RASA, a fast-casual Indian restaurant, has opened at 12033 Rockville Pike in the Montrose Crossing shopping center. The local chain's founders are natives of Montgomery County, but this is their first Maryland location. It replaces Slapfish at the Federal Realty development. RASA is open from 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM seven days a week.
Friday, April 28, 2023
RASA Indian restaurant opens in Rockville
RASA, a fast-casual Indian restaurant, has opened at 12033 Rockville Pike in the Montrose Crossing shopping center. The local chain's founders are natives of Montgomery County, but this is their first Maryland location. It replaces Slapfish at the Federal Realty development. RASA is open from 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM seven days a week.
Sunday, February 12, 2023
Update on RASA Indian restaurant, opening soon in Rockville (Photos)
Construction of RASA Indian restaurant continues at the Montrose Crossing shopping center at 12033 Rockville Pike. Additional signage - a pedestrian-facing blade sign, and some of the "coming-soon" variety - has been installed on their future storefront. A new front door has been installed. RASA replaces Slapfish, which closed last November.
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Construction of RASA Indian restaurant begins in Rockville
Construction is underway at the future location of RASA at 12033 Rockville Pike, in the Montrose Crossing shopping center. This will be the fifth location of the local Indian restaurant chain in the Washington, D.C. region. It replaces Slapfish, which closed in November. Signage for RASA has been installed above the storefront, and you can see that the Slapfish interior has been gutted to make way for the new interior fit-out.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
RASA to replace Slapfish in Rockville
Slapfish has closed at 12033 Rockville Pike in the Montrose Crossing shopping center. This is not a total surprise, as the restaurant was urgently seeking a sublease over the summer. The chain itself has run into choppy waters in recent times, canceling a massive number of planned openings in Texas and Arkansas. Slapfish will be replaced by RASA, a fast-casual Indian restaurant with four existing locations in the D.C. area.
Signage has been torn off the storefront. The restaurant did leave a cordial goodbye message in the window, which is a good strategy to at keep a friendly impression of the brand in customers' minds. Diners are being redirected to the chain's not-exactly-convenient Ashburn location. Located in a more business-friendly jurisdiction, the Ashburn restaurant appears to be more resilient against the stormy seas than its Montgomery County counterpart was.
Friday, July 22, 2022
Slapfish encounters rough seas in Rockville
The seas appear to have turned rough for Slapfish at 12033 Rockville Pike. A sub-lease opportunity is being offered for the fast casual seafood restaurant at the Montrose Crossing shopping center. Commercial real estate firm KNLB is marketing the sublease as a "discreet listing," with the admonition, "Please do not disturb tenant," in the marketing brochure. Slapfish opened at Montrose Crossing in 2018, and remains open for business.
Waters appear choppy for the brand beyond Rockville. A Slapfish location on M Street in Washington, D.C. has closed, and their Ballston restaurant closed last December. The founders of the Huntington Beach, California-based chain sold their interest to their partnering investment firm two weeks ago. According to Nation's Restaurant News, 30 new Slapfish locations planned for Arkansas and Texas have been canceled.
Image via KNLB
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Homesense opens in Rockville (Photos)
Homesense has opened at the Montrose Crossing shopping center on Rockville Pike. The shelves are jam-packed with home decor and improvement items, and furnishings and lighting fixtures abound on the sales floor. Logo color-coordinated shopping carts look sharp. Prices are stated to be 20-60% below Homesense's competitors.
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Homesense opening Rockville store (Photos)
Homesense is opening a store at the Montrose Crossing shopping center on Rockville Pike. The home goods retailer is part of the conglomerate that owns TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and Sierra. Homesense carries furniture, lighting, decor, art, rugs, home office goods, everything you need to entertain, and even a broad line of hardware and home improvement tools and materials. The store takes over the A.C. Moore space near Bob's Discount Furniture at the rear of the property.
A sign has been attached to the storefront, and is already lit, even though the store is not ready to open yet. Montrose Crossing has rapidly become a one-stop shop for new or redecorating homeowners, with Value City Furniture, Bob's Discount Furniture, Home Depot Design Center, Target and now Homesense all on one site. Property owner Federal Realty has also been on a home decor streak at Bethesda Row, but here at Montrose Crossing, the furniture and decor are available at a much wider spectrum of price points. Homesense touts its prices as 20-60% below competitors, achieved by intercepting large order cancellations by other retailers, or buying up inventory from chains who are clearing shelves as seasons change.
Monday, March 7, 2022
Burlington sets opening date for Rockville store (Photos)
It's been over a year since I broke the story that Burlington (a.k.a. Burlington Coat Factory) would be opening a store at the Montrose Crossing shopping center on Rockville Pike. Construction is now underway on the interior, which used to be part of Barnes & Noble (now up the Pike at Congressional Plaza). Burlington says this store will open on April 22, 2022.
The permanent sign has been installed on the facade of the store. Barnes & Noble's escalators are still in place beyond the main entrance, which has boards over it. The rest of the bookstore's former space is now occupied by Home Depot Design Center.
Burlington's stores have been steadliy shrinking since it reported a mammoth 78,000 square foot average size in a 2015 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. By last year, the average size of its new stores was half that. Despite its space being two stories, the Montrose Crossing Burlington may be one of the chain's smallest yet, at only 33,948 square feet.
Friday, March 12, 2021
Boardroom Salon sets opening date in Rockville
Boardroom Salon for Men has set a new opening date for its first Maryland location at 12031 Rockville Pike in the Montrose Crossing shopping center. The salon is now scheduled to open March 31, 2021. As you can see, the salon interior does emit an upscale den-steakhouse-lodge ambiance.
Various member tiers are available, including limited Founders memberships at a special price, with a silver Founders tumbler while supplies last. You can sign up for memberships, and schedule appointments, on the Boardroom website.
As an example of the level of service you will receive at Boardroom Salon, the their signature The Benchmark appointment includes the following:
- Personal consultation
- Tailored haircut with precision neck shave
- Personalized shampoo + conditioning
- Scalp massage
- Pressure-point facial massage
- Steamed towel
- Paraffin hand dip
- Stress-relieving hand massage
- Expert styling and tips to replicate the finished look every day
Boardroom Salon is the latest tenant in the new, Rockville Pike-facing retail structure at the Federal Realty-owned property. “We are thrilled to partner with Boardroom Salon for Men on their expansion into Maryland and know the salon will be well-positioned for long-term success at Montrose Crossing,” Federal Realty VP of Asset Management Mickey Papillon said in a statement Thursday.
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Boardroom Salon sets opening date in Rockville - UPDATED
UPDATE: The opening has been pushed back to the end of March 2021. Stay tuned for the new opening date.
As you can see, it is still very much under construction inside. Special Founder's Membership deals are currently on-sale on the Boardroom Salon website.
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Burlington coming to Rockville
Burlington is coming to the Montrose Crossing shopping center at 12055 Rockville Pike. It will be located in the other half of the building where Home Depot Home Design Center is. Previously, MD Furniture had been slated to move in there, but Burlington is a much bigger brand name to be sure. There are two existing Burlington locations in Montgomery County, in Gaithersburg and downtown Silver Spring.
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Sign installed at Boardroom Salon for Men in Rockville
Permanent signage has been installed at the future Boardroom Salon for Men location at Montrose Crossing on Rockville Pike. Boardroom is located between Slapfish and Five Guys at the retail center. The Texas-based chain is promising "the ultimate grooming experience for men."
Thursday, November 5, 2020
MD Furniture to open Rockville store
Montrose Crossing is solidifying itself as an interior design and home furnishings destination on Rockville Pike. Recent tenant additions Home Depot Design Center and Value City Furniture will now be joined by MD Furniture.
MD Furniture, which recently opened a store in Laurel, will take over the other half of the former Barnes & Noble building that Home Depot Design Center is in. The chain carries home furnishings, mattresses, bedroom furniture, chandeliers and accessories.