Demand for movies appears strong at one of only two Montgomery County movie theaters to reopen

Continuing my coverage of movie theaters struggling to reopen in Montgomery County, I stopped by the AMC Wheaton 9 cineplex at Wheaton Plaza, one of only two theaters currently open in the county (the other being AMC's theater at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg). Are people ready to return to theaters? Apparently so. 

The 7:45 PM showing of the blockbuster Godzilla vs. Kong tonight was already sold out last evening. Regal Cinemas, Landmark, iPic, Cinepolis and other chain theaters remain dark across the county, due to the County ban on sales of food and drink at movie theaters.

Chef Mike Friedman bringing Aventino Italian restaurant & AP Pizza Shop to Bethesda

JBG Smith has signed another major restaurant tenant at its new development on Bethesda Avenue. Chef Mike Friedman - the restaurateur behind The Red Hen, Boundary Stone and All Purpose Pizza in D.C. - will open Aventino and an AP Pizza Shop in the ground floor of 4747 Bethesda Avenue. 

Aventino will feature Roman-style Italian cuisine in an array of classic and seasonal dishes. The pizza shop will bring Friedman's "Jersey-fresh" deck-oven pizza to downtown Bethesda. In operation, the duo of eateries will be similar to the co-located Stella Barra-Summer House pizzeria/restaurant at Pike & Rose.

What is "deck-oven" pizza? In the case of All Purpose, it is a ~600-degrees-hot oven in which the pizzas are cooked for six minutes, as opposed to the recent "fast-fired" trend. The dough is fermented for three days. Aventino and AP Pizza Shop will join JBG Smith's other recent signing next door, Tacombi, on Bethesda Avenue.

Gong Cha opening new location at The Block at Pike & Rose

Gong Cha already has a flagship store at 1800 Rockville Pike. Now the Taiwanese tea shop is expanding south to Pike & Rose. They will open their new location at The Block today at 967 Rose Avenue. Doors will open at 12:00 PM today, April 15, 2021. 

The first 50 people in line will receive a free Gong Cha keychain. Don' forget to try their specialty, Milk Foam tea, in several varieties. 

SoulCycle reopens in Bethesda

SoulCycle has defied the skeptics and reopened its Bethesda studio at 4931 Elm Street, in the Shoppes of Bethesda. The merchandise is back in the front windows, and the "BSDA family" is welcoming their "soul fam" back.

Montgomery County ban on movie concessions keeping theaters dark

Montgomery County lifted its order shuttering movie theaters several weeks ago, allowing audiences at limited capacities, but almost all cineplexes remain dark across the county. What's going on? The major sticking point is that the County Council forbid the sales of food and drink at all movie theaters, requiring patrons to remain masked throughout the screening with no refreshments. Theaters make the majority of their profits from these lobby concessions sales, not from the movie tickets themselves.

The announcement that ArcLight Cinemas is closing permanently at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda brought fresh attention to the state of cinema countywide yesterday. Marquees and screens are still dark, with the notable exception of AMC's theaters at Rio Lakefront and Wheaton Plaza. Major chain theaters like Regal Cinemas, iPic and Landmark are not joining them. 

A spokesperson for Cinépolis USA, which opened a theater in the Kentlands area of Gaithersburg only a month before the pandemic hit America, confirmed Tuesday that the County order remains the barrier to reopening. When the ban on food and drink sales is lifted, the Kentlands theater will reopen immediately, the spokesperson said.

It's a dark time, indeed, for movies in Montgomery County. Bethesda is in the worst situation of all. Thanks to the County Council's decision nearly a decade ago to approve demolition of the Regal Cinemas Bethesda 10 without requiring a replacement cineplex, the closures of Regal, ArcLight and AMC Mazza Gallerie give Bethesda the rare distinction of being a large American town without a mainstream cineplex (Landmark Bethesda Row - which also remains closed - does not screen mainstream blockbusters). Some say the age of a night at the movies is over, but Godzilla vs. Kong box office numbers showed interest in movie theaters remains strong nationally, and worldwide.

Nando's PERi-PERi to relocate Bethesda restaurant in 2022

Nando's PERi-PERi will relocate its Bethesda restaurant in January 2022, a company spokesperson said. The lease for their Bethesda Row space at 4939 Bethesda Avenue ends in January, and they are in the final stages of identifying a new space nearby, Nando's PERi-PERi North America Chief Marketing Officer Sepanta Bagherpour said Tuesday. 

That new location's address will be announced at a later date, but Bagherpour said Nando's fans can rest assured the spicy chicken restaurant will remain in Bethesda for a long time to come. Nando's current location is, and will remain, fully open for business until the move next year.

Bethesda construction update: The Edge apartments (Photos)

With exterior construction well advanced at The Edge apartments at 4885 Edgemoor Lane in Bethesda, work is ramping up on the interior of the residential units. Kitchen appliances can already be seen in place in some of the units. Construction is also underway on the pocket park the developer is providing for public use at 4903 Edgemoor Lane. The Edge is on-track for its mid-to-late 2021 delivery date.

ArcLight Cinemas closing permanently at Montgomery Mall

ArcLight Cinemas at Westfield Montgomery Mall, closed since the pandemic-related shutdown of movie theaters was ordered last year, will not reopen. The permanent closure was announced in a statement by the cineplex's parent company, Decurion Corporation. This is devastating news for the future of Montgomery Mall, where the third-floor luxury cineplex was the keystone of a nearly-$100 million expansion of the retail center by Westfield over the last decade.

Montgomery Mall is in new hands after a corporate merger, and the new parent company does not share Westfield's dedication to the survival of its malls. In fact, the new company plans to sell the mall and others it owns across the country next year. 

The future of the ArcLight space at the mall is unclear. Deadline reports that Decurion has "handed the keys to the landord" at all of its cineplex locations. A new theater operator could be brought in, the theater could be demolished and renovated for more retail and restaurant space, or the cineplex could sit abandoned until the mall is demolished for redevelopment in the future.

Why is that Acme truck going to Safeway? (Photos)

An Acme truck squeezes into the
909 Thayer Avenue Safeway store in
Silver Spring

The invasion of the Acme trucks into Montgomery County began last fall. But what are they doing here? There are no Acme grocery stores in Montgomery County! And why is an Acme truck going into my neighborhood Safeway's loading dock?

An Acme 18-wheeler heading south on
Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda

Three things have brought the great Acme fleets to places like Bethesda and Silver Spring, even though neither has an Acme store. First, Acme's parent company bought Safeway about seven years ago. Then, last year, that company merged Mid-Atlantic Safeway operations into the Acme unit headquartered in Pennsylvania. Finally, the Safeway distribution center on Leeland Road in Upper Marlboro was shuttered, and its operations relocated to - not surprisingly - Pennsylvania.

Silver Spring

So your Safeway groceries are now being trucked in from Acme's distribution center in Pennsylvania. That is a larger, mechanized distribution center near Lancaster. Thus, you are seeing Acme trucks hauling those groceries in many cases.

New Bethesda Weichert Realtors office update (Photos)

Here's a look at the progress inside the new Weichert Realtors office in the Landow Building in downtown Bethesda. It looks like it's ready to go, once the screens are removed from the windows. Located at 7920 Woodmont Avenue, it is right across from a former Weichert office, which is Bethesda Chocolates today.

Griffin Cycle open at new Bethesda location

Griffin Cycle has moved over to its new location a few doors down at 4933 Bethesda Avenue. The new space is larger than the original location. Griffin, a family-owned business, is celebrating 50 years in operation.

"Tik Tokers welcome" at Reddz Trading in Bethesda

Many retailers do not allow photography in their stores, a greater challenge to regulate in the age of smartphones. This is apparently not the case at Reddz Trading at 7901 Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda. The consignment shop has put up a sign stating "Tik Toker's (sic) welcome."

Capital Crescent Trail sign also counting walkers

The new digital sign on the Capital Crescent Trail at Bethesda Avenue was officially unveiled yesterday, although I gave you an advance sneak preview earlier Friday morning. Now that the trash bags have been removed from the obelisk, the reverse side features a separate digital count of "walkers" using the trail that day. Both sides also display the number of cyclists or walkers who have used the trail this year, although the numbers currently shown are suspect, as the sign only began counting yesterday.

Armed robbery at Bethesda convenience store

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an armed robbery at a convenience store in Bethesda early Friday morning. The robbery was reported at a store in the 5100 block of River Road around 3:18 AM Friday, according to crime data. A firearm was the weapon used in the robbery, data indicates. There is a 7-Eleven on that block of River Road.