(Updated at 9:05 a.m. on 9/23/2021) Nicole Liberatore has come a long way from handing cannoli to customers in a parking lot.
Less than two years after they started selling traditional Italian baked goods out of their Annandale home, Liberatore and her husband Dominick have turned their Bisnonna Bakeshop into a brick-and-mortar store at Tysons Corner Center, which welcomed its new arrival on Saturday (Sept. 18) with much fanfare.
“This has definitely been a real Cinderella story for us,” Liberatore told Tysons Reporter while piping creamy ricotta cheese filling into tubes of fried pastry dough.
The fairy godmother came in the form of Tysons Corner Center’s first-ever DreamStart competition, a “Shark Tank”-style contest where entrepreneurs pitched a product, service, or business concept for the opportunity to get three months of free rent at the mall, among other prizes.
Tysons Corner Center launched the competition in May with the dual goal of supporting local businesses and attracting new tenants to fill its vacant spaces, including the corner spot across from Barnes & Noble that Bisnonna has taken over from the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant.
While the 53-year-old shopping center has been insulated from some of COVID-19’s effects, the past year has still required a whirlwind of adjustments, as the pandemic accelerated some trends, like the shift to online shopping, that were already challenging traditional retailers and the malls that relied on them.
“Everybody’s been affected in different ways, so it’s all about being nimble and making sure we’re able to adapt not just to the pandemic, but all the things that change in the retail industry,” Tysons Corner Center Senior Manager of Business Development Services Becca Willcox said.
After the competition’s 21 applicants were whittled down to nine finalists, Bisnonna was named the grand prize winner on Aug. 11. The runners-up were fashion boutique Garçon Melanie, which opened on Aug. 28, and The Popcorn Bag DC, which is still in the works.
Willcox says the winners stood out as much for the narratives that their owners told as the products they sell. The property team from Macerich, which owns Tysons Corner Center, was especially drawn to Liberatore’s story of starting Bisnonna with recipes passed down from her and her husband’s grandparents.
“The family roots that they have…the way they take a traditional Italian pastry and infuse the cultures that are prominent here in the Northern Virginia area really stood out to us,” Willcox said. “It made us see that there was a big hole in what we offered here in Tysons and an opportunity to be able to really connect with the community through delicious food and product.” Read More
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The local “mom-owned” business Kiln & Co. has relocated its main store to a new spot on Church Street in Vienna.
After more than seven years at 138 Church Street NW, the pottery/frozen custard shop reopened on July 2 at 115 Church Street, the space previously occupied by Church Street Pizza, which moved around the corner to a Maple Avenue address earlier this year.
Sarah Selvaraj, who started Kiln & Co. in 2013 as a pottery shop, says the relocation was one of several changes to the business brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID was a challenge for us like many small businesses,” Selvaraj said. “When the inside of the studio was closed, we had to get creative in order to still be able to serve our customer base.”
In addition to downsizing to the smaller Vienna venue, Kiln & Co. sold its Reston location. Selvaraj confirmed that the Lake Anne Plaza store has closed permanently, though it is listed as just “closed for the season” on the company’s website.
When the pandemic shut most retail businesses down in the spring of 2020, Kiln & Co. created a monthly subscription service and a delivery service for custard and do-it-yourself pottery kits.
While Kiln & Co. is now open again for walk-in customers at its Vienna and Falls Church (455 South Maple Avenue) studios, staff are still required to wear masks at all times, and the business is “following all of the CDC guidelines to provide a safe environment for all,” Selvaraj says.
Details for a grand opening celebration for the new Vienna location on Sept. 6 will be announced through the company’s social media.
“We are now right off of the bike path making it easy for people to stop in to enjoy some custard and the space gives us the perfect amount of room for our studio as well as a separate area for classes, birthday parties and events,” Selvaraj said.
As the summer winds down, three new small, local brands will get to move into Tysons Corner Center rent-free, among other benefits.
The mall launched a DreamStart competition in May aimed at offering three local businesses — be that food vendor, maker, product, or just an idea — a shot at getting three months of free rent, promotional resources, visual merchandising, marketing support, and a grand opening event.
20 qualified applicants entered the competition. Nine were invited back, and the mall announced on Aug. 11 that it had selected three winners.
The first-place winner was Bisnonna Bakeshop, a traditional Italian bakery based in Annandale. The bakery’s website notes that it specializes in hand-rolled cannoli.
“Everything at Bisnonna Bakeshop is from-scratch and made-to-order, because everything we bake is made by hand, not machines,” the website says. “We do it just like our grandmas did: with our hands covered in flour and a rolling pin at our side, one batch at a time.”
According to a press release from Tysons Corner Center, Bisonna translates to great grandmother in Italian, and the name is an ode to the restaurant owners’ family matriarchs, who passed down recipes from generation to generation. The bakery will open in the former Gordon Biersch patio space.
“The bakeshop also takes inspiration with flavors that are connected with past travels and/or experiences,” the press release says. “For example, Bisnonna created a Dubrovnik cannoli inspired by their trip to Croatia, a Thai Coffee cannoli was inspired by their honeymoon to Thailand. Black Sesame was created after an ice cream flavor they enjoyed at SnoCream in Annandale. The bakeshop also has a zaatar biscotti in the works after travels to Palestine.”
The runner-ups were Garcon Melanine — a black-owned children’s fashion brand based near Quantico — and Popcorn Bag DC — a gourmet dessert bar with handmade, unique flavors of gourmet popcorn.
Established last November by Alicia Abbington, Garcon Melanine will be launching in the former Candy Heaven spot on the mall’s first floor near Wasabi Sushi.
According to Tysons Corner Center, Abbington’s fashion brand developed out of her frustrations with the limited clothing options she saw for boys like her son JJ.
“Every piece, every look is inspired by JJ’s cool, hip, and chill style at a reasonable price,” the press release says. “Alicia felt her collection fills the void that’s missing in boy’s sportswear fashion providing elevated options…She felt the only options for boy clothes always involved a fire truck and she was seeking more individuality and personality in boys’ fashion that didn’t break the bank.”
Garcon Melanine’s grand opening is scheduled for Aug. 28. Bisnonna Bakeshop and The Popcorn Bag DC are expected to open in early to mid-September.
Photo via Popcorn Bag DC/Instagram
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