MoCo's First Millie's Ice Cream Just Got Pushed Back. Here's What to Know While You Wait.

If you had September 10 circled for Montgomery County's first taste of Millie's Homemade Ice Cream, hold that thought a little longer. The Pittsburgh based scoop shop was set to open its debut Maryland location at Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg that day. It didn't happen. No new opening date has been announced, and the exact reason for the delay hasn't been made public.

For a shop that's been building buzz since local outlets first reported the location back in May, that's a tough pill for anyone who's been counting down the days. But there's plenty here worth the wait.

Millie's got its start in 2014 in a home kitchen in Pittsburgh, when founder Chad Townsend, a former fine dining chef, bought a high end Swiss ice cream machine on his wife Lauren's credit card. The brand has since grown into a 16 location chain across Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, with backing from Pittsburgh hospitality group Eat'n Park and a national franchise push that's now bringing it to new markets, including Maryland for the first time.

The Gaithersburg shop, at 202 Ellington Boulevard, will be run by Usha Volate, a longtime Frederick County resident and Millie's first Maryland based franchise partner. Once open, it will serve scoop and pint versions of Millie's grass-fed dairy ice cream and dairy-free gelato, along with waffle cones, shakes, and sundaes, with vegan and gluten-free options built into the regular menu.

The location itself says something about how this corner of Gaithersburg has changed. Downtown Crown is a roughly 260,000 square foot mixed-use hub built on what used to be part of the 180-acre Crown Farm, combining retail with more than 500 residential apartments. Households within three miles average close to $120,000 in annual disposable income, which is part of why national brands keep circling this stretch of the county for their first Maryland stores.

So for now, Millie's joins the list of MoCo openings worth watching rather than visiting. We'll update this post as soon as a new date is set.