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Lululemon

Latest on Lucky Strike, Potomac Day Spa closes, trendy Thai ice cream

September 29, 2016 By Store Reporter Leave a Comment

 

 

 

Lucky Strike Social

 

No bowling at the mall this fall

Remember the bowling alley that was supposed to open this summer at Westfield Montgomery Mall? As we move into fall with construction barely under way, we thought it was time for a check-in with California-based Lucky Strike. “We’re now looking at the first quarter of 2017,” says company spokesman Brandon Thomsen. “We’re excited to come to Bethesda, but some details of the project are still evolving.” This will be the second location for the company’s new Lucky Strike Social concept, which recently launched in Albany with 18 bowling lanes, a full kitchen and bar, a concert hall/party room, and a variety of games from billiards to old-school arcades. For a preview of what’s on the way, click here.

 


 

Ize's Dei & Bagelry: http://izesdeli.com

 

 


 

Potomac Day Spa

 

Potomac Day Spa closes

Potomac Day Spa, operating out of a cute little house in Potomac Village for more than two decades, has quietly closed its doors. “The rent here is just crazy expensive, and we had been struggling for a long time,” says owner Angela Hay, who bought the spa four years ago and shut it down last Saturday. The business had little walk-in traffic, Hay says, and it’s been increasingly difficult to compete with larger operations like Red Door and the new Woodhouse Day Spa on Rockville Pike. “The older people liked our quaintness, but the younger people like to go to places that are trendy,” Hay says. “I just couldn’t keep pouring money into something that wasn’t going to survive.”

 


 

Marmi Shoes: https://marmishoes.com

 

 


 

thai-rolled-ice-cream

 

Rolling out a new ice cream trend

Thai rolled ice cream, a Southeast Asian street food that’s trending across the country, has arrived in downtown Rockville. Class 520 (the name is a play on the Chinese phrase for “I love you”) opens Saturday on Dawson Avenue just off North Washington Street. Each dessert is made fresh when you order, starting with a liquid ice cream base that’s poured over a cold grill until it freezes over. “Then we add the mix-ins and run it over with a spatula to shape it into curls, so you wind up with a hard texture that slowly melts,” says manager Adam Shi. Virtually unknown in the U.S. until recently, Thai-style ice cream has popped up in foodie cities from Los Angeles to New York to Philadelphia in the past 12 months. “We believe that ours is the first one in Maryland,” Shi says. “It’s a trendy food that’s familiar to the Asian population, so we think it will do very well in this area.” Want to see how it works? Click here for a video demo.

 


 

Empty Bowls Bethesda event: https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/empty-bowls/

 

 


 

Root vegetables

 

Ready for Rosh Hashanah?

If you’re hosting a crowd for the Jewish holidays this year, there’s still time to order from Potomac Grocer. On the menu for Rosh Hashanah: onion-braised brisket, pomegranate molasses-glazed salmon, lemon honey roasted chicken, sweet potato-carrot tzimmes, noodle pudding and much more. Pre-ordering is recommended, but some dishes will be available à la carte while they last. Potomac Grocer, 10107 River Road, 301-299-4200. For the catering menu, click here.

Sponsored Content

 


 

 

Here’s a product that takes balls

Look out Nike and Under Armour: Lululemon is going after the men. In an interview this week with Bloomberg.com, Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin says he hopes to double the company’s male customer base from 20 percent to 40 percent of its sales. Potdevin has a pretty good track record in this arena, having previously helped drive more male customers to Tom’s Shoes and more females to Burton Snowboards. This fall Lululemon is showcasing a new line of men’s pants called “ABC” — as in Anti-Ball Crushing. Wondering just how they’re going to promote this product? We did too. Click here.

 


 

Cosi sandwich

 

Bad week for Cosi

The Cosi restaurant chain, which exited downtown Rockville two years ago, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Almost half of the company’s corporate-owned locations, including the one in downtown Bethesda, closed their doors this week. Thirty-one locations owned by franchisees, including one on Wisconsin Avenue, are expected to remain open. For more on Cosi’s bankruptcy, click here.

 


 

For inquiries, contact publisher@storereporter.com

 

 


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Fish Taco and Bethesda spa near opening — plus bubble tea, Lululemon and ArcLight tickets

February 4, 2016 By Store Reporter 1 Comment

 

 

 

Fish Taco platters

 

Fish Taco is almost ready

If you’ve been waiting for the opening of Fish Taco at the Wildwood Shopping Center, the time is almost here: Owner Francis Namin says he hopes to be in business by early March. This will be the second location for Fish Taco, whose first restaurant on Macarthur Boulevard has been hugely popular since it opened in 2013. Namin, who also owns Food Wine & Co. in downtown Bethesda, says a third Fish Taco will open shortly afterwards in that area. To hear his description of the Wildwood restaurant, click here for our Oct. 8 edition.

 


 

Woodhouse Day Spa scrub

 

New spa in North Bethesda

Woodhouse Day Spa is planning a late February opening at North Bethesda Market on Rockville Pike, where it will target the health-conscious customer base from neighboring Whole Foods and Seasons 52. This will be the first Maryland location for Woodhouse, a Texas-based chain with a presence in 18 states. The spa menu includes facials, massage, mani/pedis and lavish skin treatments like the Wild Lavender and Seaweed Sugar Glow shown here. For more on Woodhouse, click here.

 


 

Chouquette Chocolates www.chouquette.com

 

 


 

Tea-Do bubble teas

 

New place for bubble tea

A new bubble tea shop opened on Rockville Pike this week, in the former home of Yocake across from Wintergreen Plaza. Tea-Do, which has another location in Philadelphia, features a menu of light Japanese food as well as smoothies, specialty coffees and custom drinks with ingredients like lychee jelly, aloe, red guava, kumquat and Thai coconut. Yocake, a small family-run chain that specialized in cake and ice cream mash-ups, went out of business last summer.

 


 

Wills Decorating www.decoratemaryland.com

 

 


 

Girls playing dress-up

 

Tell us about your family’s favorites — and win FREE ArcLight tickets

For our upcoming Store Reporter Kids Issue, we’re asking readers to help us choose the best kid-friendly businesses in the greater Rockville/Potomac area. We want to hear about your favorite restaurants, toy stores, children’s clothing stores, after-school classes… all the local places that you and your kids enjoy. Send us your suggestions, and we’ll also enter you into this month’s drawing for FREE tickets to the ArcLight Cinema! To post your comments on our Facebook page, click here. To email them to us directly, click here. Update: We’ve already named the winners for this contest, but stay tuned to Store Reporter for more great giveaways.

 


 

Lululemon striped pants

 

On the Lululemon beat

Haven’t read anything interesting about Lululemon in awhile? We’re on it. In The New York Times this week, company founder Chip Wilson offers his views on punctuality, the Landmark leadership program, and also that time in 2013 when he blamed women’s thighs for those transparent Lululemon yoga pants. Wilson is no longer running Lululemon. But his family has a new clothing chain, Kit and Ace, that opened a store in downtown Bethesda last November. To hear what he has to say, click here.

 


 

Target CVS pharmacy

 

CVS starts Target takeover

This week CVS began its takeover of the pharmacy departments at Target stores nationwide. By the end of this summer, our local Targets will be sporting CVS signage (conveniently red, just like the Target logo) and staffed by CVS employees. If you’ve ever been stuck in that ridiculously long line at a CVS pharmacy — particularly the one at Cabin John Shopping Center — this may not necessarily be good news.

 


Peapod by Giant

 

Peapod pickup on the Metro

This week Peapod by Giant started testing a grocery delivery service at three D.C.-area Metro stations: Fort Totten, Glenmont and Vienna. Shoppers can order their groceries online, then pick them up as they exit the Metro between 4 and 7 p.m. Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. The three participating stations have lockers to store the groceries and staffers available to help shoppers to their cars. If things go well with this six-month test, more stations will be added to the program.

 


 

Filed Under: Current Issue Tagged With: Chouquette, CVS, CVS Cabin John Shopping Center, Fish Taco Bethesda, Fish Taco Wildwood Shopping Center, Food Wine & Co., Lululemon, North Bethesda Market, Peapod by Giant, Seasons 52 Bethesda, Target, Tea-Do, Whole Foods Bethesda, Wildwood Shopping Center, Will's Home Decorating, Wintergreen Plaza, Woodhouse Day Spa Bethesda

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