The B12 Store rebrands at Montgomery Mall

The B12 Store at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda has rebranded. It is now known as Vydration. The shop offers primarily preventative healthcare via vitamin injections and IV therapy. Clients apparently find that it offers benefits, as the store has a perfect 5-star rating after a whopping 254 Google reviews, tough for any business to pull off. Look for Vydration on Level 1 of the mall, next to Häagen-Dazs.

Rockville office building, beer store burglarized 15 minutes apart

Two Rockville properties were broken into within a 15 minute period Thursday night, October 10, 2024. Rockville City police responded to a report of a burglary at a beer and wine store in the 100 block of Congressional Lane at 11:23 PM. Fifteen minutes later, a burglary occurred at a nearby office building in the 1500 block of Rockville Pike. Officers responding to both scenes found evidence of forced entry at the properties.

Montgomery Mall toy store's final days mean discounts of 70-90% off

These appear to be the final days of Alex Baby & Toys at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Discounts at the short-lived toy store are now 70-90% off on everything in the store. Everything that's left, I should add, as shelves are growing bare - and when they do, the shelves themselves disappear from the sales floor, as you can see in the pictures below. Not surprisingly, there were plenty of Black Adam toys left. Look for Alex Baby & Toys on Level 1 of the mall in the Old Navy wing.

LEGO thief strikes again in Rockville

LEGO superfans just can't stop collecting these expensive block-building sets, and one LEGO-loving thief in Rockville is no exception. A suspect driving a beige Buick LeSabre struck again on October 1, 2024 at 11:00 AM. He entered a store in the 1600 block of Rockville Pike, which appears to be at Congressional Plaza, and allegedly stole two LEGO sets. 

A man of similar description, once again driving a beige Buick getaway car, stole an unspecified number of LEGO sets from the same location on September 27. That day, he fled the store through a rear door, and drove off in the Buick.

Rockville City police describe the suspect as a Hispanic male, 40 to 60 years of age, clean shaven with dark brown hair and glasses. On October 1, he was wearing a dark blue shirt with yellow letters, white shorts, and a dark green/gray cap. During the first alleged LEGO heist, he wore a dark blue shirt with the word "Wolverines" in yellow letters (sound familiar?), light blue jeans, a dark blue rain jacket and a (take a wild guess) dark green/gray cap.

If you can identify the suspect, or have any information about either theft, call police at 240-314-8900.

The Jam opens at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

The Jam has opened at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. An art gallery, it replaces Wentworth Gallery in this spot. It is certainly more political than Wentworth, which leaned heavily toward celebrity artists who were aiming at a wealthy, broader audience. Look for The Jam on Level 2 of the mall, right outside of Nordstrom.

Annapolis migrant-arrival drill raises eyebrows as state officials deny imminent influx

Maryland State Senator Justin Ready
questioned the use of taxpayer dollars for
a migrant-arrival "drill" Tuesday

A curious preparedness exercise by the Maryland Department of Emergency Management caught the attention of Republican lawmakers and Baltimore media outlets. Using actors posing as newly-arrived migrants being bused into the state capital on Tuesday, emergency personnel simulated their response to a now-familar scene in cities across America. The "drill" included actors pouring out of buses, and the conversion of two buildings in Annapolis into short-term migrant shelters. 

WBFF Fox Baltimore 45 and The Baltimore Sun reported on the exercise yesterday. The two media outlets share an owner, and quoted alarmed GOP elected officials who felt this could be a dry run with a purpose. "It sounds to me like the state is thirsty for this to happen," State Senator Justin Ready (R - District 5) said. State officials told Fox 45 and the Sun that they are not aware of any immediate plans for a major influx of new migrants to Maryland. 

Some immigration supporters on social media decried the reports as fearmongering. Most other news outlets ignored the state exercise.

Such an event would hardly qualify as a shock in Maryland, however. The state has accepted the most unaccompanied migrant children of any in America since 2015, and added 33,000 migrants to its population between 2022 and 2023 alone, according to CASA of Maryland. 

Big Lots closing in Germantown, Montgomery Village store to stay open for now

Big Lots is closing at 20926 Frederick Road at the Milestone Shopping Center in Germantown. This is one of 46 additional Big Lots store closures found on a list posted by Columbus Business First. Fortunately, the Big Lots in Montgomery Village is not on the list. Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 9, 2024, the latest victim of America's vanishing middle class.