Bizarre rebranding of Sears Outlet as American Freight in Wheaton

What's going on over at the Sears Outlet store in Wheaton? It has been rebranded as American Freight Appliance Furniture Mattress. That's quite a mouthful. It's also a fairly complicated story.

American Freight has been a retailer of furniture and mattresses since 1994, and is based in Ohio. A company named Liberty Tax changed its name to the ridiculously-generic-sounding Franchise Group. Franchise Group acquired the Buddy's Home Furnishings retail chain. It then acquired Sears Outlet, which had been spun off from Sears Holdings in 2012. As 2019 ended, Franchise Group grew further by acquiring American Freight, an Ohio-based retailer of furniture and mattresses since 1994.

Franchise Group decided to expand American Freight by merging it with the Sears Outlet stores, thereby adding "appliance" to the brand name. Conversion of all Sears Outlet stores to American Freight is anticipated to be completed by this summer, according to Sears. It looks like Wheaton is ahead of the curve. It's quite odd that they are jettisoning an iconic American brand name for one with no recognition in these parts.

Purple Line construction update (Video+Photos)

Let's take a look a some of the recent progress on the Purple Line in downtown Silver Spring near the Transit Center. You can see the elevated track that will bring the light rail trains to the Metro station is much further along, although no actual rails have been installed yet.

America's Best Wings is the mystery Wheaton chicken wing restaurant

Another case solved by the Encyclopedia Brown of Ennalls Avenue. You may recall my report of an unidentified chicken wing establishment coming soon to the Wheaton Triangle strip mall at 11242 Georgia Avenue. Now we know these aren't just going to be good wings - they're America's Best. That's right, America's Best Wings is the mystery tenant.

Montgomery County Council's progressive credentials on the line in Defund the Police debate

Day 1 of the Montgomery County Council tackling the nationwide call of progressive activists to Defund the Police found the Council looking out of touch with the moment to some observers. Shortly after Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) became the first elected official to publicly state he was reviewing correspondence on the topic, the Council released a public statement about their plans regarding police reform. Their specific 3-point platform of "set a higher standard for use of force by police, outlaw certain deadly tactics such as chokeholds, and require police officers to intervene if a fellow officer is committing a crime or violating department policy," fell flat with many of their progressive constituents.

For a Council that touts itself on the cutting edge of progressive policy, many saw the proposal as being years behind the current hot topic that has arisen out of the nationwide protests in the wake of the George Floyd murder case: defunding or abolishing the police. A Zoom meeting held by several councilmembers later Monday evening was criticized by some for having the formal announced panel dominated by elected and appointed public officials. Meanwhile, residents opposed to defunding the police warned of crime surges, chaos, higher gun sales, and the prospect of fleeing Montgomery County altogether if the Council were to defund the police.

Monday was also a day that some high-level Democrats nationwide began to express second thoughts about the Defund the Police slogan. "Joe Biden does not believe that police should be defunded," a Biden campaign spokesperson said in a statement. Prominent progressives countered that phrases once considered extreme have become mainstream in a short time. "Not long ago, 'Black Lives Matter' was *also* a rallying cry for justice that politicians worried polled too poorly, was too 'divisive' & required 'too much explanation,'" U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D - NY-14) tweeted. "Now Mitt Romney is saying it. Progress is a process. It’s normal to work through discomfort along the way."

It will be interesting to see which way the Council breaks on the issue. Montgomery County has clearly broken far to the left of establishment Democrats like Joe Biden in recent elections. Twitter was not low-volume in providing feedback to the Council on Day 1.

Montgomery County Council weighs defunding the police

A day after the Minneapolis City Council vowed to dissolve its police department, the Montgomery County Council is now examining whether it should "defund the police." Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) says the Council has received almost 700 emails from constituents "advocating for defunding police, reforming police, reallocating resources to mental health services, housing initiatives, restorative justice, and more." The Councilman said on Facebook that "[w]e have many important conversations ahead."

The all-Democrat Council has been mostly silent on the nationwide issues of dissolving the police or defunding the police to this point. Progressives in Minneapolis quickly turned against very progressive Mayor Jacob Frey, who has pressed through radical reforms like ending single-family-home neighborhood zoning, when he declined to support the City Council plan to abolish its police department Saturday. With Montgomery County and Maryland veering sharply left in the last decade, it will be interesting to see how the County Council addresses these issues with progressive voters, who are now the decisive factor in Democratic primaries.

Car stolen in Hillandale

A car was reported stolen from the Hillandale area of Silver Spring on June 6. The vehicle was parked on the street in the 10400 block of Kinloch Road, right off Powder Mill Road. Another reminder to lock car doors.

Armed robbery in downtown Silver Spring alleyway

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an armed robbery in Silver Spring last night. A robbery at gunpoint occurred in an alleyway off Bonifant Street around 6:20 PM, according to crime data. This is a broad daylight crime at this time of year.