UNIQLO construction begins at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

Construction has begun on the interior fit-out of UNIQLO at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. As you can see in these photos, construction walls have been erected across the future storefront on Level 2 of the mall. It's going to be a large store, as is now made obvious by the sheer length of the walled-off space. Their Pike & Rose location is 8000-square-feet.

Japan-based UNIQLO opened its first store in Hiroshima in 1984. As of today, it has more than 1900 stores in 19 markets around the world, including Japan, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K. and the U.S.

Trenchcoat-wearing flasher strikes in Rockville

A flasher in a trenchcoat? The stereotype became reality in Rockville on December 5, 2024, according to Rockville City police. At 5:30 PM on the pedestrian bridge in the 200 block of Rockville Pike by the Rockville Metro station, an adult male wearing a trenchcoat and a skull cap suddenly grabbed the victim who was passing by, and exposed himself. He then ran away. Police have not released any further description of the suspect as of this writing. If you can identify him, call police at 240-314-8900.

Montgomery County police to stage sobriety checkpoint tonight, December 13

If you drive while intoxicated tonight, Friday the 13th may truly be your unlucky day. Montgomery County police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint somewhere in the county tonight, December 13, 2024, beginning around 10:00 PM. The exact location is not being disclosed by the police department for obvious reasons, but you could anticipate it will be on a major road. Drunk-and-drugged driving and crash statistics are employed in choosing the site of the checkpoint. Any driver showing signs of intoxication will be ordered to pull over for further testing. 

Subway closes on Rockville Pike

Subway is closed at 1402 Rockville Pike. No message is posted to customers at the building, which still has a vintage pay phone out front. Subway's corporate website currently lists this location, giving its status as "closed." Yelp and Google state that it is "temporarily closed," but the Subway signage has been entirely removed from the building's exterior. Subway is hardly winding down in Montgomery County, though, as its expansion includes a new location at Montgomery Mall.

Sandwich artist parking only!

Restoration Hardware opening RH Outlet in Rockville

Restoration Hardware will open an RH Outlet store in Rockville next week. The store is taking over the vacant Bed Bath & Beyond building at 1519 Rockville Pike, in the Congressional North shopping center. As you can see in the photos below, inventory is being loaded into the store ahead of next week's opening. RH Outlet is the clearance store for the California-based furniture company.

The clearance store offers savings up to 80%-off regular RH prices. New furnishings, lighting fixtures, textiles, and home decor are added to the store's inventory daily. The Rockville store's opening date is scheduled for Thursday, December 19, 2024.

The Bed Bath & Beyond store was recently home to Spirit Halloween this fall. You can see a plush carpet has been added to the sales floor by RH since Spirit vacated. A developer has proposed replacing the big box store structure with an apartment building, but the arrival of RH Outlet suggests that project is still at least a few years off.

Police called after assault at recreation center in Rockville

Montgomery County police were called to a recreation center in Rockville Monday afternoon, December 9, 2024, after someone reported having been assaulted there. The assault was reported at a recreation center in the 14600 block of Bauer Drive at 4:11 PM Monday. Bauer Drive Community Recreation Center is located on that block.

Carter's, Embrace Ur Greatness open at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

Carter's and Embrace Ur Greatness have opened at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Carter's is the famous children's apparel brand that has been around for over 150 years. Embrace Ur Greatness is a sportswear/streetwear boutique that is "looking to spark self-belief through the form of merchandise." Look for both businesses on Level 1 of the Old Navy/The Cheesecake Factory wing of the mall, next to Windsor.