Whip Clean Car Wash opens in Gaithersburg

Whip Clean Car Wash is now open at 391 Muddy Branch Road, at the Festival at Muddy Branch shopping center in Gaithersburg. You can go through for a single wash at a la carte pricing, or sign up to save with a membership. The results have been impressive, based on the photos posted online by the first customers so far. Operating hours are 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Saturday, and 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Sundays.

Model homes open at Watkins Mill Station in Gaithersburg

Model homes are now open to tour at Pulte Homes' Watkins Mill Station development at 506 Parkview Avenue in Gaithersburg. The development features stacked 2-level townhome-style condos, which start at $584,990. When completed, the property will offer a Clubhouse with a fitness room, an outdoor swimming pool, a pavilion, a tot lot, and two pocket parks. What's most interesting is how close it is to the actual train station that inspired its name. You are literally steps away from the platform at the Metropolitan Grove MARC commuter rail station. This could be a real boon for the person who works in downtown Silver Spring, or near Union Station in Washington, D.C., or for train buffs who want a front row seat to the Amtrak, CSX, and MARC Brunswick Line trains passing through this station.

Gina's Cucina Siciliana opening in Gaithersburg

Gina's Cucina Siciliana is coming soon to Gaithersburg. A banner has been posted above the storefront formerly home to Cinco de Mayo at 640 Center Point Way at Kentlands Market Square. Yes, there was a real Gina, and her son is bringing her recipes and culinary inspirations all the way from Porto Empedocle to Montgomery County later this year. Look for Gina's right next to Andy's Pizza.

Arby's coming soon to Red Mill Shops

Derwood will soon "have the meats." Arby's has leased the building formerly home to McDonald's at 7200 Muncaster Mill Road at the Red Mill Shops shopping center. The McDonald's closed here this past March. It will be an ironic transformation, as an Arby's restaurant on Rockville Pike was recently converted into a McDonald's. Now Arby's will return the favor in Derwood.

Millie's Ice Cream opening in Gaithersburg

Millie's Ice Cream is coming soon to Gaithersburg. It will be located at 202 Ellington Boulevard at Downtown Crown, next to El Güero Mexicano. Co-founder Chad Townsend, launched the Pittsburgh-based chain with the impulse purchase of a Paco-Jet™ machine. Flavors include standbys like Chad's Vanilla, and seasonal varieties like this summer's Root Beer Float. Today, the Paco-Jet has been replaced by their manufacturing facility at Homestead, Pennsylvania, that supplies all locations.

Maryland has 2nd-worst economy in America, CNBC finds

Maryland has the second-worst economy in the U.S., CNBC found in its 2026 Worst State Economies in America survey, the results of which were released today. "Economic growth and job growth nearly flatlined in Maryland over the past year," the cable TV business channel noted in its analysis. "[H]igh costs, unpredictable taxes, and growing regulatory burdens," are each a drag on the state's economy, as is an over-reliance on government jobs and federal funds. A new IT services tax walloped businesses, sending many firms packing for greener pastures in other states. Especially hard hit by the IT tax were government contractors, a painful irony in a state where little beyond government has been growing this century.

Some factors in CNBC's criteria certainly hit Maryland where it hurts. These included job growth, economic growth, and the number of major companies headquartered in the state. The first two "flatlined" over the last 12 months, in CNBC's own word, and Maryland hasn't attracted a single new major corporate headquarters this century. In fact, the story has been the number of companies leaving the state. "Budget situation" isn't a category any Maryland elected official would want to delve into publicly. Debt? Maryland and Montgomery County are both in deadly serious trouble on that front, as well.

"Small business survival rates?" Ho ho. The ubiquitous "Going Out of Business" and "Everything must go!!!" signs in Montgomery County storefront windows tell a most tragic story indeed.

"Maryland finds itself in a deep hole in 2026, with no easy way out of it," CNBC concluded. But the picture is even bleaker than the one painted by the already-stinging rebuke of a friendly, liberal news outlet. They didn't even mention the budget apocalypse currently forecast for the state in 2030. 

Can we continue to whistle past the graveyard, raising taxes and instituting new ones? Refusing for radical ideological reasons to construct the long-delayed new Potomac River crossing to the Dulles area? Continuing to block completion of our master plan highway system? Keep on losing, and often hardly trying, in the corporate HQ relocation sweepstakes?

We could. And we just might end up topping CNBC's worst list in the future. It's one of the few things within easy reach for the buffoonish incompetents currently running Montgomery County and Maryland. After all, "We're number two - we try harder."

Signage installed at Orange Pocket in Gaithersburg

Signage has been installed above the future storefront of Orange Pocket at 30 Grand Corner Avenue at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg. The Asian-themed variety store is expected to open next month at the Peterson Cos. property. Based in Texas, the chain carries blind boxes, Labubu toys, anime figurines, plush toys, sought-after Japanese and South Korean cosmetics and beauty products, house and kitchen wares, stationary, pet products, and Asian snacks. Claw games and Bandai Gashapon machines will provide additional diversions for shoppers.