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Cherrydale Clockworks, at 3510 Lee Highway, went out of business about a month ago. Now, at least one former customer whose clock was being repaired at the store is trying to figure out how to get it back.

The store, once filled with clocks of all shapes and sizes, is now empty. A sign on the door indicates that the landlord changed the locks. “For Lease” signs hang in the front window. A phone number for the store is forwarded to a full voicemail box.


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The closing left clients and customers holding worthless gift cards and unpaid bills.

The owners of the Shirlington building that housed the store had to hold a cash liquidation sale earlier this year, telling ARLnow.com that the company had stopped paying its rent in October and had not even bothered to declare bankruptcy. The company simply walked away from the lease, the landlords said, forcing them to sell the remaining merchandise themselves in order to recover some of their losses.


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Republicans Voters to Choose Congressional Nominee Today — Voters in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District are heading to the polls to choose which GOP nominee will face incumbent Rep. Jim Moran (D) in the fall. The Associated Press wins the award for the most concise, cynical take on the race:

In the 8th District, little-known candidates Matthew Berry of Arlington and Alexandria’s Patrick Murray, vie for the right to challenge 10-term Democratic Rep. Jim Moran in the heavily Democratic inner suburbs of Washington, D.C.


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Fantom Comics, a tiny oasis of graphic novels in a far-flung upper corner of the Pentagon City mall, quietly closed up shop on Sunday.

Owner Matt Klokel said another business wanted Fantom’s space and was able to get it due to a clause in the store’s lease. Klokel said he would have had to pay twice his current rent to keep the space.


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A liquidation sale is being held at the former Washington Golf Center store in Shirlington (2625 Shirlington Road).

The sale is being conducted by the building’s landlords, who said the owners of the store stopped paying their rent in October. According to one of the landlords, the owners of the store didn’t even declare bankruptcy, they just walked away from store, leaving the landlords “with all this stuff to get rid of.”


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The circumstances were even more somber. Lucy McCausland, the owner of a.k.a. spot, was moving to Florida to be closer to her family following the passing of her mother. After some soul-searching, she had decided that traveling back and forth between Florida and Arlington would not be feasible.

But last night McCausland made the bittersweet announcement. While a.k.a. spot was closing, its legacy of promoting pet wellness would be preserved.


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Washington Golf Center, its sign easily recognizable by I-395 commuters, has abruptly closed. The 30,000 square foot warehouse-style store, founded in 1978, was located at 2625 Shirlington Road. The store’s web site, washingtongolf.com, has apparently been taken down, and the store’s phone number has been disconnected.

There was no immediate explanation for the closure. A commenter at Shirlington Village Blogspot said employees denied the store was going out of business until it closed this weekend.