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Convenience is the key for new stores in Cloverly plaza

Towne Center is ‘a little bit away from anything, but very close to everything,’ residents and shop owners say

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Photos by Charlie Shoemaker⁄The Gazette (Above) Andrew Blumhagen of Scales Tropical Fish Warehouse in Cloverly uses a small net Friday afternoon to catch a marble angel. (Below) Several stores occupy the new Cloverly Towne Center, shown here Friday afternoon. Click here to enlarge this photo

‘‘This is everything a mom could want and it’s only three minutes away,” said Watkins, a mother of two who lives near Bonifant Road and New Hampshire Avenue. ‘‘It’s a family dream. Our Saturdays are centered around here.”

Watkins’ sentiments are echoed not only by others in the community about Cloverly Towne Center, a nearly 60,000 square-foot strip mall with an eclectic mix of stores that opened in November, but by the store owners themselves, many of whom live in the community.

‘‘It’s a little bit away from anything, but very close to everything,” said Andrew Blumhagen, co-owner of Scales Tropical Fish Warehouse.

Elite Dance Studio and Supply, for example, was founded when Tom Wessel of Burtonsville and Jim Norberg of Hampshire Greens wanted a studio closer to home for their daughters to practice, said Rebecca Morgan, director of the studio, who lives in Aspen Hill. The owners ‘‘liked the location and things available for parents to do after they dropped off their kids,” she said. ‘‘Everyone seems to be right around the corner from here.”

Elite opened its doors July 1 and teaches ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop to age 2 through adult. The store molded the building to fit its needs, creating a large, sky-blue dance studio in the back with a mirrored wall and a smaller, one-way mirror for parents to watch their children practice, as well as a shop where dancers can purchase shoes and clothing.

Jennifer Kalita was picking up her two girls, ages 3 and 6, earlier this week at Elite after their lessons. ‘‘There’s dancing at other places, but not as convenient,” said Kalita, who lives in nearby Good Hope Estates.

Kalita, who does public relations work for a Dream Dinners franchise located in the shopping center, said the strip mall will be even more convenient come fall, ‘‘when things get hectic” with school starting again. ‘‘It really meets a lot of needs for people up this side of New Hampshire [Avenue],” she said.

After leaving Elite, Kalita said it was time for dinner. ‘‘Maybe I’ll get a pizza or cook up a Dream Dinners,” she said, laughing.

Convenience is what community members had in mind when they approached developer Rona Kramer in 1998 about building the shopping center. Residents wanted an area ‘‘with good stores and that was good-looking,” said Kramer, president of Kramer Enterprises who is also a Democratic state senator representing District 14, which includes the shopping center. ‘‘We wanted the community to be proud to have this as their community center.”

The result is 46,000 square feet of retail space and 13,000 square feet for offices behind a brick and stone facade. Of the 18 storefronts available, only three vacancies remain, though Kramer said two might be filled with a family-style restaurant and a bank. Five of the 10 offices are filled, Kramer added. ‘‘To be almost fully leased so quickly shows there’s a market out there,” she said.

The shopping center, located next to a Safeway supermarket at the corner of Briggs Chaney Road and New Hampshire Avenue, was designed with local business owners in mind, Kramer said. ‘‘We like the individuality of a local business,” she said. ‘‘We wouldn’t turn away a national chain, but always our preference is to work with ‘mom and pop’ stores.”

Yihung Mohs mixes the national and local business elements at Dream Dinners, a national chain that supplies ingredients and kitchen space for registered customers to assemble one of 14 recipes offered each month on the company’s Web site. ‘‘We cater to busy families, busy moms in particular,” she said.

Mohs, who lives near Four Corners, worked for 14 years at Discovery Communications before switching careers. ‘‘I decided I wanted to be my own boss,” she said.

Dream Dinners opened in the spring and has already established itself in the community, raising meals for single moms in partnership with the Community Ministry of Montgomery County and participating in fund-raisers with area schools, Mohs said.

At Scales, Blumhagen took a visitor through the back of the store, where two-thirds of the store’s aquariums hold fish under quarantine before they are put on display, a practice he says is unique among area fish stores. The display area itself is open and airy, with five wide aisles featuring fish of all colors and sizes.

Blumhagen, an Aspen Hill native, has worked in the aquarium industry for eight years, while his partner, James M. McChancy, worked in software and had aquariums as a hobby before they opened the store. ‘‘We thought we could do it better than anyone in the area,” Blumhagen said.

Though Scales opened Feb. 15, Blumhagen said he and others worked for five months prior constructing everything except for the electrical work and the walls. Work is still ongoing, but Blumhagen is glad to be surrounded by other new business owners.

‘‘We share a common experience of building our own store,” he said. ‘‘We understand what each other is going through.”