonac Corporation and was the shoe licensee for Value City. The company opened its first store in 1991 in Ohio and was acquired by Value City in 1998. It was acquired by Retail Ventures in 2004, went public in 2005, and then acquired Retail Ventures (its biggest shareholder) in 2011.

Grog Beer and Wine at 524 N. Frederick Ave in the Gaithersburg Square shopping center is now closed and signage says the store will be moving to 513 Quince Orchard Rd in Gaithersburg this month. Grog was previously located in the space now occupied by Habit Burger.

Permanent signage is now up at &pizza, which will be located next to Allure Jewelers, close to Chipotle.

The growing chain has MoCo locations in Bethesda, Gaithersburg (Crown), Germantown, Pike & Rose, and Silver Spring. &pizza will also be opening up a location in Olney later this year.

The new electric fire pit located in front of the former Chuck E Cheese at 516 N. Frederick Ave, is now active.

In October we reported that Five Below would be moving into the former Chuck E Cheese space.

Chuck E. Cheese closed back in June of 2020.

The T-Mobile at 524 N. Frederick Ave has recently closed. Signage on the front door directs customers to nearby locations.

MINISO, a Japanese themed novelty store, has opened on the first floor of Montgomery Mall (7101 Democracy Blvd) next to Macy’s.

According to Westfield Montgomery, “MINISO is a Japan-based, designer brand that places value on their quality, simplistic design, and low price. The global brand operates in over 40 countries, and has over 1,800 stores across the globe. Following their fast-fashion style, the company also launches new products every week – keeping up with trends. Miniso uniquely combines fashion and simplistic lifestyle to give quality products at affordable price”.

Visit their website at www.minisousaonline.com

We stopped by Gaithersburg Square this morning and spoke with members of the crew working on the old Chuck E. Cheese location who told us that Five Below will be moving in to the location at 516 N Frederick Ave in Gaithersburg.

Chuck E. Cheese closed back in June of 2020.

Five Below has additional Montgomery County locations in Gaithersburg (Kentlands), Germantown, Rockville, and Silver Spring.

A representative from the Kentlands location told us that the new Gaithersburg store is not replacing the current Gaithersburg location.

A fire pit was also recently added to Gaithersburg Square in front of the future Five Below, as part of the $6.6 million dollar renovations of the center.

We will keep you posted on opening information when it becomes available.