Business is hurting in Vienna. The Maple Avenue Market closed last week, as did the GameStop, with an employee there citing increasing rents as the leading cause.
As store after store shuts its doors, there are questions swirling around town about whether local businesses can stay competitive with new developments surrounding Vienna — and if so, how?
At a town council meeting in January, town business liaison Friderike Butler said businesses on side streets were being hit particularly hard.
“If they’re not on the main street, they’re struggling a lot more,” said Butler. “Even on Church Street, it’s not easy. The economy is doing well overall, and if we have small businesses struggling as the economy is doing well, what is going to happen if there is a recession? It’s something to really think about and make sure our business community is strengthened and supported.”
Peggy James, executive director of the Vienna Business Association, told Tysons Reporter that two big challenges are facing local stores.
“It’s very expensive and we’re pretty tight on parking,” said James.
What’s driving up the rent? It’s an old maxim anyone in real estate will be familiar with.
“Location, location, location,” said James. “It’s always been an expensive place. With Mosaic District just two miles away and Tysons building up like crazy, the competition for brick and mortar is tough.”
Over the years, James said the Saturday morning shopping at mom-and-pop stores that had turned Vienna into a local destination disappeared as sales went to big box stores and Amazon.
“The challenge in this age of Amazon is double,” Frank Shafroth, director of the Center for State and Local Leadership at George Mason University, wrote in an email. “You don’t even have to leave your home or apartment to purchase, and Amazon has such size and distribution that it can undercut in price on almost anything one would purchase at a small business.”
But all three experts noted that there are ways to help local businesses survive.
From a policy standpoint, Butler said the Town of Vienna can help make parking more accessible.
“We need a comprehensive parking map,” said Butler. “Culpepper has a beautiful parking map distributed everywhere in stores and people know where to park. For visitors who have never been in Vienna, it’s very confusing where to park. A comprehensive map would be helpful.”
Town Councilmember Howard Springsteen also recommended the Town Council consider hiring a full-time economic development specialist, an idea that’s been tossed around the council for two years.
“There’s a limit to how much we can rely on volunteers,” said Springsteen. “We just really need to bite the bullet and do it.”
For businesses, Shafroth said survival hinges on finding a niche that can’t be as easily replicated by bigger stores or by Amazon.
“Retailers have to carve out a niche that makes them indispensable: whether shopping for a stroller, car seat, crib or mattress,” said Shafroth. “For instance, new parents want to walk into a physical store and speak with a retailer who can field multiple questions and direct them to the products that best suit their needs — even if those products are available through a different vendor.”
As part of that, Shafroth also said smaller stores should capitalize on the advantages physically touching merchandise offers.
“It’s hard to be certain–especially if you are shopping for a small child, for instance — what will work,” said Shafroth. “A parent wants to feel and touch something: is it baby soft? If it’s a toy, is the mechanism simple enough and safe enough for a tot?”
He continued: “According to Forrester, 43 percent of millennials respond they would rather shop at small local stores, as opposed to big national chains. According to Cassandra, a trend forecasting, research and brand strategy firm, 78 percent of parents in the U.S. would rather shop in stores than online. And, according to the National Retail Federation, today’s young parents spend as much as $1 trillion on items for kids — and this generation values good service more than convenience: they want to be certain that what they purchase will be appropriate — and safe.”
And at the individual level, there’s an obvious answer for how locals can help small stores survive.
“The best thing people can do is give local businesses the first shot at a sale,” said James. “I had a lot of loyal customers at Artful Gift Shop. They’d come to us first. You don’t have to find what you want, but give us a shot.”
James also noted that it can be too easy for locals to blame new developments, like those coming in with the Maple Avenue Commercial zoning changes, for the hardships local stores are facing.
“We can’t stay small and survive,” said James. “We can’t stay as small shops if we can’t keep customers. New spaces [are being developed] on Maple Avenue. Citizens don’t like it and I can understand it, but it kind of has to happen.”
The long-awaited Dollar Tree in Vienna is finally scheduled to open this week.
A sign in the doorway said that the location is set to open on Thursday (Feb. 28) at 9 a.m.
The store will open at 215 Maple Ave. W, formerly a Rite Aid in the center of town.
Dollar Tree is a discount store that has been thriving and expanding despite e-commerce outlets like Amazon devastating other retail chains.
At least one Vienna resident is eager for the new store to open — she was spotted parking and approaching the door last week before swearing when she saw the sign.
A new survey shows Vienna residents prefer their downtown with classic, small-town brick frontages, rather than the more popular modern designs populating the rest of the area.
The popular sentiment is that the design of new projects on Maple Avenue doesn’t fit with what many people envision for Vienna, so much so that the town is in the middle of overhauling its zoning code following last year’s controversial development discussions.
At tonight’s meeting, the Vienna Town Council will review a visual preference survey for the Maple Avenue Commercial Design Guidelines. The survey collected feedback on what, from a variety of architectural options, best reflected what local residents wanted their town to look like.
With 16 total options, differences in opinion between them was largely marginal, with most ranked around two or three stars out of five.
The most popular facade, with an average rating of 3.28, is based on Keene, New Hampshire. The downtown area depicted shows a series of square, brick buildings more reminiscent of Old Town Alexandria than Tysons. All of the buildings that scored above an average of three stars were the square, red-brick buildings commonly associated with older downtowns.
The least popular of the choices, ranked at an average of 1.6 stars, was a modern-styled brick and glass warehouse design. In general, the buildings reminiscent of trendy redevelopment styles in places like McLean and Merrifield fared poorly in the rankings.
In a ranking of streetscape preferences, the top contender with an average ranking of 3.6 stars showed very wide sidewalks with trees separating pedestrians from the street. All of the top three ranked streetscape designs had similar components.
Streetscapes also had a clear loser, with an average ranking of 1.8 stars. The picture of Fort Industry Square in Toledo, Ohio, had a comparatively narrow sidewalk littered haphazardly with empty pots for plants and old plastic newspaper bins.
There was less variation in what Viennans thought of key intersections and gateways into the town, most of them averaging around two stars. The highest ranked was Merchant Street in Decatur, Illinois, with a metal sign hanging over an entrance. Least popular was a foreboding curved brick building separated from the street by thick foliage.
Photo of Keene, New Hampshire via Wikipedia
If you had a game on pre-order at the Vienna GameStop (203 Maple Ave E), you might be surprised to show up and find the store completely boxed up.
According to an employee sitting in the otherwise empty storefront, the chain closed last week and consolidated with the store in the Tysons Corner Center mall, where customers can go to pick up games they ordered.
The employee said rising rent prices in the shopping center — at the corner of Maple Ave and Park Street — forced them to close and relocate.
Two doors down, the Starbucks is also on the way out. An employee said that both of the existing Starbucks locations in Vienna are being closed in April, with staff consolidated to the new drive-through location one block away.
Between the two is Cold Stone Creamery, but a manager at the store said the location is on a 10-year lease for the location. The manager did not know how far into the lease the chain was but said there were no immediate plans for it to leave.
Criticism over massing and scale of new buildings has prompted the Town of Vienna to revisit its Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning requirements.
While the four-story height limit remains intact, new regulations will push buildings further away from the street.
Setbacks — or the required distance of a new development from the street — played a major role in discussions last year regarding the redevelopment of the Vienna Wolf Trap Hotel. Critics and a few members of the Town Council argued the size of the building overshadowed nearby developments and asked that the building be reduced in size and built further away from Maple Avenue.
The minimum distance from the front of the building to the curb was 20 feet on Maple Avenue, but the new amendments increase that set back to 28 feet. On side streets, the setback requirement is increased from 15 feet to 20 feet.
A maximum height of four stories or 54 feet was included in the original zoning regulations, but the new regulations include a note that all buildings “shall have the appearance of, at most, four stories when viewed from every cardinal direction.”
New proposals will also require applicants to include an analysis of the long-term fiscal benefits and costs to Vienna under the revisions the commission will examine. Projects will also be required to include how the development fits into the current school zone boundary map.
As part of an effort to ensure that the new developments boost local retail, the regulations include a requirement that new developments or redevelopments include ground floor commercial square footage equal to or greater than what currently exists, including commercial square footage currently occupied, vacant or previously demolished.
Density caps had been discussed for multi-family dwelling units, but a comment on the proposed amendments notes that the idea was eventually dismissed.
The new regulations also slightly increase the amount of transparency on the ground floor facade from 50 percent to 60 percent.
The building also includes extensive revisions impervious surfaces of new developments. MAC-zoned developments have an 80 percent maximum impervious surface, meaning surfaces that rainwater can’t pass through. The idea is to prevent runoff that can quickly flood Maple Avenue.
But the zoning regulations also offer incentives allowing an increase in the impervious surface if other requirements are met. This includes a 5 or 10 percent increase if the applicant constructs and maintains a vegetated roof system covering at least half, or 2,000 square feet, of continuous roof area.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the changes at a work session tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6:30 p.m.
A joint work session is scheduled for March 6, followed by community workshops later in March to discuss the proposed changes.
After nearly 10 years in downtown Vienna, Maple Avenue Market closed for good on Sunday.
The market was a farm store run by Sara and Chris Guerre, farmers with a 10-acre property in the Shenandoah Valley who sold their produce and supplies from other small farms throughout Virginia.
According to a post on Facebook:
It is with great sadness to announce that we are closing our beloved Maple Avenue Market after nearly 10 years in business.
For the past decade we’ve been humbled by your patronage, and by your belief in our mission of envisioning solutions to help reinvent our local food system and creating change from “the ground up” in our community.
Growing, cooking, and sharing good food with all of you, and with local public schoolchildren, for so many wonderful years … will perpetually encourage us to see the world, not for what it is … but for what it might be … and for that, we are grateful.
In the comments, many people, including several local politicians, shared their stories of what the market meant to them.
“Chris and Sara, thank you for your service to our community over the past decade through Maple Avenue Market and beyond,” said Fairfax County School Board Member Ryan McElveen, who is also running for Board of Supervisors Chairman. “You have nurtured young students in our region and taught them the importance of accessible, healthy food. For that, we are all immensely grateful!”
“Thank you for being a great community business for the past 10 years,” said Vienna Town Councilwoman Carey Sienicki, “and especially for your noble mission of providing quality ingredients and supporting our schools in finding the good ways that our children can think about their food and how it gets to the table.”
Photo via Facebook
It’s been a long time in the making, but Shinsekai Ramen at 234 Maple Avenue E. opens tonight (Wednesday).
Inside, it’s all hands on deck as the kitchen and hospitality crews get the final preparations. Kevin Choe, regional operations manager for the Shinsekai, said he’s excited.
The restaurant is the first of a new brand behind Sushi Jin. While Vienna has other sushi restaurants, Choe said in researching the local market they didn’t find any other ramen-focused locations.
The restaurant opens at 5 p.m. Choe said the restaurant will normally be open for lunch at 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5-9:30 p.m. for dinner. On weekends, Choe said they close an hour later.
Choe is passionate about ramen; not just the cooking of it, but the culture and the history. Shinsekai is a little different from most ramen restaurants. While pork-based ramen is the most common variety in the United States, Choe said Shinsekai uses a more traditional chicken based broth.
But while much of the menu is traditional, Choe also said the restaurant has some modern and international twists, like Korean kimchi as part of a dish that Choe said pairs well with ramen.
The restaurant also boasts a variety of vegan options, though Choe said those will not be available tonight. Choe said the focus of tonight’s soft opening is on the restaurant’s four main ramens.
If you want your Starbucks coffee but can’t be bothered to walk into the one on 207 Maple Avenue E., a new drive-through Starbucks is under construction roughly 200 feet away at 362 Maple Avenue E.
The facade of the former Donuts of Vienna, then a Taco Bell post-1997, is currently undergoing renovation. No signs or public information is available on when the new Starbucks will be open.
The new cafe was unanimously approved last April by the Vienna Board of Zoning Appeals.
The alterations to the existing restaurant will include moving the drive-through’s speaker closer to the building and shifting the pick-up window closer to the front. Landscaping will be installed around the perimeter.
Two crosswalks and two bicycle racks are also listed as additions to the site.
The location will have outdoor seating for 20 people and indoor seating for 20 more. The drive-through’s stacking area is expected to hold 12 vehicles.
One Reddit user, “Futhermucker”, posted an elegy to the departed Taco Bell:
I grew up with this Taco Bell. I’ll never forget rolling in squad deep after middle school — mastering the little balance game on the counter to get a free soft taco with every meal. They removed that game because of us. In high school, I got two out of my five first kisses inside that Taco Bell. It was there that I made a beeline towards after smoking my first joint on the WO&D trail. It was on a 90s retro bench seat there that I broke up with my first girlfriend via text. They were so understanding when my first car’s alternator died in their drivethru, shutting it down for me until the tow truck arrived. Once I got to college, it was always a sweet relief from my mom’s cooking when I came to visit. I watched staff come and go, but it was always the same Taco Bell. If my life was a coming-of-age movie, that Starbucks sign going up would be the ending scene, right before the credits roll. RIP Maple Ave Taco Bell, Vienna didn’t deserve you.
After a fall and winter spent reviewing public feedback on the Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zone regulations, Town of Vienna staff think the controversial regulations are ready for the limelight once again.
At tonight’s (Feb. 11) Vienna Town Council work session, the council is scheduled to review the updated design guidelines and amendments to the plan. A moratorium on new proposed developments was imposed last year after new developments sparked extensive controversy.
According to a staff memo, staff looked at the proportion and scale of Church Street, which runs parallel to Maple Avenue, to see how guidelines there could be applied to Maple Avenue. How the new guidelines differ from the existing ones is not immediately obvious reading through the presentation, but the changes will likely be the topic of discussion at tonight’s work session and several meetings planned over the next month.
Andrea West, a planner for the Town of Vienna, said in an email that tonight’s meeting will focus on the process of approving the regulation changes, while the changes themselves will be the subject of a Planning Commission meeting next week.
The new guidelines will be scrutinized at a Planning Commission work session on Feb. 13 and the Board of Architectural Review on Feb. 15. After review at the individual boards, a joint work session is scheduled for March 6, followed by community workshops later in March.
The planned workshop will include a mock-up of a sidewalk section with moveable parts and building blocks showing proposed setbacks and roof lines.
Image via Town of Vienna
If you’ve driven east out of Vienna along Maple Avenue, you’ve probably passed a new subdivision under construction at the intersection with Follin Lane.
Six lots are under development for the spot located around a small cul-de-sac off Mashie Drive.
The project attracted some criticisms from Vienna officials when seven lots were originally being considered for the lot with direct access from Maple Avenue.
While the houses could have been developed by-right, without extensive town approval, the developer changed the layout of the properties to reflect the feedback.
The new designs also show a tree barrier between Maple Avenue and three of the adjacent lots. A new bus shelter is also planned to be built at the site as part of the agreement.
