Kentlands' Empty Big Boxes Are Coming Back as Smaller Storefronts. Here's What's Going Where.

The Party City in Kentlands closed by March 2025, and that one storefront is now three businesses. The Buca di Beppo building on Kentlands Boulevard, dark since June 2024, is being split between two tenants. Down on Market Street and Main Street, the smaller restaurant and shop spaces are changing hands at the same time.

This fall's construction around Kentlands follows one pattern. Large rooms that once held a single store are being divided into several narrower ones. The replacements are more specific than what they replace. Instead of one party-supply store, there's now a food hall, an emergency vet, and a Pilates studio. The changes are spread over a dozen addresses. The rest of this post goes through them in order.

One Party City, three front doors

When The MoCo Show reported in December 2025 that crews were redoing the former Party City's façade and interior, the work was turning one retail space into three leasable storefronts. No tenant had signed at that point.

All three spaces now have names. Wonder took the first, at 124 Main St. It held a soft opening August 10 through 12 and a grand opening on Thursday, August 13, according to The MoCo Show. Wonder works differently from a food court. One kitchen team prepares menu items from more than 20 restaurant brands, so a single pickup or delivery order can mix burgers, salads, pizza and desserts. Much of the prep happens at a central hub in New Jersey, and dishes are finished on-site in high-speed ovens. Kentlands is not Wonder's only Montgomery County location. The company opened first in North Bethesda and has more planned for Burtonsville and Germantown.

The other two spaces are going to Veterinary Emergency Group, also called VEG ER for Pets, and STRONG Pilates. For anyone with a pet, the VEG lease matters most. It will be the network's first Montgomery County location. VEG hospitals are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and take walk-ins with no appointment. They treat dogs and cats as well as birds, reptiles, rabbits and ferrets. The October roundup did not list an opening date for VEG, so it's still a "coming soon," not a place to drive at 2 a.m. yet.

The Buca di Beppo building splits in two

The same thing is happening at 112 Kentlands Blvd. in Kentlands Market Square. Buca di Beppo closed there in June 2024, ahead of the chain's bankruptcy filing. The building was first expected to become a Tatte Bakery & Cafe. The MoCo Show reported on June 29 that Tatte had dropped those plans months earlier. Mattress Warehouse was expected to take about half the building, and another bakery and café had signed for the rest.

The bakery turned out to be Maman, and construction was underway by August. Maman started as a grab-and-go café in SoHo. Its first location outside New York opened in June 2022 at 7140 Bethesda Ln. in Bethesda, and the brand reached its 50th location, in Dallas, by November 2025. It's best known for its nutty chocolate chip cookie, and the menu includes croissants, kouign maman, scones and beignets, with vegan and gluten-free options. As of the October 4 roundup, no opening date had been given.

Here's what the two buildings add up to. Two closed stores are becoming five businesses: a food hall, an emergency vet, a fitness studio, a café and a mattress store. Each one draws a different kind of trip at a different hour.

On Market Street, the spaces stay the same size and the uses get more specific

The smaller storefronts closer to Main Street aren't being divided. They're passing from one operator to the next, and most of the incoming businesses are more specialized than the ones that left.

Caspian House of Kabob had been at 72 Market St. for many years. Compari Trattoria's signage has been up since late summer, per The MoCo Show, but the restaurant hasn't announced an opening timeline.

Gina's Cucina Siciliana is the most personal concept on the list. The restaurant says the menu grew out of a family's effort to preserve the recipes of Gina, a Sicilian mother and grandmother. The dishes trace to the Agrigento and Messina regions and include arancini, spiedini, pasta puttanesca, chicken marsala, Sicilian pizza and focaccia. Its website says it's building in Kentlands and aiming to open in 2026.

Arepa King replaces Potomac Cookie Co., which opened in May 2024 and whose closing The MoCo Show reported in April. Every arepa is made to order, and the corn-based arepas are naturally gluten-free. The owner recommends the King Arepa, a traditional Arepa de Pabellón with shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantains and cheese, for a first visit. The MoCo Show reported in June that construction was underway and an opening was expected before the end of the year.

Sweathouz shows best how specific the new mix is getting. The business offers contrast therapy, which means alternating between heat and cold. Its first Maryland location opened in March 2025 at 11564 Old Georgetown Road in North Bethesda. The Kentlands location will be its second in the state, in a space that used to sell poke bowls.

The one whose opening date keeps moving

At 375 Main St., Catlands plans to open Montgomery County's first adoptable cat lounge. The concept pairs a lounge with an adoption program, inviting guests to "play, lounge, adopt" among adoptable cats. The address has seen a lot of turnover. Baby Bar operated there in 2023. Signage for Colour Couture Salon went up afterward, but that business never opened.

In August, The MoCo Show reported that Catlands was targeting an October 2026 opening. The Catlands website now says the lounge "isn't open until December," and visitors can join an opening list there. If you've been watching that storefront for an October opening, plan on December instead.

Treat every future opening date in this post the same way. Each is a business's own estimate, and Catlands shows how quickly one can move.

Where the next storefronts will come from

New construction at Kentlands Square is also small-format. Saul Centers is marketing a development of three new buildings between the Chipotle and Lowe's and the At Home store. The building closest to Chipotle would have four tenant spaces, the center building four more, and the building near Lowe's would be a standalone drive-thru restaurant.

The plan isn't new. The City of Gaithersburg's project page shows Saul Holdings Limited Partnership applied for three infill commercial buildings totaling 21,700 square feet. The Mayor and City Council approved that schematic development plan on April 4, 2022. The same page lists earlier final site plans for the Starbucks building, approved October 16, 2019, and Shake Shack, approved July 8, 2021. As of the October roundup, no tenants had been announced and no construction timeline had been set. The renderings in the leasing materials show possible uses, not signed tenants.

If those buildings go up as marketed, the parking-lot edge of Kentlands Square would gain up to nine storefronts across three small buildings. That's the same thing that happened inside the old Party City and Buca di Beppo, built new this time.

Your fall and early-winter checklist

• Open now: Wonder, 124 Main St.
• Watch for this year: Arepa King at 109A Market St., Gina's Cucina Siciliana at 640 Center Point Way, and Catlands at 375 Main St., which now says December.
• Signage up, no date: Compari Trattoria at 72 Market St.
• Under construction, no date: Maman and Mattress Warehouse at 112 Kentlands Blvd.
• Signed, no date: VEG ER for Pets and STRONG Pilates in the former Party City; Sweathouz at 107 Market St. W.
• Approved on paper, no tenants yet: Saul Centers' three buildings between Chipotle and At Home.

Once every tenant above opens, the two big storefronts that sat dark in 2025 will hold five businesses, and five more spaces on Market Street, Main Street and Center Point Way will have changed hands.

If you're thinking about how Kentlands' changing streetscape fits into your own plans, Betsy Taylor would be glad to walk the neighborhood with you. Let's Connect.