Silver Spring Scene News Round Up
By Silver Springer • Oct 6th, 2006 • Category: Uncategorized
Storehouse is Out
A buyer could not be found so say goodbye to Storehouse furniture stores, there is currently one located in the Downtown Silver Spring town center. Storehouse is owned by McLean, Virginia based The Rowe Cos., they recently filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection leading to the close of all Storehouse locations. What would you like to see fill the void? BizJournal
Old Dominion’s lack of Acknowledgement
Another Virginia based chain making its way into the Downtown Silver Spring project is surely taking its sweet time. News has been floating around for over two years now but the Old Dominion Brewing Company has yet to acknowledge moving into Silver Spring. This is despite numerous reports from the Gazette and even the Downtown Silver Spring website.
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If you had an order there and were waiting for it to be delivered, you’re out of luck.
Something that engages the community more than a snooty furniture store. That would be the ideal place for a bookstore if Borders wasn’t right around the corner.
Anything with interesting displays is fine by me.
I was actually considering buying a chair there.
An Ideal place for a bowling alley! or indoor mini golf.
But it will porbably end up as a resturant of some sort
I just bought some furniture from storehouse so it’s a good thing I went ahead and got all the pieces I wanted. I’m kind of sad to see it go, because while it is a bit “yuppie” you could say, they did have some nice stuff and as furniture goes it was really more mid-range. Not to mention how convienant it was… anything that saves me a trip to Rockville is OK in my book.
Too bad about Storehouse, but hopefully its an opportunity for altering the retail mix downtown. I mentioned elsewhere that a reasonably nice store like LL Bean would be my preference, but the store space may not be large enough for something like LL Bean. My wife mentioned a Discovery Channel store (a nod to HQ across the street). That seems right for an area where there’s already good foot traffic, but the Storehouse location would need to generate its own traffic. I ‘m encouraged by B Foulger’s quote in the Gazette that DTSS has gotten a bit unbalanced on restaurants (he just noticed?), so I’m hopeful that whatever shows up, it’ll be a quality retail location.
On a related note, does anyone have a sense of how well the various retail (not restaurant) establishments are doing downtown? DSW seems to be busy, as does Color Me Mine, Borders and the stores around Whole Foods, but I don’t see that much activity around Ulta (which seems to have a very large space), Ann Taylor, or Bombay. Am I just going at the wrong times of day?
Although I’m generally not a fan of chain restaurants, I ate with a friend at the Red Rock Canyon Grill on a rainy Thursday night and it was very busy.
The food was excellent and portion sizes generous (I’m a physically active male with a large appetite so at many DC restaurants I don’t get enough food with just an entree).
The service was excellent as well, if a bit over-the-top with their team-based wait staff. Someone was at our table about every 3 minutes checking to see if we were OK, needed water, etc. Three times the manager himself asked how everything was (we only had entrees and not multiple courses).
Not a complaint, just an observation. As we all know in DC, service could be MUCH worse and indifferent.
I LOVE Red Rock Canyon Grill. The food is really good (particularly those mashed potatoes and the chargrilled chicken) and they treat people very well. I had lunch there with my nieces (3 and 5 yrs old). The waiters charmed the girls. It was a nice experience.
As for the replacement to Storehouse, I’d like to see something really active. That Georgia Ave face of the new development is quiet compared to the fountain area. It’d be nice to draw folks out to Georgia and maybe down to the businesses running down toward the Metro bridge.
It’s perfect for an LL Bean store, and the only other ones in the area are in Columbia and Tysons. They are both packed, all the time.
One word: ESPNZone.
No, just kidding…ummmmmm….hmmmmmmmmmmmm…Tower Records? Oh! no, being liquidated.
I know I know, a place for all the day time small labor workers to congregate and be regulated. No, no…sorry, got that already.
I have no idea what should go in there…More parking? Condos?
Apple Store.
An Apple store would be wonderful. The Bethesda store is small and a pain to get to and the Montgomery Mall store has some traffic filled roads between here and there.
It’s time Apple came east of Rock Creek Park.
I went to Z-Pizza this weekend. It is a great place!! The food and service was great. Silver Spring really needed a pizza place and now we have one.
What about Mama Lucia???
Did you all notice that the vacant lot behind Cubano’s has been fenced off and there’s a zoning sign up now. I couldn’t tell what the intention for the site is, though. It has to be commercial, doesn’t it?
That’s a condominium. The Portico has been on the books for a long time and had the owners of the Cameron Hills townhomes screaming bloody murder for no reason.
http://www.mc-mncppc.org/silverspring/private_projects/fidlerpark.shtm
It’s not a very large footprint for a set of condos, is it? Also, being right behind the exhaust fans for Cubano’s could be a treat.
I lived in an apartment in Texas for a while that was right behind a Fuddruckers. I couldn’t eat onion rings for several years after that.
Just an obersvation about Old Dominion Brewery. I think Old Dominion is having serious second-thoughts about entering the Silver Spring market. You already have McGinty’s, Red Rock Grill, Galaxy, and Austin Grill serving enough suds on one block. I think the Old Dominion owners recognize that there is a glut of beer-serving establishments in that part of town.
DTSS needs more retail space anyway. There’s enough junk food joints along Ellsworth.