The former Fractured Prune in the Hickory Ridge village center will be replaced by a new frozen custard shop -- Meadows Frozen Custard, according to an email from Chuck.Meadows appears to be a small chain, and the corporate Web site does include a Columbia location. But Chuck reports that a sign said it would open in "Spring 2010." Chuck spotted no changes inside, although Fractured Prune did leave a lot of equipment when it closed.
10 comments:
I went to a Meadows in PA and they are fantastic! Please let us know when they finally do open.
So sad I love Fractured Prune. At least I like frozen custard also.
And they too wil be out of business just as the fractured prune ended up. Why? Becasue the location of these village centers is just retarded. The only customers that will go there are ones that know where it is. They will never get other traffic from passers by because it is so far off the path.
Columbia village centers are such a fail. If I was a business owner I would avoid these type locations like the plague..
Hickory Ridge Village Center is just off Cedar Lane. I don't think that's terribly obscure or hard to find. The area near Atholton used to be in the middle of nowhere, but there's quite a large population there now.
Fractured Prune just seemed destined to do poorly. The one in Ellicott City next to Rita's never appeared to be doing much business at all.
I think the Fractured Prune was killed off in some part by changing health attitudes as much as location or demographics.
I was a fan of the fresh dipped, cholesterol delivery devices since the original 1970's location in O.C. (Josh's), but they clearly felt like they were killing you after consuming two or more in a sitting.
I really like the doughnuts at Fractured Prune, but the shop in Cloverly (New Hampshire Ave @ Briggs Chaney) seems to be closed at random times. I gave up going there, despite my admiration for the OC Sand. (luckily I'm more of a raised doughnut fan than a cake-style one, and the raised doughnuts at Shoppers Food Warehouse are vastly better than KK and DD)
There was a Fractured Prune in Dupont Circle, but it had limited hours and certainly was never open at a time I could get there. Are random store hours a franchise requirement?
Last spring I drove up Cedar Lane twice a week en route to the community college. It took nearly two months to become aware of where the Hickory Ridge VC was. Blending into the landscape is all well and fine for residential areas, but retail needs to be visible. The village centers are a charming concept, but charm won't keep these stores in business.
@Anonymous (April 8, 2010 1:05 PM) - Obviously James Rouse and the Rouse Corporation had no idea what they were doing when they planned Columbia. It has only been the model for other planned communities in America since the late 60’s and has helped spur the Neo-Traditionalism developments we see popping up such as The Lakelands and most recently Maple Lawn. I don’t know if you have noticed, I’m sure you are too busy watching the internet to spew your uneducated opinion (and not claim it), but there is little to no separation between cities from DC to Catonsville. Roads and other neighborhoods have had to be made to accommodate people that have flocked to this area in the last 4 Decades, so yes sometimes things do get rearranged but the Columbia design still stands. But I think you are on to something….design your own community that can house 90,000+ in perfect area and smooth road arrangements and everything is accessible from everywhere.
5 bucks says some Sackless Anonymous won’t like it.
Brandon, you are quite ignorant. So some research and see how many businesses have closed in those various village centers around Columbia. You are quite ill informed.
A Columbia location is up now.
My point was that up until the last 8-10 years Columbia and its villages have been a thriving community. Every household has taken a financial hit in the last 5-6 years and a lot of stores that we once frequented are now services that we can either get at a 'super store’ for much less or shop online. I guess The Rouse Corporation should have built a Target, Wal-Mart or worked with Al Gore to invent the internets. I agree that the original design has been somewhat deteriorated and not without flaw due to way it the area has grown but without the original design we would have not seen the designed community come to light.
As to me being ignorant, I too have internet access, one good finger and half a brain cell, so I suppose we will meet again….except one of us stands behind what we say.
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