Cafe X-press will close by the end of the month at 8000 Norfolk Avenue in downtown Bethesda. The coffee shop and deli's lease has run out, and the owners say they've made the difficult decision to close the business, rather than seek a new location. The restaurant will permanently close on August 29, 2026. Cafe X-press has enjoyed one of the longest runs of success in downtown Bethesda, having originally opened way back in 1994, a heady time when Bethesda was growing on the right track for success instead of turning into Ballston like today. It's a shame that we are seeing more and more of the oldest establishments in Montgomery County closing due to the anti-business policies of the County Council, which combine with the already-slim hospitality industry profit margins to destroy businesses that have survived so many other challenges over the decades.
40 comments:
So now being like Virginia is a bad thing?? Make up your mind already!
That's ok. No one knew it was ever open.
Turning into Virginia? Isn’t that a good thing?
It does seem to me the best food is where the rents get cheaper. As rents get higher, there is less money for quality food. So The Full Key in Wheaton still is packed even though the shopping center where it's located is kind of sketchy.
When did it open?
Honestly, it's hard to take you seriously ranting about anti-business practices, when this company has been serving customers for over 30 years. Lease expiration is not an anti-business policy of MC. Do you have a clue what you are even talking about?
4:52: A business open for decades now no longer able to make enough profit to renew a lease at market rates, or sign a new one elsewhere in Bethesda, is something our failed County Council should indeed "take seriously." Gee, I wonder what policies changed in the last decade?
Or it could be the 'policy noose' gets tighter and tighter and more difficult to pay for and negotiate?
Great place nice staff it will.be missed
10:09 Better than our present DTSS trajectory.
This is one of the last, true neighborhood restaurants, solid and affordable breakfast/lunch spot, family owned and service with a smile. It's no Pop-up Bagels, but this place was always packed with parents/kids from the dance studio next door on Saturdays, I just don't think they were close enough to the businesses to capture much of the lunch traffic. They'll be missed, I absolutely loved the bagel tuna melt.
Let me see if I understand your argument- Rosetta Bakery, Pop Up Bagels, Call Your Mother, Jetty, Tatte, Sisters Sandwiches and Pete's are all about 5 minutes walking from them- and its the anti-business policies of MC that are hindering them.
Your arguments are so tired...they need a rest.
10:10: Now list all the businesses within 5 minutes' walk that have closed.
I suspect the number of businesses that renewed their lease in 2026 far exceed the number of businesses that did not renew their lease in 2026. But when a business renews their lease, this isn't news, so it's not reported on. By only focusing on the businesses that close and not the ones that continue to operate, you give a skewed picture of what's really happening.
@7:36 dogwhistle
You really have no idea what you are whining about. Retail and restaurants shuts down and retail and restaurants opens...it's an inherently unstable industry that relies on so many things beyond your moronic county policy arguments. Does your location have enough foot traffic, are you priced correctly, are you satisfying a market with something of value, can you find employees that treat customers with respect, if you are family business can you get the next generation to take over. There are literally hundreds of reasons companies go under...very few have anything to do with county policy. Losing your minds about the price of bagels(!), while there is a line forming to buy them (clearly moribund!) to buy them, only proves how thin you arguments are...they border on transparent.
6:20: A thorough analysis shows that County and State policies have a lot to do with our moribund economy. That's why we haven't attracted a single major new corporate headquarters in over 25 years. Moreover, massive tax hikes and entirely new taxes have been imposed on energy and IT services, and massive minimum wage hikes have driven mom-and-pop and chain operations alike out of business. A reckoning is coming at some point.
It literally takes 20 seconds of searching to identify the corporate headquarters in Montgomery County include Lockheed Martin (global HQ), GEICO (HQ), Bernstein Management Corporation (HQ moved from DC), Powersolv (HQ moved from VA), X-energy (HQ), Marriott (global HQ), United Therapeutics (global HQ), Novavax (global HQ), and REGENXBIO (global HQ). Additionally, AstraZeneca (has a huge R&D and manufacturing campus), Arcellx (60,000-square-foot operational facility), Thales Defense & Security (manufacturing campus that recently expanded, adding another 225 jobs), and AeroVironment (satellite and defense communications facility). Literally 20 seconds.
Much more importantly for the future, I don't think you've been following MD's efforts to become a major national hub for quantum computing- but it's vitally important (as it touches everything- from healthcare to defense to transportation).and it's been pretty impressive. IonQ- (founded/HQd in College Park and publicly-traded) is building a 100,000-square-foot quantum intelligence campus. Microsoft's Quantum Research Center and British innovator Quantum Motion also moved to the area. Quantum computing is exactly the kind of market Maryland should be investing in, as it's growing incredibly fast and there will be dozens of fast growing startups that grow organically, and much more rapidly, if the initiative succeeds.
But sure, try not to lost your mind about a deli closing...and keep spouting your nonsense about a reckoning coming.
That block = moribund
You sound like a broken AI. Plenty of new corporate HQs over the last 25 years (I work for one: X-Energy. Or is my $9B company not "major" enough for you?). What's really happening is you haven't come up with a new talking point in 25 years.
6:04: The pertinent issue was how many *new* major corporate headquarters has the County attracted in this century, and the answer is "zero."
When you have talking points as powerful as that, you don't need to come up with new ones.
You can ignore my (12:15) comment all you want, but X-Energy is very much "new," based on your random definition of 25 years. Maybe spend less time reading about companies in VA and FL and educate yourself about MoCo a bit. Maybe then your talking points won't be so moribund.
2:23, lol, so your by your metric, say for crime, for instance, no trend would be worthwhile to look at unless its large enough to overcome the mean? An inflection point in a graph holds no importance until it shows a reversal? Methinks you're a reality denier type! Maybe you're on the Council?
Bottom line, albeit via AI with ironically mostly Libmedia citations: just ask AI how Maryland compares with the Natiion on inviting business and how, specifically MD compares with Virginia. 'Nuff said...Hint: MD loses on all metrics.
You're just selling lies . There are literally half a dozen $10 billion+ valuation (Ex: AstraZeneca, 1.27M sqft campus, 2007) listed above, another half a dozen $1-10 billion valuation (example: X-Energy, 2009), and another dozen $10 million-$1 billion easily named. There are so many not listed on the list above as well- for example Sodexo North American Headquarters are in North Bethesda (2024), Federal Realty Investment Trust HQ (2017), Total Wine HQ (2007), Choice Hotels HQ (Rockville 2013-N.Bethesda 2024), QIAGEN HQ, Abt Global ($700M+ annual rev., 2018), Miltenyi Biotec NAHQ (2022), Emergent BioSolutions (2004-5).
This takes 3 minutes to search and I could literally add to this list with ease, but just don't have the time right now. You are lazily selling your nonsense talking points. For someone who claims to understand Bethesda and Montgomery County generally...you really have no clue. You sound ridiculous.
7:01/8:49: Choice Hotels and Federal Realty have been here since the 1960s. None of the other companies that are new arrivals to Montgomery County are major or Fortune 500s. It's been well over 25 years since MoCo even sniffed the possibility of attracting a major corporate headquarters. It's embarrassing for the County Councils of this century, I get that. But the worst thing we could do is try to fool ourselves into believing Montgomery County has a booming economy. The County budget structural deficit screams otherwise.
Only thing lazier than using AI to settle this argument is depending on the comments section here.
3:18: The argument is settled, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Washington Post, and Governor Wes Moore all acknowledging the Montgomery County and Maryland economies are moribund. I'm proud of my work in bringing attention to this topic for so many years before my accurate narrative became mainstream.
The problem is that you list new businesses opening vs. those closing by like 4-to-1. That's not what happens in a moribund economy...you would see the reverse.
6:12: I haven't seen a definitive ratio of openings and closings, but that is largely irrelevant, as the federal statistical benchmarks and County structural budget deficit have already confirmed our economy is stagnant and moribund. Defenders of the Council are few and far between, so you are certainly an outlier in your argument that we are somehow experiencing a rip-roaring economy but just aren't smart enough to realize it. That sounds like Biden and Trump-style gaslighting, and - again - even Wes Moore and the Washington Post have stated our economy is moribund.
AI is notorious for hallucinating and outright lying. It's not a reputable tool for fact checking.
Why was my comment about greedy leasing companies forcing businesses out of their locations (such as Fontina Grill in King Farm and an ABC store in Rockville) not approved, Robert?
A @8:51: There are some disgruntled ex-tenants who hold a grudge against a particular landlord in Bethesda, and post anonymous attacks on that company online. It's a private gripefest that I do not want to get involved with, and so I generally do not approve comments targeting that company, because I've never seen any evidence that there is any truth to these criticisms. Rents are high in Bethesda, and a business can either afford to pay each month or not. Landlords are not in the business of evicting tenants who pay their bills. If they can't, the landlord is within their rights to kick them out.
>>the worst thing we could do is try to fool ourselves into believing Montgomery County has a booming economy.
Don't blame Montgomery County for the Trump dumpster fire economy. From DOGE cuts that impacted this area to wars that drive up inflation and mind-numbing grift/corruption as far as the eye can see...its truly amazing the MC economy has stood as strong as it has.
Your logic is always completely off when confronted with your proclamations. You now claim that your own blog isn't really representative of anything...so therefore, you can't claim that any single business closing is the result of a moribund economy. You need to stop commenting on every business that closes as representative of anything if you can't also admit that the economy can't be all bad if the new openings that again...you list them...significantly outnumber closings by a large margin.
11:24: It's your logic that is off - the County economy has been moribund the whole time I've been reporting on openings and closings. How, then, would this by itself somehow indicate our economy has been booming?
10:49: Montgomery County's economy was moribund long before Trump was elected the first time, much less the second. Neither the County nor Maryland had attracted a single major new corporate headquarters for over a quarter century prior to DOGE or the Iran War. Both were declared moribund in the prior decade by The Washington Post, and in 2022 by Wes Moore. Fairfax beating Montgomery County was a regular topic of conversation last decade. Virginia had similar DOGE job losses, but has a thriving economy. The difference has been the political leadership.
Fair enough not wanting to get involved in the drama, but there does seem to be a pattern emerging that is worth talking about.
Fontina Grill and the ABC store both had their rents raised to unaffordable levels by landlords who knew that and did it anyway, refusing to negotiate any lower. I heard this directly from employees of both locations. If it can happen there it can happen here.
Wait so the economy is moribund yet the economy is booming enough for landlord to raise rents to rates these businesses now can’t afford? I have that right? So is the economy moribund or not?
3:35: You have it wrong - the rents go up because the County Council keeps piling on more tax hikes and costs onto property owners, and business owners can't afford the rents because they are being hit by the same costs in a low profit margin industry.
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