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March 24, 2016 By Store Reporter Leave a Comment

Pizza, candy and drinks in downtown Rockville — plus Publix, Starbucks and Costco

 

 

 

 It'Sugar:Mellow Mushroom collage 600

 

Goodbye ice skates, hello pizza and candy

The outdoor ice skating rink at Rockville Town Square has closed for the season, but pizza and candy will keep the kids busy in downtown Rockville this spring. Mellow Mushroom, the pizzeria taking over the former Oro Pomodoro space on Maryland Avenue, has set its grand opening for May 2nd. (Click here for more on the Rockville Mellow Mushroom, which will cater to families and large groups.) Also new at the Town Square is the candy store It’Sugar, which opened on Gibbs Street last weekend with nostalgic sweets and giant boxes of Nerds, Kit Kats and Sour Patch Kids. This is the seventh D.C.-area location for the fast-growing candy chain, which also specializes in bachelor party fare (candy undergarments, anyone?) and will be open late most evenings.

 


 

Publix supermarket

 

Publix on the way?

Former Floridians — and those who vacation there — were abuzz this week after the Washington Business Journal broke the news that Publix is eyeing the D.C. area. Publix, a much-loved supermarket chain in its home state of Florida, has expanded its territory in recent years to include Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas. The company recently announced plans for its first two stores in the Richmond area and confirmed that Northern Virginia is on the horizon. Could Maryland be next? For now, Publix is noncommittal. “We are currently looking to aggressively expand in the state of Virginia,” a spokesman told Store Reporter this week. “There is still plenty of room for growth in our operating states.”

 


 

Starbucks logo

 

Lattes, lawsuits and leftovers

This was a bad news/good news kind of week for Starbucks, which got sued for allegedly shortchanging its latte customers even as it announced plans to donate all of its leftovers to charity. The class action lawsuit, filed by two customers in California, accuses the coffee chain of underfilling its lattes by 25 percent to save on the cost of milk. The news comes just weeks after the settlement of a similar lawsuit against Subway for coming up short on its footlong sandwiches. (See our March 3rd issue for more on that.) Meanwhile, Starbucks also announced the start of its long-planned initiative to donate all unsold meals to local food banks every night. The goal, Starbucks says, is to donate five million meals in the program’s first year

 


 

Costco and American Express

 

Amex out, Visa in at Costco

It’s been a year since Costco and American Express announced the end of their longtime partnership, but the two parties are taking longer than expected to finalize their divorce. The original spring end date has now been pushed back to June 20th, after which Costco will stop accepting Amex cards and start accepting Visa. If you already own a co-branded Costco/Amex card, watch your mailbox for a new card from Citibank Visa — this time with an even more generous cash-back rewards program.

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Filed Under: Current Issue Tagged With: 7 Locks, American Tap Room, Bar Louie, Barley and Hops, Bon Chon Chicken, Brit-Am Indoor Soccer, Costco Wholesale, Counseling Center of Maryland, Ev & Maddy's, Flying Dog, Gordon Biersch, It'Sugar, La Canela, La Tasca, Mellow Mushroom, Oro Pomodoro, Publix, Regency Estates. American Express, Rockville Town Square, Spice Xing, Sports Authority, Starbucks, Subway, Sushi Damo, Tips on Trips and Camps, Will's Home Decorating, Wine & Craft Beer Dinner Pairing Series, World of Beer

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Who's the Store Reporter?

Cheryl Kane Heimlich has been a staff writer, columnist, editor and contributor to a dozen publications including the South Florida Business Journal, Bethesda Magazine, Miami Today, Miami Metro, Vista Magazine, St. Louis Magazine, the Boca Raton Observer, Washington Jewish Week and Variety. She has won numerous awards for her magazine profiles, parenting columns and business news coverage.

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