Rockville brewery launches Mardi Gras-themed beer with all-day party today

Toast Mardi Gras with a beer inspired by the holiday today at True Respite Brewing Company at 7301 Calhoun Place, #600, located off of E. Gude Drive in Rockville. The brewery is rolling out its limited-edition Party Gras, a 6.3% ABV fruited sour ale fermented with passionfruit, and conditioned on tangerine, lime, and a touch of rum extract with an all-day Mardi Gras party today, February 17, 2023. Special guests will include the Calypso N' Roux food truck selling Cajun food, Zydeco band Little Red & the Renegades, and Twitch-streaming tarot coach Skye Marinda.

Photo courtesy True Respite

Tuesday Morning closing stores in Rockville and Aspen Hill

Tuesday Morning will close its stores at Congressional Plaza in Rockville, and at Northgate Plaza in Aspen Hill, the company announced. A closing sale is underway, that includes all merchandise, the company said in an announcement. The Dallas-based home goods retailer said it is closing more than half of its stores, but the closures will have to be approved by a bankruptcy court, Business Insider reports. Tuesday Morning filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas on...Tuesday morning.

Rockville police warn of increase in thefts from vehicles this week

Rockville City police report an increase in thefts from vehicles in several communities across Rockville over the last few days. Many of these vehicles had been left unlocked, police said. In cases where the doors had been locked, valuables like purses had been left in plain view inside the vehicle. Thieves then smashed windows to grab those items. The police department exhorted residents in a social media post to "lock it or lose it," and to never leave valuables where they are visible, as thieves are very active in Rockville at the moment.

Rockville Amazon Fresh store: "Go big," or go home?

A long-completed but yet-to-open Amazon Fresh store filled with empty shelves on Shady Grove Road has become the local poster child for a nationwide freeze on Amazon's expansion plans in the grocery sector. Amazon successfully opened Amazon Fresh stores in Friendship Heights and Chevy Chase Lake, but the 270 Center store on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg has been frozen in time since the fall of 2022. Yesterday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy offered the first update on the cloudy future of the retail giant's bricks-and-mortar grocery adventure to the Financial Times, and it was a vaguely positive one.

Empty shelves inside the completed-but-unopened
Shady Grove Amazon Fresh store

Amazon plans to "go big" on expansion of its physical grocery stores this year, Jassy said in an exclusive interview with the FT. He said the halt he ordered on the openings and leasing of new locations cost the company $720 million in Q4 of 2022, and blamed the problems that warranted the pause on the pandemic. He said that now "we're hopeful that in 2023 we have a format we want to go big on, on the physical side."

That sounds like we can expect the Shady Grove store to go forward this year, and that the hysterical forecasts of all Amazon Fresh stores closing will prove to have been premature. Surprisingly, Jassy sounded more bullish on bricks-and-mortar stores than on the company's Amazon Fresh online delivery service, saying "people want to actually touch and feel" the foods they are buying before making a purchase. The FT noted that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had promised to remain engaged on the grocery push after stepping aside as CEO in 2021. It's likely Bezos wasn't too pleased to hear the company hesitate on a plan that was meant to facilitate major growth in Amazon's online same-day-delivery service, which is dependent upon having neighborhood hubs like the Amazon Fresh grocery stores function as warehouses.

Bezos has a home in Washington, D.C. You can be sure he is going to be monitoring the progress of a Shady Grove store that is practically right under his nose in Montgomery County.

REWILD, Ever/Body open at Cabin John Village in Potomac

Cabin John Village is welcoming two new tenants to the shopping center in Potomac. REWILD is a houseplant store similar to The Sill that opened recently at Bethesda Row. A wide selection of plants is joined by planters, pots, accessories and plant-themed gifts and decor. They offer a free replanting service with purchase. Look for REWILD at 7937-C Tuckerman Lane, and watch a video preview of what you'll find.

Ever/Body is a spa offering treatments for skin, hair and body. Services include laser facials, Hydrafacial, Botox, Emsculpt NEO and more. Find Ever/Body at 11325 Seven Locks Road, in Suite 690.

Man arrested in Rockville allegedly thought he was meeting a teen girl, but she was really a cop

A Mount Airy, Maryland man traveled to Rockville on January 19. Police say he was expecting to meet up and have a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl he met on social media. She had informed him she was only 15, but he proceeded to "have sexually explicit conversations with her," detectives from the Montgomery County Vice and Intelligence Unit alleged in a press release this afternoon. When the man arrived at the agreed upon meeting place, he discovered that the teen girl was actually a police officer.

Todd Eugene Immel, 51,  was arrested and transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit. He was charged with solicitation of a minor. Immel is currently being held without bond.

V&I detectives are concerned that there may be other victims who have been contacted by Immel. They are encouraging anyone who believes themselves to be a victim, or anyone with information related to this case, to contact the V&I Unit at 240-773-5958 or contact Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous. 

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.