Pho Saigon closed - what's next for that building?

Restless

New Member
I was in Leonardtown yesterday and noticed that the Pho Saigon restaurant was closed. I figured it wouldn't last long - most restaurants in that building fail. Sad, but true. I saw a new sign saying "Hiring" outside but didn't see one saying what was going in there. Anyone know?
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
But why? It's a great location and the restaurants that have been in there have been at least as good as anything else in the area. Pho Saigon was AMAZING and always delicious, and not that far from other Asian food that the locals gobble up.

Is it built on an Indian burial ground or something? I can't figure out why restaurants that go in that location always fail.
 

CandaceMM

Ummmmm ....
I'm really sad about this closing. In the "Coming to Southern Maryland thread" someone hinted that they knew what was going in the building but didn't say a name. If I recall correctly someone said something about a familiar face opening a new restaurant, liquor license and music. Just freaking tell us what is going in the building.
 

Restless

New Member
But why? It's a great location and the restaurants that have been in there have been at least as good as anything else in the area. Pho Saigon was AMAZING and always delicious, and not that far from other Asian food that the locals gobble up.

Is it built on an Indian burial ground or something? I can't figure out why restaurants that go in that location always fail.

I wonder that too! If I remember correctly, it did well when Perkins was there, but then all the Perkins in this area were shut down. After Perkins, it was just one fail after another. Most of them started out really well too. Very strange indeed.
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
I wonder that too! If I remember correctly, it did well when Perkins was there, but then all the Perkins in this area were shut down. After Perkins, it was just one fail after another. Most of them started out really well too. Very strange indeed.
There are a few "cursed" restaurant buildings around here... I would include Pho Saigon; the original Golden Corral AKA Coco Cantina; Perkins AKA DB McMillans; Roy Rogers which was a few other no-name joints (Cuz's Country Kitchen) which is now Chesapeake Custom Embroidery; Willows which went thru several iterations; there are probably others I'm not remembering.

There are a few common factors from my point of view.

1) Lousy maintenance. Business owners around here seem to have a very short-sighted view of how much money they must allocate for facility renovations. Sometimes I'm astounded at how often Panera Bread changes something about its interior, but as a consequence it always looks fresh and clean and new. That keeps people coming back. By contrast, I generally avoid (for example) IHOP because the bathrooms are a stinking mess and the general interior feels like something straight out of the 80s. My guess is that Western Steer (corner of 4/235, now a WaWa) closed in the early 90's because it was unsustainably grungy inside and needed a complete gut and rebuild to clean it up. I don't even want to know what's in the kitchen and the food from places like that.

2) Too narrow a target market. Cuz's Country Kitchen, serving "southern Gospel" food on Styrofoam plates and plastic cups? Potential market share was near zero from day one. That's been true of many of the other failures.

3) People's desire for new, new, new. When a new place opens nearby, it slurps up all the traffic for a while. That can devastate a small-town, non-chain place that's riding the thin edge of financial solvency. Coco Cantina wasn't bad, but was probably done in by a couple direct competitors with bigger names taking their core customers. With Cracker Barrel open, I'm surprised IHOP is still alive.

4) Memory. I think people still associate the location (unfairly) with the mess that was there before, and write it off their "places I enjoy" mental list.

5) Drop-off in quality. New places often bring in star managers from Corporate to get things kicked off. Then a year later they're running on local talent only, who just never "got" the culture of successful restauranteering. Ever watch Restaurant:Impossible or Bar Rescue shows? Cool. But do you ever read the followup information from real customers? Usually within a month they're back to their failing ways of doing business. Something like 60-70% of rescued places fail within a year or two. The owner just can't change their stripes, and the quality doesn't stick.
 

Erk

Active Member
There are a few "cursed" restaurant buildings around here... I would include Pho Saigon; the original Golden Corral AKA Coco Cantina; Perkins AKA DB McMillans; Roy Rogers which was a few other no-name joints (Cuz's Country Kitchen) which is now Chesapeake Custom Embroidery; Willows which went thru several iterations; there are probably others I'm not remembering.

There are a few common factors from my point of view.

1) Lousy maintenance. Business owners around here.....

2) Too narrow a target market.

3) People's desire for new, new, new.

4) Memory.

5) Drop-off in quality. .

All excellent points. I had a long talk with one of the Pho Saigon people, and I'd like to add another: cost per seat. Evidently the rent on that location is very high, and the capacity for seats is pretty small. So you either have to sell a LOT of 9 dollar bowls of soup (Pho Saigon) or charge a LOT for one plate (Sakura / Rustic River). Either way it's a very dicey game. The Pho manager I was talking to made the point "I have seats for 40 and parking for 300".

Demo the building, and build one with twice as many seats and half the parking.
 

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
But why? It's a great location and the restaurants that have been in there have been at least as good as anything else in the area. Pho Saigon was AMAZING and always delicious, and not that far from other Asian food that the locals gobble up.

Is it built on an Indian burial ground or something? I can't figure out why restaurants that go in that location always fail.
The person that owns the building also owns the liquor store in that center and is really difficult to deal with so I've heard.
 

TheLibertonian

New Member
All excellent points. I had a long talk with one of the Pho Saigon people, and I'd like to add another: cost per seat. Evidently the rent on that location is very high, and the capacity for seats is pretty small. So you either have to sell a LOT of 9 dollar bowls of soup (Pho Saigon) or charge a LOT for one plate (Sakura / Rustic River). Either way it's a very dicey game. The Pho manager I was talking to made the point "I have seats for 40 and parking for 300".

Demo the building, and build one with twice as many seats and half the parking.

I've heard scuttlebutt about a lot of the property owners for those stripmalls being incredibly unreasonable regarding rent vs. potential profit of the businesses they allow them to rent out.

Wasn't that also the Arizona Pizza building? They made decent pizza but I can't recall them lasting more then a year.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
I wish Pho Saigon would open in a more reasonably priced location. Not that it matters because I'll be traveling and can pretty much have pho whenever I want it, but still.
 

luvmygdaughters

Well-Known Member
I've heard scuttlebutt about a lot of the property owners for those stripmalls being incredibly unreasonable regarding rent vs. potential profit of the businesses they allow them to rent out.

Wasn't that also the Arizona Pizza building? They made decent pizza but I can't recall them lasting more then a year.

I think it was a couple of years for Arizona and then it went to the Rustic River. Honestly, the food at the Rustic River was pretty damn good. Not sure why that location cannot make a go of it. Could be the landlord I guess. I mean the Happy Dragon and The all you can eat Chinese place by Mckays has been there a while.
 

Erk

Active Member
Wasn't that also the Arizona Pizza building? They made decent pizza but I can't recall them lasting more then a year.

As I recall Arizona Pizza lasted a couple of years, and my understanding is the franchise holder opted out of renewing the franchise and tried to make a go of it as Rustic River. But it's been a while and my memory can be faulty.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
As I recall Arizona Pizza lasted a couple of years, and my understanding is the franchise holder opted out of renewing the franchise and tried to make a go of it as Rustic River. But it's been a while and my memory can be faulty.

We liked both Arizona and Rustic River, although the quality of the food being put out by the latter had noticeably declined before they finally closed.
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
We liked both Arizona and Rustic River, although the quality of the food being put out by the latter had noticeably declined before they finally closed.

Makes me wonder... cause vs effect... does the quality drop because they're financially tanking and trying desperately to cut corners, or do profits drop because the quality isn't maintained for other reasons?

Either way, the two seem to go hand in hand...
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Makes me wonder... cause vs effect... does the quality drop because they're financially tanking and trying desperately to cut corners, or do profits drop because the quality isn't maintained for other reasons?

Either way, the two seem to go hand in hand...

Saw the same thing with the Lonestar that used to be in downtown LP. We went there regularly and were never disappointed. Then, suddenly (or so it seemed) the quality tanked. Not long..less than a year.. after that...shuttered. Chicken?..egg?..who knows?
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Abandoned for quite a few years now. More than 10, I believe.

And what's up with that?? This county is like a trailer park, I swear, with all the rotting abandoned buildings around. That old Dash In on Rt 5 and Chancellors Run has been abandoned for what, 15 years now? And there are a couple of houses on 235 just south of Rt 4 that would make excellent commercial properties if they razed the falling down structure.
 

Restitution

New Member
And what's up with that?? This county is like a trailer park, I swear, with all the rotting abandoned buildings around. That old Dash In on Great Mills Rd. and Chancellors Run has been abandoned for what, 15 years now? And there are a couple of houses on 235 just south of Rt 4 that would make excellent commercial properties if they razed the falling down structure.

Fixed
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
And what's up with that?? This county is like a trailer park, I swear, with all the rotting abandoned buildings around. .

And many more soon to come; the commercial overcapacity is going to guarantee that.

The MM shack in Callaway's was removed and replaced with an ATM center.
 
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