Rosslyn ABC Store Closing Next Month

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by ARLnow.com March 13, 2013 at 10:15 am 1,241 66 Comments

The Virginia ABC store at 1731 Wilson Blvd, in the Rosslyn area, will be closing next month.

The liquor store “will close sometime around April 20,” Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control spokeswoman Carol Mawyer confirmed to ARLnow.com. She said the store will not be renewing its lease.

“We are closing this store because it is in a leased property and our lease expires April 30,” said Mawyer. It’s the second high-profile business to close in the historic Colonial Village Shopping Center so far this year. In January, Ray’s Hell Burger and Ray’s Hell Burger Too closed due to a landlord-tenant dispute.

ABC customers in the area will now have to find another store to shop at, such as the Virginia ABC store at 1001 N. Fillmore Street in Clarendon, in the Clarendon Self Storage II Complex. That store is about a mile away.

“ABC operates seven other stores in Arlington for our customers’ convenience,” Mawyer said. “There are another three stores (for a total of 10) within a 5-mile radius of the Wilson Boulevard property.”

Photo via Google Maps

Hokie4Eva

Noooooooooooooo!!!!!
novasteve

That sucks, I sometimes use that store when I walk home from DC.
- OX4
  
  Why support ABC? Just go to Dixie at the bridge.
  - novasteve
    
    I’m not paying no DC bag tax.
    - bagman
      
      You don’t carry a canvas bag to the liquor store?
      - novasteve
        
        Why should I HAVE to bring a bag to a store if they want me to purchase from them?
    - drax
      
      You could, you know, just not get a bag with your purchase, which is what the tax is designed to encourage.
      - novasteve
        
        Drax, you are required to get a bag when you purchase liquor in DC. Then they require you to pay a tax on that bag. If you tried to say you don’t need a bag and you don’t have your own bag, they will not sell you to alcohol. So basically you are required to pay this tax if you don’t bring your own bag.
      - novasteve
        
        PS I’ve actually bought from Dixie and they included the b ag tax in the purchase because they didn’t see I had already bought a bag, so they gave me a coin in return after they ran my debit card..
      - Arlingtoon
        
        That has not been my experience. I buy my stuff at Bell’s on M Street. If I’m just getting a single bottle (which is nearly all of the time) when they ask me if I want a bag I respond that I don’t, and then I don’t pay the bag fee.
    - GoodOmens
      
      Why not? Even with the tax it’s probably cheaper in DC anyways.
  - Legal Eagle
    
    Because it is illegal to transport alcohol across state lines.
    - Joe
      
      What? Where? When?
    - ARL
      
      Nope.
      
      A few states forbid importing it from other states, but there’s no federal law, and no Va. or DC law that says an average joe can’t bring a bottle in or out. Most of the state laws involve sellers shipping it across state lines.
      - novasteve
        
        Maryland will charge you with a felony if you bring in more than 2 packs of cigarettes into the state. There’s a big big tax difference in alcohol between Maryland and Virginia. a 750 ml bottle of Jim Beam in Moco costs about $12, whereas here it costs $20. I bought a bottle of Kraken Rum in Moco this weekend for $13. If they even sold it in VA it would probably cost over $20.
      - Rory
        
        I’ve seen it sold in Virginia.
        
        I seriously doubt police in Maryland are charging anyone for bringing 3 packs of cigs across state lines.
      - Rory
        
        BTW, the excise revenue gained by surcharges on alcohol and tobacco allow Virginia to have lower tax rates. Which is fine by me.
      - nom de guerre
        
        From the Virginia ABC website:
        
        No more than one gallon of alcoholic beverages (or the metric
        equivalent) may be brought into Virginia from outside the Commonwealth,
        excepting shipments to the commission or its licensees, or new residents under special permits.
        
        Anyone who transports more than such quantity of alcoholic beverages
        per adult in possession of the bonafide owner may be arrested, fined up
        to $2,500, and sentenced to a year in jail. In addition, the vehicle
        involved may be impounded and confiscated.
        
        Alcoholic beverages includes wine, beer, or distilled spirits. This
        restriction applies not only to those alcoholic beverages brought into
        Virginia from other states or the District of Columbia, but also from
        defense installations.
  - NIMBY The Chicken
    
    The cheaper prices in DC almost even out when you add in the 10% sales tax levied on alcohol… Montgomery County’s sales tax on bottles just went up to 9% too.
    - novasteve
      
      Even with the sales tax in Moco, it’s still much much cheaper there. Just bring 100 plastic bags to Moco and throw them out while you are there.
      - Rory
        
        Why are you throwing them out there? You know you can put them in your recycling here?
  - NIMBY The Chicken
    
    It should also be noted that in DC you can’t buy just one airplane bottle, you have to buy at least 6, and some stores won’t let you buy them mix-and-match, you have to buy a 6 pack of bottles.
  - OX4
    
    Ah yea…well I guess I don’t put that much economic thought into my whiskey purchase. I just hate supporting ABC.
    
    At any rate, Steve, you can just throw that bag off the Key Bridge into the river as you walk home. That’ll show ’em.
    - novasteve
      
      That’s what I do to a degree for MD. I collect all my plastic bags from VA, then on occasion go to Moco to buy groceries tax free, and I take the 100 or so plastic bags, and throw them out in Moco, and then use a reuseable bag for my groceries.. Now MD is going to do it statewide, so I’ll trash my plastic bags in other places of MD too should I be there.
flux

Wish they would open one in Westover. How do you go about lobbying for a new ABC location?
Andy

That’s OK, still two I can walk to. Hic. 😉
CHResident

SOB! What the hell is wrong with the owners of this little strip of stores?! Carol Mawyer, could we please re-examine this?
- Gregory Judkowski
  
  Probably looking to sell the land.
  - CHResident
    
    We should tell the residents of the Le Mer on N Quinn there’s a wrecking ball coming their way in the next couple of years…
  - flux
    
    Maybe. But according to Arlington’s listing of the center’s historic designation, the development pressure is “none”.
    
    There’s also a link there to purchase a bridge in the Manhattan area.
    - SomeGuy
      
      Isn’t the historic designation just for the existing residences? I don’t think it includes the entire set of properties that use the “Colonial Village” label, such as this strip mall. I’m not sure though. Is there a way to lobby part of a property off the historic designation list? Or is that a one-way street forever?
      - flux
        
        I was reading from the historic designation link above in the article. It is just for the shopping center.
      - SomeGuy
        
        Ahh… got it, flux. I didn’t read closely enough. Thanks for kindly pointing that out!
    - ARL
      
      I think “none” just means they haven’t heard of someone officially trying to buy or sell yet. It’s not their judgment of the situation.
  - pemberton buttlestix
    
    I can assure that isn’t happening.
jinushaun

Man, the owner(s) of that property is kicking everyone out! Is Pho 75 next?!
- b-money
  
  Probably going to sell the land so somebody can build another tower.
- Vanessa
  
  I will destroy someone if Pho 75 closes.
  - Mike
    
    Stuff white people like: Pho
    - b-money
      
      That’d make sense if Vietnamese weren’t 85% of their clientele.
      
      Corrected: Stuff people like: Pho.
      - novasteve
        
        What about Pho for breakfast? Is that stuff people like or just stuff Vietnamese people like? My hotel in Hanoi served Pho for breakfast.
    - ARL
      
      Yeah, pho is totally a white thing. (rolleyes)
  - novasteve
    
    I’ll be really pho king pissed off too.
  - John_Putnum
    
    Obviously, you don’t have much of a life to destroy someone over soup. Try Campbell’s in a can.
dr seuss

UGHHHH
Clarendon Bro

Gotta say, pretty butthurt this location’s closing. Now where am i supposed to buy my Goldschlager???

Oh, it’s Rosslyn? Carry on-that place is ghetto.
Arlington Chris

That ABC store is a nice example of why government should not be in the business of selling alcohol.

The people in the store are friendly but the selection is tiny and the store looks like something out of the Soviet Union.

Not sure why in 2013 we can’t have commercial stores for spirits.
- OX4
  
  Because Virginian Republicans like their freedom. Or something?
  - JP
    
    I guess Maryland DEMS like their ABC stores also.
T-Rex

I wonder if there will be a sale to get rid of all of the currently stocked liquor…
Garden City

Not good. The parking around the N Fillmore Street location is terrible.
- Faye Jisette
  
  They have a free parking garage.
  - nom de guerre
    
    That has about 8 parking spaces for several businesses.
    - Nope
      
      There is a very large lot under the building. You have to go towards the middle of the building to find it. Free Parking for all the stores, including screw top and green pig.
      - Taco Boy
        
        Screwtop and Green Pig parking is not available for ABC shoppers. There isn’t enough parking there as it is.
- Otis
  
  Across the street is a gas station. Leave the pump running while you dash across 10th to get your booze.
- Carmen
  
  Luckily I can walk to it.
Wooly Bully

Hmm, seems like this Wilma character has a history of bullying.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/17194/ethnic-cleansing
Kiffee

WHAT???????????? NOT OK! NOT OK!
Hugh Jass

“We are closing this store because it is in a leased property and our lease expires April 30,”

Uh…. You know you can sign a new lease…..
- Big Willy
  
  Not if your landlord is trying to clear everyone out.
RonJeremy

Abstinence
Being faithful
Correct and Consistent Condom use
- AcronymLuvR
  
  whats your best ABC acronym?
  - oldie
    
    American Businessmen’s College
Johninnova

This landlord is sending a strong message…… they are planning on selling the property. They kicked out two of Ray’s Burger joints and now ABC. Stand by for the wrecking ball….. it’s all about the money,.
LawMom3

But, but … it was within easy walking distance from the Courthouse area, great for emergency replenishing of dangerously low levels of adult beverages in local law offices. Waaahhh!!

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