Taylor Gourmet closes Rockville location

It seemed like only yesterday that Taylor Gourmet reopened its Rockville store at Pike & Rose. But it has now closed permanently. The timing is sad, because the store would likely have seen an increase in lunch sales from all of the new office workers relocating to Pike & Rose for Choice Hotels (which will have its own new office building), and for new 909 Rose office tenants Carl M. Freeman Companies, Prudential Financial, and ACA Group.

Boston Market returning to Rockville

Boston Market fans, rejoice. The all-American cuisine restaurant is returning to Rockville after closing its Loehmann's Plaza location two years ago. Boston Market will be in the Towne Plaza retail center at 12238 Rockville Pike. I can taste the mashed potatoes and cornbread now!

Rockville Burger King touts new restaurants Ripieno's Italian Bistro, JoJo's + dining room sneak peek (Photos)

One reason the major renovation of the Burger King on Shady Grove Road has taken so long may be the addition of other restaurants to the building, which is on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. New signage has been posted in the restaurant windows for Ripieno's Italian Bistro and JoJo's. Potomac Foods Group owns many restaurants across Maryland, including this Burger King.

PFG has already added a Ripieno's to the rear of its Ocean City Burger King restaurant. That location's pizza has been named to some Top 10 pizza lists since its opening there. Potomac Foods Group has operated Golden Corral restaurants in Maryland. One of its former Golden Corral locations in Salisbury is now....JoJo's Family Restaurant. The surf and turf photograph in the sign matches one on the JoJo's website.

The idea of adding two restaurants to this Burger King is not exactly brand new. PFG previously considered adding a Bojangles and a sub and salad shop to the Shady Grove location. The Bojangles was to replace the large play area at the front of the restaurant. 

There's still no reopening date announced, but it looks like opening day is getting closer. We now have our first look at the renovated interior. Furnishings now look a bit more upscale than the typical fast food dining room. There appears to be an outdoor dining patio space, as well.

Rockville's Century Distributors acquired by National Convenience Distributors

Century Distributors, a Rockville-based convenience store wholesaling business founded in 1976, has been acquired by National Convenience Distributors, NCD announced in a press release this morning. NCD is America's fourth-largest full line convenience store distributor. Century will become its own division of NCD, rather than be absorbed into the larger company.

“This opportunity to join NCD opens the door to even greater potential, Century VP of Operations David Sadugor said in a statement this morning. "We are confident this will be an overwhelming benefit and positively impact our retail customers and valued employees.” Century is located at 15710 Crabbs Branch Way.

Assault at Rockville grocery store on Christmas

Now that's not the Christmas spirit! Rockville police were called to a grocery store Christmas Day after an individual reported being the victim of an aggravated assault. The incident was reported at a supermarket in the 600 block of Hungerford Drive at 2:06 PM, according to crime data. There is a Giant store on that block.

Armed robbery in Rockville

Rockville police responded to a report of an armed robbery Thursday evening, December 23, 2021. The robbery was reported in the 100 block of Congressional Lane at 5:05 PM, according to crime data. A knife was the weapon used in the robbery.

Montgomery County sets new record for homicides

Montgomery County tied its 1994 homicide record of 34 this week, with the brutal stabbing death of a man in a stairwell at the Shops of Wisconsin in Bethesda. Last night, the County's record was broken with a homicide reported at 6:35 PM in the 19300 block of Circle Gate Drive in Germantown. The record was smashed just as it was revealed that the County police force has shrunk by 56 officers since February 2021. Response times have suffered, and the annual number of police traffic stops plunged from 106,075 in 2019 to only 39,412 in 2020.

Defunding of the police department by the County Council accounts for only 27 of the 56 lost officer positions. The others have resulted from retiring officers not being replaced, and from reduced morale. Perhaps the only relief for County officials who have to own the new record of 35 homicides, is that there are only seven more days in 2021.