Pike & Rose Lost Its Morning Coffee Stop, and Its Evenings Are Filling Up
In September, a sign went up in the window of the Starbucks at 11802 Grand Park Ave. saying the store was "temporarily closed" and that Starbucks was working to reopen it "as soon as possible." By Friday morning a different notice had replaced it. The MoCo Show reported that the new sign confirmed a permanent closure and pointed customers to the Starbucks at 17 Paseo Dr. in North Bethesda.
That closing is the first piece of a pattern you can trace from Grand Park Avenue to the Strathmore lawn this fall. Pike & Rose's walk-in daytime stop is gone. What's arriving is built for evenings and special occasions, and Strathmore's holiday calendar keeps almost all of its big dates after dark too. If you live within walking distance, your November and December here will look different from last year's.
A year earlier, this same store looked like it was closing. In September 2025, customers got an email saying Starbucks had "made the very difficult decision" to close the Grand Park Ave location at the end of the day on September 27. Employees told The MoCo Show the email had gone out in error, and the store stayed open another year.
This time the closing was real. It came as Starbucks said it would close about 250 underperforming locations across North America. Two Montgomery County stores were on the list: Pike & Rose and the White Oak Town Center store in Silver Spring. A representative at the Paseo Drive store told The MoCo Show the Pike & Rose store was expected to close for good that Sunday.
The farewell sign seemed to know who would miss the store most:
"It's your coffeehouse, a place woven into your daily rhythm, where memories were made and meaningful connections with our partners grew."
That quote also comes from The MoCo Show's coverage. Paseo Drive is now the Starbucks the company itself points you to, and that's the change you'll feel on a weekday morning.
Earlier this year, it looked like Pike & Rose might lose a nighttime anchor as well. A WARN notice filed with the State of Maryland on March 2 said IPIC Theaters at 11830 Grand Park Avenue would close on April 28, which could have affected 116 employees. April 28 came and went with the theater still open, but staff told The MoCo Show they didn't know what would happen long term.
In June the answer came. The MoCo Show reported that CMX Cinemas had taken over selected IPIC assets and locations, and that IPIC North Bethesda and City Perch Kitchen + Bar would both stay open. North Bethesda was one of nine IPIC theaters in the deal. CMX says IPIC stays the brand customers see. It kept the theater and restaurant teams, and the IPIC website, app, rewards, gift cards and memberships all still work as before.
So the year ended up keeping a dine-in theater and City Perch Kitchen + Bar on Grand Park Avenue while losing the coffee counter a few doors away. The next opening goes further in the same evening direction.
The Block food hall closed in 2024 and left 967 Rose Ave. empty. MUI Supper Club is taking it over. Permanent signage went up this month, and the restaurant now expects to open in November.
MUI will focus on A5 wagyu, omakase and theatrical tableside service, using traditional Japanese techniques and a robata grill. The MoCo Show's report lists planned dishes such as A5 wagyu tartare with caviar, a 72-hour koji-aged A5 tomahawk, and a "Hot Rock Experience" with wagyu, otoro, prawn and foie gras on a 700-degree volcanic stone.
Three details show who it's built for:
The former food hall space will be open only five evenings a week. No exact opening date has been announced, so plan on "sometime in November" until the restaurant gives one.
The second November arrival is the most family-friendly one, and it fits the evening pattern too. Always Ice Cream Company plans to open in late November at 11802 Rockville Pike, next to Chipotle and Visionworks, in the former PetWellClinic space. As with MUI, no exact opening date has been announced.
The MoCo Show reported that the shop makes small-batch ice cream with more than 200 rotating flavors. It also sells soft serve, sundaes, old-fashioned milkshakes, root beer floats, ice cream cakes, and vegan and dairy-free options. Pike & Rose will be the company's ninth Maryland shop. Co-owner Adam Cohen called the opening "a dream come true" in the same report, and the owners have said many of their relatives live nearby.
A late-November opening lines up with the start of the holiday concert season. That makes it the natural place for dessert before or after a show up the road.
One more food change from earlier this year happened just up Rockville Pike. Wonder, a food delivery and pickup service, opened at 12240 Rockville Pike with a grand opening on June 4, 2026. Its launch was built around delivery and pickup orders, which is a different role from a walk-in coffee counter.
Head north on Rockville Pike to Strathmore and the calendar runs on the same evening schedule. Strathmore's 2026 holiday press release, dated Aug. 25, 2026, sets the dates, and most of the Music Center shows start at 8 p.m. according to Strathmore's holiday events page.
The Holiday Market is the main daytime event on the list. It runs three days in mid-November, when shopping for gifts at local artisan booths beats waiting until December. On Dec. 12, Strathmore also hosts a free community show away from its own campus. Elijah Balbed and The JoGo Project bring their big band holiday show, a blend of go-go, jazz and big band, to the Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center as part of the Bloom at Good Hope series.
Put the pieces together and you get a practical holiday plan for the Pike District. For daytime, the Nov. 12–14 market at the Mansion is the event to circle, and the Paseo Drive Starbucks is now the nearest one the company recommends. For evenings there's much more to choose from. An 8 p.m. Music Center show leaves time for an early dinner at Pike & Rose. IPIC adds a dinner-and-a-movie option. MUI adds a Tuesday-through-Saturday option once it opens, and if Always Ice Cream hits its late-November target, it will be serving by the time the December concerts start.
Pike & Rose's own Santa Crawl took place on Dec. 14, 2024, and Dec. 13, 2025, so mid-December is a reasonable guess for this year. Wait for the official 2026 announcement before you put it on the family calendar.
When MUI and Always Ice Cream announce their opening days, we'd love to hear which one you're trying first. If this season's changes have you thinking about how close you want to live to Pike & Rose and Strathmore, Myah Moxley is happy to walk through North Bethesda with you, from Grand Park Avenue to the Strathmore lawn. Let's Connect.
Myah makes meeting customer needs and satisfaction a priority and characteristic of RE/MAX Plus. Your goals are her goals, and she will work tirelessly for you to ensure your dreams are realized. Whether you are in the market to buy or sell, give Myah a call today, and let her work for you!