Dutch market will wait to check out

Owner of Burtonsville Shopping Center gives popular store, slated to leave earlier this summer, an extension through September

The popular Amish and Mennonite market was scheduled to close at the end of August, but manager Sam Beiler said he received notice Thursday from the land's owner, Christopher Jones of Bethesda-based BMC Property Group, that the market can stay through September and possibly later.

The market has been in the Burtonsville Shopping Center, at 15642 Columbia Pike, for 21 years. Jones has plans to redevelop the shopping center and put a yet unnamed grocery store in the market's place.

Beiler said he didn't ask for an extension. And despite repeated calls, Jones was unavailable for comment.

The Dutch market announced in April it would be leaving this summer, but since June, the date has changed from month to month.

Beiler said staying open beyond the summer will prevent downtime between the move from Burtonsville to its new location in Laurel. The managers have chosen the site of an old furniture store, Galaxy Furniture, at 9701 Fort Meade Road in Laurel.

The new location won't be far from the old one- just five miles west on 198.

Beiler and another manager, Gideon Yoder, said they signed the lease for the new store at the end of March and have been working on permitting issues since then. It should be ready in three to four months, Beiler said.

And while the move is bittersweet, Beiler said at 23,000 square feet, the new market will be twice the size of the Burtonsville location.

The added space will allow for bigger aisles, more products and faster service. Employees won't have to run out back to storage every time they need supplies, Beiler said.

"It will be more sufficient," he said.

And despite the location's new interior, Beiler said the market will keep its "country atmosphere."

But hanging in limbo without a definite closing date can be difficult, Beiler and Yoder said.

"It gets kind of confusing for everybody," Beiler said.

Beiler said some employees were looking for new jobs for the few months the market will be closed but now they may not have to. And Yoder said it's been difficult to keep up maintenance when they might leave at the end of every month.

But now, "we've got our second wind back," Yoder said.

Market workers haven't been the only ones confused. Customers were surprised to learn that the signs posted around the store saying Aug. 30 was the close date were wrong.

Justin Goglia, a Burtonsville resident for 30 years, who frequents the market's small restaurant, said during a visit Thursday that he loves the market and would follow it to Laurel.

"Wherever they move, I'll go," he said.