St. Mary's - Business Development/ The Slow Train
- Thread starter darkclown
- Start date
darkclown
New Member
Not to get off subject but
I understand that crime in St. Mary's Square is exactly why the police moved their station from across the road to the shopping center. Muggings have apparently been a common occurrence there. Downtown (used loosely) Lexington Park is not a good area and can be unsafe. I have actually had someone -drunk I believe beat on the window of my car when I was at a stoplight right there at Shangra La! This was at about 10 in the evening.
Any decent restaurant will do well here. Western Steer went out of business because of absolutely terrible sanitary conditions. I eat at Outback frequently and have never had any problems with service.
There are several local businesses which I think are fine eating establishments:
HG Gass
Nook & Monks
Clarks Landing
Charlie's
Nicoletti's
Bert's
The Warf
Johnny D's Barbeque
Catamarans -downstairs of course
I understand that crime in St. Mary's Square is exactly why the police moved their station from across the road to the shopping center. Muggings have apparently been a common occurrence there. Downtown (used loosely) Lexington Park is not a good area and can be unsafe. I have actually had someone -drunk I believe beat on the window of my car when I was at a stoplight right there at Shangra La! This was at about 10 in the evening.
Any decent restaurant will do well here. Western Steer went out of business because of absolutely terrible sanitary conditions. I eat at Outback frequently and have never had any problems with service.
There are several local businesses which I think are fine eating establishments:
HG Gass
Nook & Monks
Clarks Landing
Charlie's
Nicoletti's
Bert's
The Warf
Johnny D's Barbeque
Catamarans -downstairs of course
I'm trying to cut down on the restaurant meals, but there's always something new opening up.
SmallTown
Football season!
Speaking of which, they turned Callaway into a pretty neat place these days. We looked at a house in that area a few years ago and decided against it because of the notorious crack house across the street. But they did the right thing. Destoyed the drug infested areas, paved them over and put in things the area needed like the Food Lion. Now that the trash in cleaned out (at least on the main road) I would probably consider moving there.
watercolor
yeah yeah
Yeap! I will totally agree! it does not always work out for the best...but look at the Doo Dah Deli in leonardtown...MAN! they sky rocket every afternoon, cause the are AWESOME. And they were not doing so hot, in the begining...but they sure, put their foot down, and man! They are doing great!
Tonio
Asperger's Poster Child
If I had my choice of another chain to move into St. Mary's, it would be a music store. Wal-Mart is the only place locally with a halfway-decent selection. What I remember most about Can't Stop the Music is their high prices, but then Sam Goody and Musicland in the Waldorf mall are little better.
SmallTown
Football season!
A Barnes & Noble or Books A Million would do great here. And with them, you would most likely get a very large music section as well.
If they plan it right, the area across the street from First Colony would be an excellent location. I nice little complex like the Bowie Town Center would be great.
I still don't see why the commissioners here seem to WANT people to leave to do any kind of shopping. The area I came from is quite a bit larger land wise than the St. Marys -Calvert area but has less people than we have here. (READ- Much smaller population density than here) and it support a small mall, two of the giant bookstores, and a host of other local and chain shops, a decent 11 screen movie theatre among other things. Sure, we are not an Alexandria or Arlington, but businesses can do well here.
The potential this place has, mixed in with the blantant blindness of this potential by the ones who make the decisions around here is quite frustrating.
Being down here at the end of the earth, they should strive to make the area more self supportive.
If they plan it right, the area across the street from First Colony would be an excellent location. I nice little complex like the Bowie Town Center would be great.
I still don't see why the commissioners here seem to WANT people to leave to do any kind of shopping. The area I came from is quite a bit larger land wise than the St. Marys -Calvert area but has less people than we have here. (READ- Much smaller population density than here) and it support a small mall, two of the giant bookstores, and a host of other local and chain shops, a decent 11 screen movie theatre among other things. Sure, we are not an Alexandria or Arlington, but businesses can do well here.
The potential this place has, mixed in with the blantant blindness of this potential by the ones who make the decisions around here is quite frustrating.
Being down here at the end of the earth, they should strive to make the area more self supportive.
H
Heretic
Guest
Chain resturants put places like Lenny's out of buisness? No places like Lenny's put themselves out of buisness.
I went there once, never again. I ordered a fillet and waited and waited. Finally caught up to the waiter when he was bussing a table, seemed that night he was bus boy, cook, and waiter.
About 50 minutes later I got the thinnest fillet that I ever saw (arround 1/4"), I ordered it medium and it was black on the outside and rather chewy/crunchy.
Western Steer was nasty, it is nasty everywhere the one in my old hometown in West Virginia was nasty, It also closed. I remember a time in the 80's that Western Steer was decent.
As for the "big box stores" putting mom and pop out of buisness I say so what. You look at the people that run the "mom and pop" stores and they are usually quite well to do, at least the stores that say in buisness. It took Sheetz and WaWa to make the gas stations arround Lexington Park to quit gouging prices. Ever notice before that gas here was about 25 cents a gallon higher than just over the Potomic River bridge in King George VA and now gas here is actually a penny cheaper. Just because a store is owned by mom and pop that doesnt make it (or them)good, so get off the bandwagon of "lets support mom and pop", they will cheat you just as quick a big cooporation, often more.
Lets look at the local car dealers for example, Aldridge in particular, local buisness. Took my car there had a new timing belt put on. A year later had my car in (for other repairs) and they said that the belt was ruined, I called another local garage and asked what they would charge to do the repair, they said hey you just called here. Turned out that they called this garage to do the work and charge an extra $200. Well I took the car to that garage and they said the timing belt still looked brand new, I said WTF? They fixed a minor problem with the alternator and didnt charge me a dime, their reasoning was "there wasnt anything wrong with it."
I went there once, never again. I ordered a fillet and waited and waited. Finally caught up to the waiter when he was bussing a table, seemed that night he was bus boy, cook, and waiter.
About 50 minutes later I got the thinnest fillet that I ever saw (arround 1/4"), I ordered it medium and it was black on the outside and rather chewy/crunchy.
Western Steer was nasty, it is nasty everywhere the one in my old hometown in West Virginia was nasty, It also closed. I remember a time in the 80's that Western Steer was decent.
As for the "big box stores" putting mom and pop out of buisness I say so what. You look at the people that run the "mom and pop" stores and they are usually quite well to do, at least the stores that say in buisness. It took Sheetz and WaWa to make the gas stations arround Lexington Park to quit gouging prices. Ever notice before that gas here was about 25 cents a gallon higher than just over the Potomic River bridge in King George VA and now gas here is actually a penny cheaper. Just because a store is owned by mom and pop that doesnt make it (or them)good, so get off the bandwagon of "lets support mom and pop", they will cheat you just as quick a big cooporation, often more.
Lets look at the local car dealers for example, Aldridge in particular, local buisness. Took my car there had a new timing belt put on. A year later had my car in (for other repairs) and they said that the belt was ruined, I called another local garage and asked what they would charge to do the repair, they said hey you just called here. Turned out that they called this garage to do the work and charge an extra $200. Well I took the car to that garage and they said the timing belt still looked brand new, I said WTF? They fixed a minor problem with the alternator and didnt charge me a dime, their reasoning was "there wasnt anything wrong with it."
Tonio
Asperger's Poster Child
No argument there, Heretic. Any mom-and-pop restaurant that has lousy food and pathetic service deserves to be squashed by Outback and Damons.
My concern was that the chains may have an advantage in places like St. Mary's over the GOOD locally owned restaurants. I believe most new residents naturally gravitate to the chains simply because they don't know the area. Part of it is the apperance of the buildings. If you're a fan of The Roost, you have to admit that the exterior doesn't look like much.
So if the mom-and-places are smart, they stay competitive by maintaining quality in the food and the service. They attract people using word of mouth rather than fancy buildings and signs. Most of all, they emphasize what is unique about their establishments, the things that separate them from the chains.
My concern was that the chains may have an advantage in places like St. Mary's over the GOOD locally owned restaurants. I believe most new residents naturally gravitate to the chains simply because they don't know the area. Part of it is the apperance of the buildings. If you're a fan of The Roost, you have to admit that the exterior doesn't look like much.
So if the mom-and-places are smart, they stay competitive by maintaining quality in the food and the service. They attract people using word of mouth rather than fancy buildings and signs. Most of all, they emphasize what is unique about their establishments, the things that separate them from the chains.
I prefer the more upscale locally owned restaurants anyday. I like to have something that I may not necessarily have at home or want a "cookie cutter" meal where it is always the same.
I have friends that ONLY eat at the chains for a "nice dinner out", I guess afraid to try something different. But then they go to a crab house for pizza and burgers because they don't like seafood, and then complain about the food - go figure!?!
The chains are good for a quick lunch and such and once in a while for dinner, but that is only my opinion...
I have friends that ONLY eat at the chains for a "nice dinner out", I guess afraid to try something different. But then they go to a crab house for pizza and burgers because they don't like seafood, and then complain about the food - go figure!?!
The chains are good for a quick lunch and such and once in a while for dinner, but that is only my opinion...
Originally posted by RoseRed
...The chains are good for a quick lunch and such and once in a while for dinner, but that is only my opinion...
The only chain I go to for dinner, regularly, would be Outback!
I think the food is pretty good and I've yet to have bad service at Outback, but I always go at about opening time somewhere around 4pm so its not so busy.
My husband and I were there for dinner shortly after they opened and while he was eating his salad, he found saran wrap mixed in it and while he was chewing he pulled a LONG hair out of his mouth
Right then the waitress walked up and saw that, she promptly snatched the plate away from him. I cancelled my meal.
Originally posted by RoseRed
My husband and I were there for dinner shortly after they opened and while he was eating his salad, he found saran wrap mixed in it and while he was chewing he pulled a LONG hair out of his mouth
I can see how they didn't win you over!
Fortunatly I haven't had any similar experiences with them. But I can't speak well of either Hills Halfway House, when it was open, or their new place using the old "St. Mary's Landing" nametag!
I think a lot of these little restaurants die out a well deserved death, bad service and bad food being the cause.