This one is the scariest so far because the threat is real

You get a second date?

Objectively idiotic comment.

Nobody wants to work anymore! /s

Sobo Café

A dinner at any Atlas Group restaurant.

Brunch at the Canton Iron Rooster at noon on any given Saturday.

Cheesecake Factory at the Inner Harbor.

Baltimore snow rules say that if you shoveled it, its your space until the snow melts.

Because most of them are extremely average.

Mannequin Pussy! And waxahatchee

I will be pleasantly surprised if you actually get an answer and it's not just "lots of places, do your research"

Buy tickets to the DMV asian night market, don't eat beforehand, get stuck in traffic for 2+ hours and argue with your hangry date about nothing

I once saw a very pregnant lady there doing the Baltimore lean while smoking a cig. It really made me sad.

>your space

So much entitlement in two words.

That's a pretty good example, well laid out. I don't know a thing about the MV nightlife scene as of the mid 00's, but it used to be you could bounce from spot to spot more or less at an amble from Dionysus & BA to stable to pint size all the way down to midtown in the dead of winter without getting cold.. seems like more of a non-starter today.

The cost of commercial leases have gone through the roof across the city and have only gotten worse since the pandemic shutdown.

I've been actively looking for a new location for our studio and it is absolutely unreal how many of the spaces we looked at in 2015 and 2018 have remained vacant, but are suddenly somehow 2x - 5x the cost.

Another big issue many businesses have been dealing with lately are the consequences of deferment arrangements they made with landlords during the pandemic.

In most commercial leases, rent automatically escalates when you're in breach (ie the entirety of your lease is immediately due, often at a premium). Which in itself isn't normally an issue if you pay your bills, but these deferment agreements often contain stipulations guaranteeing they remain tenants until the deferments are repaid, effectively committing tenants to (usually quasi-punitive) overstay terms or blindsiding them with TBD market rate renewals. That combo can incentive LLs with larger multi-property portfolios to force tenants into bankruptcy.

I'm not a lawyer or tax expert, but just to relay how it was explained to me by two business owners that were forced to close recently...

Say you've been on a 5 year term at $2,500 a month ($30k a year) and your rent was deferred for 6 months. You agree to pay that $15k back over 30mos as a manageable extra $500 a mo. Business returns mostly back to normal and you manage to pay the $3k as agreed. Things are tight, but doable. At least, until your lease comes up for renewal.

Suddenly rent is 2x the cost and now you're paying $5.5k - maybe even have to put down an additional $2.5k, just so your deposit equals a months rent. But you don't have $8k laying around, so you have no choice but to close.

But remember, not only is the back rent of $15k due, the remainder of the now $5k a mo 5 year lease you were forced into just escalated. Meaning, you now owe your LL $300k plus interest / fees / legal costs incurred from collection. At which point, you have no choice but to go into bankruptcy and your LL can then write off the bad debt against whatever they would otherwise owe in capital gains.

Considering by most accounts we're nearing the end of a massive real estate bubble, now isn't exactly the worst time to sell property. And if your immediate plans are to cash out, losing $30k in speculative revenue to save $300k in taxes is a no brainer for some.

TLDR: Commercial landlords with larger portfolios can often net more forcing restaurants out of business than from collecting rent

Fuck H&M they shred their old styles and landfill them instead of donating to non-profits/charity like other clothing retailers because they don’t want to see “the poors” wearing their styles (will hurt their image) If OP says h&m closed in Baltimore it’s probably because people here are smart and don’t want that garbage. Good riddance

There are MANY popular restaurants that have been doing great over the years

Clean this place up!

Shut it down!

How about having to do this for a dip in the inner harbor?

Bond Street Social was popular but the “early 30s bachelorette party” crowd has moved on

Wow as someone who lives in Mount Vernon I really feel that. It feels like I have to go to DC, or at least Fells Point or Pigtown, for an actual nightlife and it’s partly why 99% of the time I sit at home doing nothing but Reddit because there’s nothing interesting in my immediate vicinity.

Shame that the media decided to cancel vegetarians, its all vegan trash now.

I just want to have the choice to avoid meat, not have every good thing about food completely removed from my life lmao.

Been there. 10/10 or 0/10 depending on your opinion of trainwrecks.

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