Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill is permanently closed, and the landlord is looking for a new tenant.
Located at 2424 Wilson Blvd, the multi-story sports bar and restaurant opened in 2010 and became a popular destination thanks in large part to its open air rooftop deck and its ability to host events, including local and state political gatherings.
Despite its popularity, Arlington County police frequently visited the restaurant for noise complaints related to live music, according to a county staff report.
In 2021, the Arlington County Board voted unanimously to revoke the restaurant’s live entertainment permit. The restaurant also closed temporarily in 2019 due to a zoning issue.
Raghav Dumera, one of the restaurant’s landlords, confirmed that its last day of operation was New Year’s Eve and it will not be reopening for the warmer weather season. The closure was not announced on the restaurant’s social media accounts.
Dumera, who also owns and operates several other restaurants in the same building — Takeshi Sushi, Delhi Dhaba and Ghost Kabob — gave few details about the closure except to say the venue’s owner did not renew the lease.
Dumera noted he is looking for a new tenant to fill the space as soon as possible.
“So, anyone that’s interested can definitely reach out,” he said.
Hat tip to Katie W.
A Cherrydale vape shop has closed less than a year after opening.
L.A. Leaf opened last spring, stocking a variety of CBD and vape products. Now, however, the store’s interior is empty and its phone number is answered with a dial tone.
The store is the latest in a string of businesses to pop up in one of the retail bays at the base of the condo building at 3800 Langston Blvd, only to shutter a short time later.
In 2015, Kite Runner Cafe, a critically acclaimed Afghan restaurant, closed after just two years in business. Gaijin Ramen Shop took over about two months later, likewise earning some local accolades and 4.4 stars on Google before closing in 2022.
Next door, House of Steep, a tea house and “foot sanctuary” that offered foot soaks and massages, lasted six years from 2012 to 2018. A Subway, meanwhile, survived seven years before closing in 2019, making way for L.A. Leaf.
Jim Todd, president of the Cherrydale Citizens Association, argued that poor accessibility may contribute to closures at this location.
“I think for a number of years, it just suffered from insufficient parking options,” he told ARLnow.
Metered street parking beside 3800 Langston Blvd is limited, and while the building has some retail parking in the back, Todd believes it could be advertised more obviously.
He also believes the county could do more to improve nearby crosswalks.
One of two crossings leading to the building lacks flashing beacons. The county instead provides pedestrians with a reflective “see me” flag to ensure motorists notice them.
Cherrydale, which has a neighborhood plan of its own, was not included in Plan Langston Blvd, a county initiative that passed in November with the goal of expanding public transit, housing and commercial development along the major road, while making it less car-centric.
Public parking was a sticking point, with some advocating it be included as a goal in order to support for existing small businesses. The plan encourages below-grade parking for new developments, shared parking across adjacent parcels and surface lots tucked away from the main road.
“[The county] basically is unwilling to admit that what makes retail successful is adequate parking,” the president said, arguing that large parking lots are key to the success of several nearby strip malls on the other side of the boulevard.
A recent county report, by contrast, argues that lower parking minimums could help spur investment in some local businesses. The report claims that requiring too many parking spaces for establishments such as fitness centers can deter investors from filling vacant space.
Though 3800 Langston Blvd currently lacks open businesses, at least one establishment hasn’t given up hope on the location.
As we reported in January, Burger Billy’s Joint is on track to open next door to the shuttered L.A. Leaf. It has yet to announce an opening date.
Workers lowered signage today (Friday) from the now-former Giant supermarket in the Lyon Village Shopping Center.
Several passersby watched with interest as the team unscrewed the letters G-I-A-N-T from the storefront at 3115 Langston Blvd. One visitor, apparently a would-be customer, walked up to the grocery store’s closed entrance and peered inside before returning to her car and driving away.
“Can you believe it?” another pedestrian asked in disbelief.
Thursday was the last day in business for the 60-year-old supermarket. One person who emailed ARLnow described a tearful affair.
“My husband was at the Starbucks there and he said people were crying,” the tipster said.
The closure, announced last month, casts uncertainty over the future of the shopping center at the busy intersection of Langston Blvd and Spout Run Parkway. Even the work crew’s foreman was curious about the strip mall’s fate, asking a reporter what will replace the anchor store.
A brief statement from the owner of the plaza — which is home to The Italian Store, Big Wheel Bikes, a CVS and a Starbucks, among other retail tenants — yielded few answers.
“We are exploring a number of options but have nothing to share at this time,” BMC Property Group President Christopher Jones said.
The county, however, has a long-term vision for the shopping center as an “activity hub” that could support a mixed-use redevelopment with 12-15 story apartment buildings. A rendering from the Langston Boulevard Area Plan, adopted by the Arlington County Board in November, depicts an apartment building rising over a grocery store near the busy intersection.
In the more immediate future, a Cold Stone Creamery is expected to open in a standalone building in the shopping center sometime after May.
Signs outside the Giant today encouraged customers to visit another of the company’s stores about a mile away, at 3450 Washington Blvd in Virginia Square.
An earlier statement from Giant said store employees were given the chance to transfer to other locations.
“In the normal course of evaluating our business and local trade areas, we determined that we can adequately serve this community through several other nearby Giant Food locations as well as our online services Giant Pickup and delivery,” the company said. “While closing this location, we remain committed to meeting the needs of our customers and providing them the best service.”
Rustico is closing its doors in Ballston.
The craft-beer-centric restaurant serving “artisan pizza” and “creative American cuisine” at 4075 Wilson Blvd plans to welcome its last customers on Sunday, March 10.
The Old Town Alexandria location of Rustico will remain open.
From a message posted on social media last night:
After 14 great years, Rustico Ballston’s last day of service will be Sunday March 10th. We love the Ballston neighborhood and we’re grateful for the opportunity we have had to get to know and serve our amazing community.
We especially want to thank all members of the Rustico staff, past and present, for their dedication, service, and camaraderie throughout the years. While the individual team members have changed over nearly a decade and a half, the spirit they delivered never did.
Please join us one more time (or two! or three!!) over the next two weeks as we say goodbye to Ballston in style. Of course, Rustico Alexandria continues to bring the best craft beer and pizza to Northern Virginia—we would love to see you there!
Rustico opened in October 2010, in an expansive restaurant space that also featured a sizable outdoor patio area, complete with artificial turf and picnic bench-style seating.
From our coverage at the time:
With about 200 indoor seats and 100 outdoor seats (which will stay in storage until next year), Rustico is trying to become the premiere lunch, dinner, happy hour and sophisticated night spot in Ballston.
It will certainly have the largest beer selection in Ballston, if not in all of Northern Virginia: 400 bottles, 40 drafts and 3 cask ales (the casks will be installed next week). By comparison, the original Rustico, in Alexandria, has 300 bottles, 30 drafts and 2 cask ales.
The bottles are displayed prominently behind the bar in two bright display cases. The taps, however, form the bar’s centerpiece — two dense horizontal arrays of colorful tap handles in a cut-out nook between the display cases.
It is unclear what, if anything, might fill the space once Rustico leaves.
Hat tip to @HawkeyeKevin
Bonefish Grill in Pentagon City is permanently closed.
Situated at 1101 S. Joyce Street in the Westpost shopping center (formerly Pentagon Row), the seafood restaurant — known for its wood-grilled fish, steaks, and signature “bang bang shrimp” appetizer — has placed several “closed” notices at its entrance, directing patrons to its closest branch in Fairfax County.
Google has listed the restaurant as “permanently closed.”
When ARLnow visited the site to verify the closure, an employee was removing the “Bonefish Grill” lettering from the revolving door. The employee declined to comment when asked about the reason for the closure.
The Pentagon City outpost, which opened in 2014, isn’t the only casualty. The Burn reported that the Ashburn location has also shut down. Last week, Bonefish Grill’s parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, announced it will be shuttering 41 underperforming restaurants nationwide.
Bonefish Grill has not been the only eatery to shutter in Pentagon City recently. A location of New York-based Mexican restaurant chain Rosa Mexicano closed its doors earlier this month after just over a year in operation.
Hat tip to two tipsters
After more than 45 years of business, Ship’s Hatch is lifting anchor from its place in Crystal City’s underground mall.
The eye-catching store founded in the 1970s will still sell merchandise and take personalized engraving orders online at shipshatch.com. But at the end of this month, its whimsical porthole windows and array of military gifts and souvenirs will set sail from the subterranean shopping plaza at 1677 Crystal Drive.
“We’re leaving because we’re moving online. Online seems like a good fit for us now,” said owner Becky Shagdarsuren.
Shagdarsuren said the store’s lease is ending but she did not elaborate on details. JBG Smith, the owner of Crystal City Shops, declined to comment on this story.
Ship’s Hatch joins several other businesses in departing Crystal City’s underground alleys.
JBG Smith notified San Antonio Bar & Grill last year that, after three decades, the Tex-Mex restaurant’s lease would be expiring in December, according to co-owner Amparo Magne. The real estate company did not provide a reason for the closure.
Signage at D.C. Men’s Wear, another Crystal City Shops business, indicated on Tuesday that it, too, is leaving. The jewelry and clothing store Coqui Boutique likewise announced last year that it was clearing house after nearly four decades in business.
“Seems like everybody is leaving,” Shagdarsuren said.
Although the subterranean mall is increasingly vacant, it does not appear on JBG Smith’s “development pipeline” for the next two years, per an investors report for the third quarter of 2023, the most recent posted on the developer’s website.
Located less than a mile and a half from the Pentagon, Ship’s Hatch found its niche selling hats, pins, mugs, decanters and other memorabilia emblazoned with military and patriotic symbols.
It charted a course through major changes in Crystal City over the decades, including the impacts of Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC), which closed numerous Dept. of Defense offices in the neighborhood, starting in the late 2000s. That’s not to mention the financial hit wrought by pandemic.
Shagdarsuren bought the soon to be online-only business when its former owner and founder, Mary Beth Cox, retired in 2018.
Craft beer and whiskey bar Rebellion on the Pike is closing.
The bar at 2900 Columbia Pike opened in April 2019. In an Instagram post Monday afternoon, Rebellion blamed economic circumstances and said its last day would be in two weeks, on Monday, Feb. 19.
It is with great regret that we share the news of our plans to cease operations here on the Pike. The recent economic downturn has had a great effect on many people, especially around here on Columbia Pike. While we have had our fair share of struggles over the years, a global pandemic to name mention one, we have had a great run here at 2900 Columbia Pike. That time has been filled with so many great memories they are impossible to fully list here. Birthday parties, retirement ceremonies and celebrations of life for dear friends taken far too soon. This is definitely a sad day for us and anyone we have come into contact with over the last five years.
We would like to thank those of you who we became dear friends with over the years. We would like to thank our current and former staff who put in so many hours of hard labor here. Lastly, we would like to thank our partners and vendors for providing us with the high quality products you became used to here. All of those groups made this place what it was. We’ll certainly miss those relationships.
Our LAST CALL will be held on Monday February 19th. President’s Day seemed like a fitting day to shut it down. Many of you can join us for a recovery Brunch that day, as we celebrate one final Daytona 500 in that traditional Rebellion style the day before. And with it being President’s Day, we can be reminded by our very own Rebellion TJ shirts one last time, “A little Rebellion now and then is a good thing.”
Rebellion replaced another former Pike watering hole, BrickHaus, which was only open for about a year.
Infamously, in 2021 a local TikTok personality feuded with Rebellion and fellow Columbia Pike bar Celtic House — and some employees — over alleged mistreatment, culminating in criminal charges against her that were later dropped.
The incident also prompted a deluge of negative reviews of Rebellion on Yelp, though most were subsequently removed.
Hat tip to Katherine Z.
Vitality Bowls in Rosslyn has closed its doors after nearly eight years.
In 2016, a franchise location of the California-based superfood café opened in Rosslyn on the ground floor of 1515 Wilson Blvd, between Presidential Bank and a dentist’s office.
The interior of Vitality Bowls Arlington is now empty and the phone number is not in service. The Rosslyn location is no longer listed on the company’s website and Google marks the location as “permanently closed.”
The restaurant served organic smoothies, juices, salads and paninis and specialized in açaí bowls.
The café sat less than a half-mile from South Block, an Arlington-born smoothie and açaí shop that is enjoying substantial growth and looking to expand throughout the D.C. region. The South Block Rosslyn outpost opened in 2019 and is one of 15 locations total, with four others operating in Arlington.
In Rosslyn, smoothies and juices can also be found at bubble tea joint Gong Cha and frozen yogurt shop Ice Berry, both within a half-mile of the now-shuttered Vitality Bowls.
Vitality Bowls did not respond to a request for comment.
With the Rosslyn franchise closed, there are no other Vitality Bowl locations in Virginia. The brand, founded in 2011, recently added several locations throughout the U.S., with most of its outposts in California.
The CVS Pharmacy inside the Target in Ballston is closing.
The pharmacy’s last pick-up date is Friday, Feb. 16, according to signage posted at a checkout desk inside the store at 740 N. Glebe Road. All prescriptions will be automatically moved to a different location.
“We’ll be doing the transferring so if you have an alternative pharmacy you [prefer], let us know,” one sign says.
The CVS at the Ballston Quarter mall (4238 Wilson Blvd), a four-minute walk away, will remain open.
This is one of several CVS closures happening in the D.C. area in February and March.
The company announced last month that it will be shutting down at least three locations inside D.C. Target stores. Pharmacies in Ivy City, Tenleytown and Shepherd Park will all close their doors between Feb. 29 and March 14.
Last week, the company said a standalone CVS in Columbia Heights will be closing, as well.
A CVS spokesperson told the Washington Business Journal on Monday that she had “nothing to share at this time” concerning possible closures at Target stores in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland.
The region’s thinning ranks of pharmacies are part of a nationwide strategy shift, CVS told another local news outlet.
“The closures are part of our plan to realign our national retail footprint and reduce store and pharmacy density and are based on our evaluation of changes in population, consumer buying patterns and future health needs to ensure we have the right pharmacy format in the right locations for patients,” the company said in a statement.
The Target in Ballston opened in 2020 and is one of three Targets in Arlington, including another smaller-format store in Rosslyn and a store in Pentagon City that opened in 2022.
Amid closures at The Crossing Clarendon, a few other retail shake-ups may be coming to the shopping center.
Florida-based Regency Centers recently ended leases for menswear clothier Jos. A Bank Clothiers and outdoor outfitter Orvis. Both are now closed and comprise some of the five storefronts listed as “available” or “available soon” on a leasing map.
One new addition will be Corobus Sports, moving into a below-grade spot on the same block as the Container Store and Colony Grill. The reported hockey training facility has a sparse internet presence, though its arrival is teased in a press release about the opening of a hot yoga studio, SoulFire Collective.
Corobus is taking the place of Jumpin’ Joeys, an indoor children’s bounce gym that “never got to take off as they opened soon after COVID restrictions went into place,” Regency Centers communications manager Eric Davidson said.
Meanwhile, two spaces listed as available currently have tenants — but Davidson says Regency is just keeping its options open.
One of the “available” stores is the 27,069-square-foot space home to Barnes & Noble. The bookseller tells ARLnow it has no plans to stop operating there and Regency Centers confirmed that nothing will change, for now.
“We’ve been working on short-term lease renewals with Barnes for a bit and are hoping to keep them in place — we love their new store prototype and are interested in continuing that discussion with them as things progress,” Davidson said.
The national bookseller recently started allowing local managers to make more decisions about store layout and products. Some have undergone renovations while a few new locations have debuted with a more “open” feel, creating places to gather for events and book signings, much like independent bookstores.
The bookseller did not say whether it had plans to experiment with alternative store formats in Clarendon.
After a 15-year slump prompted by the rise of Amazon, Barnes & Noble is making a comeback with a new CEO at the helm who helped turn around sales for the U.K.’s biggest bookseller, Waterstones.
While B&N closed more than 100 stores in the last 15 years, it notched a win in 2022 when it opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had from 2009-19, per a press release. Last year, the bookseller opened about as many stores as it closed, around 30, including one in Reston that was heralded as its largest store to open in the last decade.
The company plans to open more than 50 stores this year.
Another ‘Crossing’ listing teases “great retail coming soon” to a 2,000-square-foot space overlapping with an existing Ann Taylor store. Like the Barnes & Noble space, Davidson says Regency is doing “leasing diligence on a lease extension” — marketing it to prospective tenants just in case, essentially.
The parent company for Ann Taylor, which also owns LOFT, and the parent company of Jos. A Bank Clothiers filed for bankruptcy in 2020, resulting in a wave of closures. The LOFT at The Crossing Clarendon closed in 2022 and is now home to The Golden Fox Boutique, a purveyor of products from women-owned and D.C.-area businesses.
The general manager for The Crossing Clarendon previously told ARLnow that Regency Centers is working to “modernize” the business mix in the shopping center and bring in “new and exciting concepts.”
This shift might be reflected in changes in consumer habits, too.
Traditional workwear is going out of fashion and American consumers — while concerned about inflation and trying to prioritize essentials like baby supplies, gas and food — say they are more apt to splurge selectively, on things like going out to restaurants and bars, according to consumer insights from McKinsey and Company.
Rosa Mexicano’s Arlington outpost closed its doors today, after opening a little over a year ago in Pentagon City.
An employee confirmed the closure of the restaurant to ARLnow, citing issues with the location and proximity to the mall. A moving truck and crew were seen clearing out the space, while a sign on the door confirmed its closure.
Rosa Mexicano opened its Pentagon City location in late 2022, a year or so after its first D.C.-area location — across the street from the Capital One Arena in D.C.’s Penn Quarter neighborhood — closed after 16 years in business.
The New York-based restaurant chain serves classic Mexican fare, such as tacos, enchiladas, ceviche and fresh-made guacamole, in a colorful setting.
The Pentagon City location featured a bar with a long list of tequila- and agave-based cocktails, seating for 200 guests, a private dining room for events and an outdoor patio.
The chain still operates a local location — in National Harbor — as well as locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York and at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Hat tip to Angela Fox