Goodbye to Duchess Variety: Ellicott City’s Hidden Gem Closes for Good

No press release. No goodbye post. Just a small sign in the window: Closed Permanently. That’s how Duchess Variety Store—an Ellicott City institution for decades—bowed out.

Run singlehandedly by the elusive Ms. Maggie, Duchess was the kind of place you either stumbled upon or were lucky enough to be told about. $2.50 bologna sandwiches. $3.75 milkshakes. A slow, careful rhythm behind the beige Formica counter. No small talk. No shortcuts.

Lunchtime lines could stretch out the door. And God help anyone ordering for a crowd without calling ahead. But locals loved it. They loved her.

Ms. Maggie never craved attention—she declined interviews and quietly marked 50 years in business. Now, her sudden exit has left a sandwich-shaped hole in the heart of Howard County.

No one seems to know where she went. And maybe that’s the point. As one longtime customer said, “She just closed the door and went home.”

Wherever she is, we hope she knows: she’ll be missed