Genki Wagyu Shabu House sets opening date in Rockville

Genki Wagyu Shabu House now has an opening date at 870 Festival Street at the Twinbrook Quarter development in Rockville. The all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant will begin accepting reservations this Wednesday, June 24, 2026. Genki promises the"finest unlimited Wagyu Shabu-Shabu, Sukiyaki, and premium Sushi experience. Savor the melt-in-your-mouth richness of high-grade Wagyu beef, meticulously sliced for the perfect hot pot in our signature Sukiyaki broth. Complement your experience with an exquisite selection of premium sushi, crafted with the freshest seafood and premium ingredients." As you can see, the dining experience is capped off with a stunning interior design.

Koala Kreme opening today in Rockville

Koala Kreme will officially open today, Saturday, June 20, 2026, at 100-I Gibbs Street at The Square at Rockville. The frozen yogurt shop replaces The Marble Slab at the development in Rockville Town Center. If you've been to a self-serve frozen yogurt place like Sweetfrog, you know the drill. Celebrate their grand opening between noon and 2:00 PM today with tastings, giveaways, a balloon artist, and face painting. 

Pepco tells Maryland customers, "It's not us"

The most recent two U.S. presidents have had to get used to having their likeness slapped onto gas pumps via "I did that!" stickers, when their policy decisions have led to rising gas prices. Less eager to take credit for exploding electricity bills is Pepco, which is once again taking pains to inform customers that government is indeed the problem. "Higher energy bills can be challenging, and we want you to understand what's driving those changes," the Exelon-owned utility explained in a message to ratepayers with this month's bill. And explain they do, but not as extensively as they should, requiring us to employ the Annapolis Anger Translator (AAT) for full disclosure.

First culprit on the list is the regional grid operator PJM. Pepco notes that PJM "is increasing electricity supply prices for our area. Pepco does not generate electricity or set these prices — we pass these charges through directly to customers with no markup. These increases are due to factors such as higher demand and tight energy supply."

Using the AAT, we can expand on this to learn that the actual electricity rates paid by consumers in Maryland are set by the Maryland Public Service Commission, a body appointed by...whoops!...the governor of Maryland, and approved by the Democratic-controlled Maryland State Senate. 

Why is there a "tight energy supply?" Perhaps because Maryland elected officials forced the closure of 8 power plants across the state. As a result, Maryland itself can no longer generate enough power to supply the demands of residents and businesses, and is now forced to import electricity from out-of-state at inflated boardwalk prices.

Pepco also highlights the EmPOWER MD surcharge that appears on your monthly bill. Like many other "sneak taxes," elected officials hope that you will assume these taxes, fees, and surcharges are being levied by the service provider, not your corrupt leaders. The reality is that this surcharge was levied by the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis. It is a Karl Marxian Communist initiative of the highest order. Your hard-earned money goes into a slush fund used to pay for "green" upgrades to poor people's homes. From each according to his abilities...well, you get the idea.

Not mentioned is the latest hoax: data centers, the latest pass-the-buck punching bag for politicians trying to divert public attention from their direct role in the affordability crisis. No, data centers in Maryland are not the reason your Pepco bill keeps going up. It's a boogeyman far more familiar to you: your unfriendly neighborhood elected official. The call is indeed coming from inside the house.

Exotic Tobacco & Vape opens in Derwood

Exotic Tobacco & Vape is now open at 16803 Crabbs Branch Way at The Grove shopping center in Derwood. The smoke shop fills the space that was formerly home to Casey Management. This appears to be a local chain, with locations in College Park and Frederick, Maryland. ET&V carries a full line of vaping products and accessories, tobacco products, kratom, and cannabis paraphernalia.

This Armand's Pizzeria truck could be yours in Rockville auction

The sad news of the last Armand's Pizzeria closing in Rockville can be good news for the collector or aspiring restaurateur. That's because it's auction time, and everything must go! And that includes what may be the ultimate collector's item for the Armand's pizza fan: a genuine Armand's delivery truck! It's what appears to be a modified 1985 Toyota pickup truck, and Japanese Toyotas run forever, right?

Imagine the chicks you could pull tooling around the DMV in this Armand's pizza truck. And here we thought that a sign left from the Montgomery Hills Armand's was the best Armand's memento left out there! As a bonus, the doors are emblazoned with the name of the venerable "Congressional Plaza." I'mma let you finish, Taylor, but the Lakeforest Mall truck was the greatest MoCo vehicular prize of all time! But Armand's is making a "bid" for close second. And in this auction, you can make a literal bid. Current bid for the truck? Thirty cents! Hurry!

Photos courtesy Rasmus Auctions

Armed robbery at Red Roof Inn in Rockville

Rockville City police responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Red Roof Inn at 16001 Shady Grove Road last Friday night, June 12, 2026. According to police, a suspect approached the front desk of the hotel at 8:46 PM, and drew a handgun. The suspect demanded the front desk clerk hand over cash. When the clerk informed the suspect that there was no cash to hand over, the suspect ran away. No description of the suspect has been released as of this writing.

Austrian life sciences firm chooses Virginia over Maryland for U.S. headquarters

Austrian life sciences firm Ringana has made the United States the target of its next international expansion push, but first it needed a U.S. corporate headquarters to operate from. It has found the perfect location, and you won't be surprised to hear it is not in Montgomery County, or even within the state of Maryland. You also won't be surprised to learn that Virginia is once again the winner in this latest corporate HQ sweepstakes. That's right: 435 jobs are on the way from the Österreich to 2797 Frontage Road NW in Roanoke, Virginia. The former Johnson & Johnson site will not only house corporate offices, but also a manufacturing facility and a distribution center.

The deal was apparently secured when Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger invited Ringana corporate leadership to meet with her personally this past February. In contrast, Maryland Governor Wes Moore has failed to turn his supposedly-massive Rolodex of Wall Street, Hamptons, and Martha's Vineyard business contacts into a single major corporate headquarters win. After an awkward few months dominated by divisive partisan politics, Spanberger seems to have found the blueprint left behind by her Democratic predecessors, who have typically been as successful in attracting corporate headquarters as their Republican counterparts.

“RINGANA’s decision to establish its first U.S. facility in Virginia underscores the Commonwealth’s reputation as a welcoming, premier destination for international investment,” Spanberger said in a statement. “With our world-class workforce, strong apprenticeship and career training programs, and unwavering commitment to supporting global companies in a global marketplace, Virginia offers the ideal environment for businesses to grow and succeed in the United States. We are excited to welcome RINGANA to Roanoke and look forward to the hundreds of career opportunities this partnership will create for Virginians.”

We should take note of the site chosen by Ringana. Look how close it is to Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, which has connecting flights to Dulles International Airport. Also nearby is Interstate 81, a major freight trucking route connecting Tennessee and Canada. Once again, Virginia tax advantages join with infrastructure to hand Maryland and Montgomery County yet another economic development loss. MoCo and Maryland elected officials will tell you with clownish pride that "we don't do highways," and that they will never allow construction of the long-delayed new Potomac River crossing to the Dulles area.

Now before we get too carried away, I don't want to overhype Ringana. We should be focused on major corporations, especially on aerospace, biotech, defense, and technology firms. Ringana is not a Fortune 500 company. But it has enjoyed $245 million in annual revenue, and 30% year-over-year revenue growth. It will be investing $85 million in Virginia and its people and communities. The Roanoke Regional Partnership is already working to connect local businesses that can provide services to Ringana with the company's leadership.

Beggars can't be choosers. Montgomery County and Maryland once again are left holding their nearly-empty begging cups.

Sleep Number moves to Rockville

Sleep Number has closed at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The showroom has been cleared out. However, it's not the end for the famous adjustable bed retailer in the immediate area. The company says the store has relocated to Rockville, in the Montrose Crossing shopping center. This is unexpectedly good news for fans of the Sleep Number Bed, as the brand is in significant financial difficulty, and has said a bankruptcy filing is not out of the question.

Auto thieves hit same dealership 48 hours later in Rockville

A Rockville auto dealership that lost two vehicles to car thieves earlier this week was victimized again just 48 hours later. Once again, the thieves stole a pair of vehicles, according to Montgomery County police. The suspects allegedly broke a lock that secured a gate to the storage lot at Ourisman Chevrolet's facility at 15301 Frederick Avenue, and made off with two cars. 

Police believe the break-in took place sometime between 7:00 PM Wednesday and 8:35 AM Thursday. Once again, no descriptions of the suspects or missing vehicles have been released as of this writing.

Armand's Pizzeria latest victim of the moribund Montgomery County economy

Armand's Pizzeria and Grille is closing at 190 Halpine Road in Rockville. After over 51 years in business, the restaurant's co-owners announced on Instagram that they will permanently shut their doors after the close of business on June 20, 2026. This is your last chance to get a slice of Armand's pizza. But it's also another chance to see what the anti-business policies of the Montgomery County Council, and the resulting moribund Montgomery County economy, have wreaked on our business community and underfilled County revenue coffers.

WTOP reporter Luke Lukert wrote that "due to financial reasons and a struggling environment for small businesses, they will have to shut their doors." Lukert interviewed Armand's co-owner Chris Sappe, who told him,"Montgomery County is a tough place to have a family-owned business with minimum wage increasing." Along with recent hikes in ingredient and fuel costs, Sappe said, they had to make the difficult decision to close.

Let's again spin one of the greatest hits recorded by Peter Gragnano of the Suburban Washington Franchise Owners Association, when he and many other business owners and advocates pleaded with the Council not to move forward with their massive minimum wage hike in June of 2016. "That's a lot of extra Slurpees to sell," Gragnano said in the quote of the night. Did the Council heed these warnings? Nope.

Remember the Council's brilliant idea to index the minimum wage to inflation beginning in 2021? Yep, that one hasn't aged well, either. One businessman warned the Council that if inflation spiked as it did in the late 1970s and early 1980s, "there won't be a way to wash a dish in a restaurant." This is the man you should now be asking to generate your lottery numbers! Inflation spike? In America? The County Council clearly does not share that businessman's Kenny Kingston-esque foresight.

Another one of the brilliant minds in the business realm of Maryland is Maddy Voytek, who in 2016 was working at the Maryland Retailers Association. She noted that Montgomery County had already lost 2141 retail jobs between 2000 and 2016. Voytek told the Council that adoption of the $15 wage would "devastate our economy."

What we've seen most recently, as all of these dire predictions came true, are more closings of older businesses. Community institutions. Businesses like Armand's or Flanagan's in Bethesda. Businesses that have survived wars, recessions, and the 2008 "Great Recession," only to be felled now by the incompetents on our County Council. Something is rotten in the County of Montgomery. Have the smelling salts reached your nostrils yet?

Two cars stolen from auto dealership in Rockville

Two cars were reported stolen from an auto dealership in Rockville yesterday, Montgomery County police report. The two vehicles were found to be missing after employees took inventory at an Ourisman Chevrolet facility at 15301 Frederick Road Tuesday afternoon. Police did not release a suspect description or identify the models, model years, and colors of the stolen cars. They believe the vehicles were stolen sometime between 1:00 PM Monday and 2:40 PM Tuesday.

New-construction condos for sale on MD 355 in Gaithersburg

Brand-new condominiums are now available for purchase at One Central, a new development at MD 355 and Central Avenue in Gaithersburg. Up until recently, this was a verdant green space you would see from 355 alongside a single-family home that fronted onto Central Avenue. Beazer Homes has begun converting the property into a development of two-over-two condos that are constructed to resemble townhomes from the exterior. The 3-bedroom units are priced from $574,990 and $664,990. 

Beazer is marketing the homes as low-maintenance. You would be joining an HOA that provides landscaping, mowing and mulching services for the homesite your unit is located on; open-space landscaping of common-area open space; snow removal; trash pickup; and "water usage." Units have private garages with EV charger-ready electrical outlets. The development features forested areas, sidewalks, a playground park, and a dog park named Barkwood Park. One Central is only one superblock north of the Walnut Hill Shopping Center, which is anchored by an Aldi grocery store, and will soon have a Sheetz convenience store and mega gas station.

Samsung chooses Texas over Maryland for new U.S. corporate headquarters

Maryland dropped the ball - and dropped the call - on one of the biggest corporate headquarters relocation sweepstakes of 2026. South Korean technology giant Samsung is fleeing New Jersey after locating its U.S. headquarters there nearly 40 years ago. Up for grabs were not only the prestige of having the HQ of a conglomerate with fifth-highest brand value of any company in the world, but also 1000 high-wage jobs. You would expect Maryland, which hasn't attracted a single new major corporate headquarters in over a quarter century, to pull out all the stops to lure Samsung to the state. But you would be wrong: Samsung is instead moving its HQ to Plano, Texas.

How hard did Montgomery County and Maryland try to win the game? We don't know, because neither discussed their desire or strategy to win over Samsung publicly. We know Maryland Governor Wes Moore was in touch with executives of a Samsung biotech division when he traveled to South Korea on a trade mission in 2025. Those conversations played a role in Samsung Biologics agreeing to take over a Montgomery County manufacturing facility that was likely to close otherwise. Was Moore able to tap into those contacts during this year's HQ competition? We don't know.

What we do know, is that Montgomery County and Maryland again reaped the whirlwind of failing to get themselves into fighting shape for economic development. While the Maryland tax burden is less than New Jersey's, it cannot remotely compete with Samsung's choice of Texas. The Lone Star State has no individual or corporate income tax. Maryland, whose leaders chose to close 8 power plants and implement "clean" power mandates and a Communist EmPOWER surcharge on electric bills, can no longer generate enough power and is forced to import electricity at higher "boardwalk prices." As a result, energy costs in Texas are literally half of those in Maryland. 

Those two factors alone were likely enough to convince any intelligent executive to choose Texas over Maryland. But wait - there's more.

Texas has superior highway and air travel infrastructure. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is closer by car to Plano than Montgomery County is to Dulles International Airport, thanks to Montgomery County and Maryland officials actively blocking construction of a long-planned Potomac River crossing to the Dulles area. 

There's also no contest when it comes to private jet travel. Business executives can travel to international destinations like London and Mexico City from Addison Airport, located only 12-17 minutes from Plano. Such jaunts are not possible from the Montgomery County Airpark, which cannot accommodate larger business jets. Addison has customs facilities; Montgomery County Airpark does not. Addison boasts 3 Fixed-Base Operators providing fueling, minor maintenance, deicing, and baggage handling; flight crew resources and facilities such as flight plan and weather rooms and crew lounges; and luxury VIP passenger lounges, secure parking, and corporate sedan/limousine ground transportation coordination. MCA has one FBO, which is limited to fueling and hangar storage, and does not offer luxury facilities or amenities.

Finally, Texas is a Right to Work state and has a far-cheaper cost of living than Maryland. This means lower overall labor costs, and the lower cost of housing and everything else helps to attract the best and brightest to Texas.

Texas has a whopping 57 Fortune 500 corporate headquarters. Maryland has...3. Womp womp.

"Texas is the undisputed headquarters of headquarters," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a (under)statement earlier this week. 

Hobby Lobby opens first Montgomery County store in Gaithersburg

Hobby Lobby is now open at 15750 Shady Grove Road at the 270 Center on the border of Gaithersburg with Rockville. This is the first Hobby Lobby store to open in Montgomery County. Right when you enter the vestibule, you are greeted with displays of decor and furniture that are currently on-sale. Operating hours for Hobby Lobby are 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday through Saturday. The store is closed Sundays "to allow employees time for family and worship."

Sneak peek: Koala Kreme in Rockville

Koala Kreme is moving quickly to turn around the former Marble Slab space at 100-I Gibbs Street at The Square at Rockville. As you can see below, the frozen yogurt shop's interior fit-out has progressed significantly. Yesterday, Koala Kreme promised on Instagram to open in only two weeks, so expect them to maintain or even increase the pace of work. My only question is, are the milkshakes made with frozen yogurt or ice cream?

Potbelly "temporary closure" turns into months in Rockville

Nearly four months after announcing a temporary closure, the Potbelly at 199 E. Montgomery Avenue remains shuttered in Rockville. Initially, a message to customers posted in the window provided no information as to why the restaurant was closed. That sign has now been updated to state that flooding inside their building caused damage extensive enough to require a renovation of the restaurant. It could simply be that the extent of the damage only became apparent once remediation efforts began. So the good news is that they are going to reopen eventually, but the timeframe is still not known.