Progress

I got a little sad news today. One of my favorite lunch places, The House Grille, in Silver Spring is going to close on Friday. It is one of the few homey places in town and I will miss sitting out back to eat. Not only that, it is a family run business that is losing out to the chains.

Officially the parents want to retire and the son wants to focus on his real estate business. I think that they are also victims of the competitive nature of the restaurant market.

Silver Spring is in the middle of a revitalization project and has attracted several name brand chains in the last two years. This has undoubtedly put pressure on the local shop owners that were here before the "revival." Even though the lunch crowds are larger than in the past, they are focused on the mall-ish area that has opened up recently and where the chain restaurants are. This has taken traffic from the older establishments.

Even though the new "Downtown" is good for the area in the long run, it is sad to see the local folks edged out by big guys.