Walnut Hill Shopping Center adding Ionna EV chargers (Photos)

The Walnut Hill Shopping Center is adding electric vehicle charging stations to its parking lot at 733 S. Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg. And not just any EV chargers. These are Ionna charging stations, part of a nationwide network of 30,000 being created as we speak. The North Carolina firm is a partnership of seven international auto manufacturing companies, including BMW and Toyota. Ionna chargers offer fast-charging, essential to creating a viable network to support mass adoption of EVs. 

Of course, an even more-effective way of doing that would be to allow $8000 Chinese EVs to be sold in America, but did Joe Biden do that? Nope. That's what you would do if time was running out and a global climate catastrophe was upon us, right? $8000 Chinese EVs that are superior to the ridiculously expensive EVs made in America and elsewhere, not releasing gas from the strategic petroleum reserves, building high-speed rail, and mandating work-from-home for federal employees. Wait, Biden did the exact opposite of those things. "How dare you!" - Greta Thunberg. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Tea Spa Wellness relocates in Gaithersburg

Tea Spa Wellness has successfully relocated in the Kentlands area of Gaithersburg. It has completed its move from 209 Market Street W. to 621 Center Point Way at Kentlands Market Square. Tea Spa Wellness offers massages, facials, and healing rituals inspired by "tea culture and natural balance." 

"At Tea Spa, our mission is to create a haven of peace where everyone can find moments of deep serenity," Tea Spa CEO Cathy Shao says. "My journey through nursing school revealed the incredible power of professional massage therapy, inspiring me to share this healing art with a broader audience, which led to the birth of Tea Spa. In the last decade, my path as an energy healer has strengthened my belief in the link between inner peace and mindful living. As the caretaker of Tea Spa, I am dedicated to assembling a team of service providers who embody generosity, tranquility, and vibrant positivity. With each healing touch, we strive to make the world a better place, one person at a time."

Guapo's to open new Gaithersburg restaurant

Guapo's is opening a new restaurant in Gaithersburg. It will be a Guapo's Rotisserie Chicken & Tex Mex Grill concept, of which the local company operates three in Northern Virginia. This would be the first on our side of the Potomac. Guapo's has full-service Mexican restaurants in Bethesda, and at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg.

Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken is the specialty at the Guapo's Rotisserie Chicken locations. The new restaurant will be located at 12211 Darnestown Road, at the Quince Orchard Marketplace shopping center. That was formerly home to California Tortilla.

Sixty Vines opens in Gaithersburg

Sixty Vines has opened at 212 Ellington Boulevard at Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg. "The winemaker's restaurant" is now the wine drinker's restaurant. Your choice of sixty wines will be poured from the restaurant's "sustainable wine on tap system." Sixty Vines replaces Pour House at the development.

Charley: A Chesapeake Chophouse & Bar opening today in Gaithersburg

Charley: A Chesapeake Chophouse & Bar is opening today, Thursday, October 9, 2025 in Gaithersburg. It is located at 9811 Washingtonian Boulevard at Rio Lakefront. The restaurant has dropped its original name, Charley Prime Foods, and has switched concepts from American cuisine to steaks and seafood. At the bar, the headliner is now the Orange Crush, to fit the restaurant's new mantra that "Summer never ends at Charley."

Gaithersburg shopping center for sale

Want to own a shopping center in Gaithersburg? Quince Orchard Marketplace at 12215 Darnestown Road is on the market for sale. Comprised of five individual properties, the shopping center is anchored by a Safeway grocery store. Other tenants include CVS Pharmacy, a Sunoco gas station, a Capital One bank branch, and California Tortilla. Beyond the revenue generating possibilities, of course, is the redevelopment potential of the site. The online sale listing does not include the asking price. 

Sixty Vines Gaithersburg construction update (Photos)

Sixty Vines, "the winemaker's restaurant," is nearing completion at 212 Ellington Boulevard at Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg. The interior is looking fairly posh, even compared to some of the other wine-centric restaurants in the area. Outside, signage has been installed, and is already lit up at night. Another sign indicates they are currently interviewing prospective employees. Sixty Vines is expected to open next month.

Montgomery County's newest parking lot is in Gaithersburg (Photos)

Montgomery County's newest parking lot is in Gaithersburg. An empty lot at the southwest corner of N. Frederick Avenue (MD 355) and Dalamar Street has just been paved over with asphalt. It appears to connect to the Megamart Supermarket parking lot next door at 33 Dalamar Street. More parking - don't tell the County Council!

Human BioSciences fleeing Montgomery County for West Virginia

The hits just keep on coming for Montgomery County. Its moribund economy took another cannonball to the gut yesterday. Human BioSciences announced it will be the latest company to move its corporate headquarters out of Montgomery County to a lower-tax jurisdiction in the region. It will move its current HQ from 940 Clopper Road in Gaithersburg to wild, wonderful West Virginia. 

The blow is an especially painful one for the County, as the biotech industry is the only bright spot in MoCo's private sector economy. According to the Maryland Department of Labor, all Human BioSciences employees are being offered positions at the new West Virginia facility, meaning that the taxable revenue of any MoCo residents leaving with the company will also be lost to the County's coffers.

It says quite a bit about the state of business in Montgomery County and Maryland that a biotech firm would leave. Remember, the County and State both provide financial incentives and tax breaks to the biotech sector, decisions made decades ago by smarter leaders that allowed for the creation of a strong life sciences presence in the I-270 corridor. In recent years, that strength has begun to weaken. It hasn't been helped when you have the state legislature and Governor Wes Moore wallop firms that are immersed in technology with a new 3% tech tax, as of July 1 this year. 

The tech tax is piled on top of the fact that Montgomery County already suffers from the highest tax and fee burden in the region. We've seen the results over this century, as companies like Discovery Communications have fled. Only a week ago, Rocket Money announced it was moving its HQ from Silver Spring to Washington, D.C. 

Meanwhile, Northern Virginia has been cleaning our clock, Hoovering up the corporate HQs of Northrop Grumman, Amazon HQ 2, Nestle, Corporate Executive Board, Hilton Hotels, Lidl, Gerber, Lego, Intelsat, CoStar, Volkswagen, Blackboard, and General Dynamics. This is the direct result of decisions made by failed leaders who have no clue about the world of international business circa 2025. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Sula Latin Market opens in Gaithersburg

Sula Latin Market has opened at 122 E. Diamond Avenue in Olde Towne Gaithersburg. Just ignore the "coming soon" banner on the building. The Latin grocery store is located right across the street from Cancun Mexican Cuisine. Operating hours for the supermarket are 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, seven days a week.

AH'HAAN by Bangkok Garden opening August 17 in Gaithersburg

AH'HAAN by Bangkok Garden has set an opening date of August 17, 2025 at 237-A Kentlands Boulevard in Gaithersburg. That is the former Good Fortune Cafe space, next to Supertooth. As you can see in the photo below, they will be serving Singha beer, "Thailand's original and best-loved premium beer since 1933." During the first week of operation, the Thai restaurant will be offering 20%-off your total bill if you agree to post a Google review of your dining experience - good, bad, or ugly. Ask your server for the review link when you have finished eating. The offer applies to both dine-in and takeout customers, and is good through August 24, 2025.

BioNTech to lay off 32 more employees in Montgomery County

The hits just keep on coming to the moribund Montgomery County economy. Amid mass layoffs of federal employees who live in the County, biotech firm BioNTech has announced further layoffs at its facilities. 63 employees are already due to be let go on Saturday, August 9. Now the German pharmaceutical company says it will lay off an additional 32 workers at its facility at 25 West Watkins Mill Road in Gaithersburg on September 16. 

Pepco substation broken into in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County police report that a Pepco electrical substation in Gaithersburg was broken into earlier this month. The break-in occurred sometime between 3:14 PM on July 11, 2025 and 6:00 AM on July 14. Officers responding to the scene found evidence of forced entry at Pepco Substation 56, which is located in the 19400 block of Watkins Mill Road. 

Police said nothing appeared to have been stolen from inside the facility. However, this is an event that draws scrutiny from law enforcement, as the U.S. Department of Energy reports that there were 175 attacks, or threats of attacks, on electrical infrastructure in the United States in 2023 alone. If you have any information about this incident, call police at (301) 279-8000.

Did you bake the Lakeforest Mall 10th Anniversary Cake Mix?

A 10th Anniversary celebration of the September 12, 1978 opening of Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg was held in 1988. Along with a $10,000 gift certificate giveaway, a balloon drop, and even a trio of mimes, the then-safe-and-upscale mall had another special take-home prize for attendees. A pyramid of boxes was stacked outside of Johnston & Murphy. Each one was filled with "our special anniversary cake mix." Those upon whom this gift was bestowed were exhorted to "bake the cake and share it with your family and friends." 

Now that corporate greed and the Montgomery County cartel's anti-business, pro-crime policies have led to the closure of the once-popular shopping and leisure destination, we can only look back at a simpler and better time with nostalgia. Were you one of the lucky few to obtain a box of the cake mix? Did you bake the cake? What did it taste like?

Andy's Pizza to add second Montgomery County location

Andy's Pizza's first venture into Montgomery County in Bethesda has been so successful, the local pizzeria chain is opening a second one. It will be located at 145 Commerce Square Place at Kentlands Market Square, next to CHOPT, in Gaithersburg. Andy's serves New York-style pizza in whole pies, or by the slice, making it an upgrade from previous tenant MOD Pizza. No opening date has been announced, and this location does not yet appear on the chain's website.

Vine Alley, Brews & Barrels spaces marketed for lease at Kentlands Market Square

Kimco Realty is marketing the spaces currently occupied by Vine Alley and Brews & Barrels at Kentlands Market Square in Gaithersburg as "available" for lease. Both spaces have a notation that parties interested in leasing either storefront "do not disturb" the current tenants, who are still open for business. In addition, both businesses have been removed from the tenant roster in Kimco leasing materials for the property. Brews & Barrels opened at 625 Center Point Way in 2020, and Vine Alley opened two years later at 114 Market Street.

BioNTech layoffs ahead at Montgomery County facility

BioNTech announced it will lay off 63 employees at its manufacturing facility in Gaithersburg on August 9, 2025. The German pharmaceutical firm acquired the facility in 2021, riding the company's financial boom from COVID-19 vaccine profits at the time. But expectations that Americans would line up once or more per year for COVID booster shots for the rest of their lives proved a mirage. 

Contrary to government declarations, the vaccine did not prevent the recipient from contracting the virus. And reports of vaccine injuries, increasing vaccine skepticism, and the Biden administration's 2022 declaration that "COVID is over" proved to be the final nails in the vaccine coffin. 

The failure of one of BioNTech's new cancer treatments in testing earlier this year was apparently the last straw, as the company has now chosen to not pursue that product line any further. BioNTech's announcement was a body blow to Montgomery County and Maryland elected officials. Biotech is the only real bright spot in the otherwise-moribund Montgomery County economy, which has failed to attract a major corporate headquarters in over 25 years, and is at, or near, rock-bottom in the region by every relevant metric of job creation, new business starts, and business growth, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

New 6th District Montgomery County police station officially opens in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally open the new 6th District County police station in Gaithersburg this week. County Executive Marc Elrich and County Council President Kate Stewart were among the dignitaries to christen the new station, which is located at 222 Paramount Park Drive in the Watkins Mill Town Center area. 

Developers never delivered the promised movie theater, upscale restaurant, or even the actual "town center" of Watkins Mill Town Center, but did rake in all the profits from the residential housing portion of the development. Heckuva job, Brownie! New residents did get a Royal Farms gas station, a Starbucks, and now the police station, however. They'll likely welcome the latter, given the ongoing crime wave that has bedeviled the county since the summer of 2020.

“The new 6th District Police Station is an important project for the County that will strengthen critical emergency services to our residents in an area that has seen tremendous growth,” Elrich said in a statement this morning. “The Gaithersburg area has seen a great deal of development over the years, and as the community changes, the demand changes. We recognized the importance of adapting to the needs of a growing community, and this station is a testament to our ability to meet those needs. The new station will help to improve the safety and security of residents and businesses and address our current and future needs for the decades to come.” 

Almost 200 department staff and volunteers may be on-site at any given time. The station will serve as the base for investigative units, as well as the Central Traffic Unit, which was established in July 2021. It also features a public space "designed to foster engagement, collaboration and dialogue within the community." 

Sixty Vines opening at Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg (Photos)

Sixty Vines is coming soon to Gaithersburg, according to signage posted at its future storefront. It will be at 212 Ellington Boulevard at Downtown Crown. Sixty Vines calls itself "the winemaker's restaurant," and the concept and menu will be familiar to those who have dined at Vino Volo or Cooper's Hawk. Your choice of sixty wines will be poured from the restaurant's "sustainable wine on tap system," which you can see installed in the photo below. I would estimate construction is about 50% complete inside the space, which was formerly home to Pour House.

"Show me all the blueprints."