‘Bittersweet:’ Longtime Toy Store in Downtown Ellicott City is Closing

The owners announced their departure Wednesday.

Mumbles and Squeaks Toy Shoppe, an Ellicott City Main Street toy store for more than two decades, is closing its doors. Co-owners Ed Williams, 66, and Frank DiPietro, 52, announced the closing on Facebook on Wednesday, saying that after 21 years at 8133 Main St., Ellicott City, they will be moving to Florida. In an interview, Williams said they will be going into “semi-retirement” upon the store’s closing. The store’s last day is June 1. “Twenty-one years is enough,” Williams said. “It’s a hard business. … September, we start working right after Labor Day and work seven days a week until Christmas. The only day we get off is Thanksgiving. The risk you take is phenomenal.” He also said online competition, which doesn’t have to charge sales …

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Hello/Goodbye Ellicott City

Ellicott City is a town of change. Take a look at stores that have come and gone in the past couple of years.

Howard County Business: 2012 in Review

Wegmans opened, but not its liquor store. Ale House Columbia and Frisco's dueled in beer headlines. Main Street Ellicott City installs pay parking, to businesses chagrin.

It has been quite a year in business here in Howard County. Beer wars were under way this year on Dobbin Road in Columbia. Frisco Tap House and Brewery opened its new micro brewery this year and produced the restaurant's first two beers under the name Push Brewery in August. Just down the street from Frisco, the owners of Pratt Street Ale House opened the Ale House Columbia, in December at Dobbin Center. One Dish Cuisine in Ellicott City welcomed gluten-free residents to its new restaurant that offers allergy-sensitive food that one resident said was "the best steak and cheese, pizza and apple cake" she had ever tasted. The grocery superstore Wegmans opened in Columbia, but the planned liquor store on the second floor did not. The liquor …

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Do You Want to See a Metered Main Street?

A new program is bringing paid parking downtown.

Free parking on Main Street may soon be a thing of the past.  County officials said Tuesday night that they hope to have a parking program up and running by September that would include the installation of parking meters on Main Street and Maryland Avenue.  The program was unveiled at a meeting Tuesday night on the future of downtown Ellicott City. Parking meters were on display, along with parking signs, maps and cardboard diagrams to showcase the ways downtown Ellicott City would be changing to make it, as County Executive Ken Ulman contended, “stronger and better able to continue to thrive for the next generation and beyond.” Representatives from different county offices were at the George Howard Building to answer questions about …

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Lindsay

1:52 pm on Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Resident concerns are not frivolous or selfish, but it is impossible to provide free parking for everyone at all times right in front of where they want to go. In most downtowns, regardless of size, 9-5 employees are usually the ones guilty of "hogging" spaces. Having a residential permit program is a good idea.   more ›

Merchants Dream of a Better Downtown Ellicott City

County officials are putting the spotlight on downtown; merchants react.

  Howard County Executive Ken Ulman's public meeting on his "new vision" for downtown Ellicott City is a couple of weeks away, so Patch asked a few locals a merchants what they hoped the county would take into consideration in order to further boost tourism in town. Coping with limited parking space, coordinating business events and beautification are some of the issues that several downtown regulars mentioned. "What I see for the future is that it will slowly evolve–as it has done for so many years–and it will just get better and better," said Joan Malpas, who has been co-owner of Cottage Antiques for 23 years. Malpas says she doesn't think Ulman has a solution to the parking situation because, as she sees it, it is a problem that will …

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BonChon Chicken Arrives in Ellicott City

The Korean fried chicken restaurant is only serving dinner. For now.

  BonChon Chicken opened in Ellicott City to very little fanfare. “We secretly opened July 1,” owner Youngmin Kim, 27,  said Wednesday morning.  The Korean fried chicken restaurant at 3419 Plum Tree Drive is just serving dinner for now, he said, but is hoping to host a grand opening and roll out lunch service by early September. The opening wasn’t a secret to everyone. Kim has had plenty of customers so far, including local blogger HowChow. “The bottom line,” he writes “is that you need to try this chicken now.”  In May, Kim was denied a liquor license for the restaurant, a franchise with locations around the world. An appeal to the Howard County Board of License Commissioners, was also denied, he said. “So we have to try to get it next …

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Power Out on Main Street, Some Businesses Open

No air conditioning? No lights? No problem for some.

Power was out at most Main Street businesses at about 11 a.m. Saturday, but a few had opened their doors anyway to die-hard shoppers. The Taylor's Antique Mall sign was on the sidewalk, the doors were open, and a few people were walking in and out Saturday morning after a severe storm knocked power out to more than 40,000 Howard County homes and businesses.  At A Journey From Junk, a few people browsed despite the lack of light and air conditioning. "We're just going to see how it goes," said the woman working the counter. Up the street, power was on at The Wine Bin and the Judge's Bench until about 11:30 a.m., when the power went out at both business, according to Mike Johnson at the Judge's Bench.  Johnson said the Wine Bin was also open…

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Still Life Gallery: New Owners Keep It Local

The new owners of Still Life are settling down in their new Ellicott City home and hope to feature local artists.

  Sara Arditti and David Dempster moved to Ellicott City last month by way of Washington, DC, by way of Harper's Ferry, by way of Abu Dhabi, Paris, and Los Angeles.  The couple wanted to own an art gallery for years and finally had the chance when Dempster’s last job, in construction management, ended. “We decided not to be dependent on ‘The Man,’ ” Arditti said with a laugh, sitting at a desk covered in Raku pottery (by Marke Poole) and lavender stems. They found their freedom at 8173 Main St., where, for a month this Friday, they have run Still Life Gallery. The gallery showcases local and regional “museum quality” artwork, Arditti said, and also provides custom, archival conservation-quality framing. Aside from running the gallery and …

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Happy Hour at Old Mill

Have an afternoon drink at the Old Mill Bakery Cafe.

Is your business running a special that you'd like your neighbors to know about? Send me a picture and an email: brandie@patch.com, and we'll let everyone know.

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Ellicott City Business Expanding into Baltimore

Howard Bank plans to open a loan office in either Baltimore or Baltimore City by next April and then, a branch office.