Bakeshop

Arlington-Based Bakeshop Expanding into Georgetown

By Matt Blitz
Bakeshop in Clarendon (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington-based Bakeshop is opening up a third location just across the Key Bridge in Georgetown.

It was more than a decade ago, in the middle of Snowmageddon, when the bakery first started satisfying Arlington’s sweet tooth at 1025 N. Fillmore Street in Clarendon. Since then, Bakeshop has expanded to Falls Church, weathered a pandemic, and, now, is once again growing.

Bakeshop is moving into 3210 Grace Street NW in D.C., just about a mile walk from Gateway Park in Rosslyn and only two and a half miles from their original Clarendon shop.

“Georgetown is a charming little slice of DC, it’s both historic, extremely active and has a good bakery scene,” owner Justin Stegall wrote in an email to ARLnow. “It’s going to be great opening up next to South Block — we’ve been neighbors for over 10 years in Arlington and it’s great to be neighbors in DC.”

The plan is to open by the end of the month (October) “as long as inspections etc. are done,” he notes.

The menu will be similar to that of the other locations, offering vegan treats, Vietnamese coffee, and ice cream “cookiewiches.”

In January 2020, Stegall told ARLnow that he had “no immediate plans to open more” shops but would “do it again if the moment feels right.”

Nearly two years later, the moment felt right despite being in the midst of challenging times.

“The last 18 months has been extremely challenging and has felt more like 5 years. The overall uncertainty about what tomorrow will be like and constantly trying to look out for ourselves and our customers,” Stegall writes. “My team has been brave and very professional throughout this whole ordeal and I’m really proud of them.

Stegall also says the shop is fortunate because it’s “in a business that suits take-out ordering and delivery.”

But there’s certainly something about in-person connections.

“We’ve really missed having our community in the shops for their morning routine of newspaper, pastry and coffee, parents bringing their kids in for a treat, and people just convening in general,” he writes. “That aspect of community has always been a big part of us and it has been sorely missed.”

Over the years, the Bakeshop has gotten attention beyond their treats and expansion. In 2012, the shop was featured on the Cooking Channel and, in 2016, there was a viral Facebook post from Stegall’s mom where she showed her love for her son.

When asked if the shop could expand even more so in the future, Stegall said that’s the plan, if all goes well.

“I hope we will expand further because it is very exciting and rewarding to join a new neighborhood and become part of that community,” he said.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Free Coronavirus Testing Event Today — “Arlington County will host a free COVID-19 testing event on Tuesday, May 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Barcroft (4200 S Four Mile Run Drive). Tests available both by drive-up and walk-up. No doctor’s note or ID required… the public can anticipate heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area.” [Arlington County, Twitter, Twitter]

Flasher Arrested After Incident Near Ballston — “At approximately 12:12 p.m., an officer on patrol was flagged down by an individual in need of assistance. It was determined that the victim was in the area when she was allegedly approached by the male suspect who exposed himself before running away. The officer located an individual matching the suspect description and, during the course of the investigation, he was positively identified.” [Arlington County]

New Facade, Name Change for Crystal City Building — “JBG Smith Properties is looking to revamp, rebrand and add more leasable space to its Crystal Drive office campus, including one building partly leased and occupied by Amazon.com Inc. as part of HQ2. The new name for the entire office and residential complex, long known as Crystal Park: The Parks at National Landing.” [Washington Business Journal]

Bakeshop Closes Due to COVID Case — Bakeshop in Clarendon is temporarily closed after an employee tested positive for COVID-19. The store is now being cleaned and other employees testing. The bakery’s Falls Church location remains open. [Twitter]

How Hotel Manager Chose ‘KIND’ Message — “He kept coming back to one night, in particular, when a Southwest Airlines pilot approached the front desk. He brought a woman with two children from the airport who had been stranded for the night, their connecting flight canceled. The pilot offered to pay for their room and then pulled out his wallet, handing the woman cash for a meal. ‘The woman started to cry and asked the pilot, ‘Can I give you a hug?”” [Washington Post, Twitter]

Restaurant Fire Causes Significant Damage — “On Thursday, May 21 at approximately 11:23 a.m., units from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, Arlington County Fire Department and the City of Alexandria Fire Department were dispatched for a reported building fire in the 5200 block of Leesburg Pike in the Bailey’s Crossroads area of Fairfax County… Damages as a result of the fire were approximately $350,000.” [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue]

Photo courtesy Dennis Chiappetta

Hard Work and Tight Knit Community Keeps Bakeshop in Clarendon Thriving 10 Years On

By Vernon Miles
1/7

In some ways, Justin Stegall has a hard time recognizing his bakery — Bakeshop at 1025 N. Fillmore Street in Clarendon — today, given how it started.

When the shop opened, in 2010 during the middle of the Snowpocalypse, it was just him in the kitchen and a guy working in the front. Over the next ten years, that staff grew and each of them left their mark on the bakery. A tableau of printed pictures on wall is a silent testament to the years of memories.

This Sunday, Jan. 26, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Bakeshop will celebrate ten years in business with a community-oriented celebration. Bakeshop staff said they are planning to pass out cake and ice cream samples, along with cookies. The celebration will have a photo booth and — permit pending — a fire truck to entertain children could make an appearance, staff said.

The shop now operates in two locations, the original one in Clarendon and one at 100 E. Fairfax Street in Falls Church. Stegall said he has no immediate plans to open more, but he enjoyed the expansion and will do it again if the moment feels right.

Looking back on the last ten years, Stegall and his staff said it was a lot of long hours and difficult work that made the shop viable.

“I went into it thinking it would be a lot of fun, and it is, but it’s a lot of hard work,” said Alyson, an employee at Bakeshop. “You’re in the ovens, it’s hard work, and you’re carrying trays… You make all these delicious treats, but for the bakers, it’s a lot of hard work.”

As Sol Schott from Acme Pie on Columbia Pike could also attest, staff said the work involves working long, odd hours.

“Bakers get in really early,” Alyson said. “A large part of that is there are orders you have to bake for the day or people picking up cakes on the way to work. It’s early mornings and late nights.”

When Bakeshop opened during that blizzard, Stegall said one of the first orders was a couple for a cake, which he walked through the snow to deliver to them. The couple still comes into the shop, he said with pride.

(Bakeshop launched around the same time as ARLnow, which is also celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, and our company’s paths have occasionally overlapped — like the time we ordered a cake decorated with a waving chalk body outline as a farewell present to an outgoing Arlington police spokeswoman.)

“I believe towns need these kinds of things,” Stegall said. “It gives Arlington a little community spot for the neighborhood, for kids and adults, for people that want to work there and bake. Now we constantly have a crew of awesome kids that come through, go to college, and come back.”

Bakeshop Owner’s Mom Goes Viral With Touching Post

By ARLnow.com

Linda and Justin Stegall outside of Bakeshop in Clarendon (photo via Facebook)

It’s a tad out-of-the-ordinary for a business owner to let his mom tell personal family stories on the business’ Facebook page. But Bakeshop (1025 N. Fillmore Street) in Clarendon isn’t your ordinary business.

On Monday the quirky bakery posted the first in what it says will be a series of “Humans of Bakeshop” posts — a takeoff on the human interest stories compiled by the popular social media publication Humans of New York. The story was from Linda Stegall, mother of shop owner Justin.

“I married my college sweetheart and then put him through 5 years of post grad school while teaching and getting my own masters degree at The University of Virginia. We had two adorable little boys and then we separated when they were 2 and 3 years old. In the absence of their father, I worked hard to be a good mother and father and taught them and their friends how to play football, baseball, how to fish and ride bicycles. I was the neighborhood “dad” and mother. It was the greatest time of my life. I also had the perfect career to be a single parent – I was an elementary school teacher and just retired a few years ago after 35 years of teaching 2nd and 3rd grade! I loved teaching and feel fortunate to have had a career that I was so passionate about.

Family means so much to me.

I still live in northern Va and so do my sons, Justin and Joshua. I’m so proud of both of them- they have grown to be such amazing, kind individuals! My youngest, Josh, married a short while ago to a wonderful girl and we have become part of her extended families. He recently received his MBA from UVA. He is making his way as a leader in the corporate world. He and my amazing daughter in law, Katie, gave me the greatest gift recently, the birth of my first grandchild.

My older son, Justin, followed his dream, which coincidentally began in my kitchen as a child, and is the owner of a lovely neighborhood bakery. It’s doing very well and I am so thankful. I retired to spend more time with my mom and to help him get started in 2010. I love being here, baking and meeting and talking with our customers and working alongside my son.

I’ve worked hard all my life to be able to keep my sons in their childhood home and to take care of the house and yard. My dear father was an engineer and taught me how to do repairs on the furnace, car and tractor. I became very independent and self-sufficient after my divorce.

Hopefully, this paints a small picture of what I’ve been through and what has shaped me.”

As of this morning, the post had received more than 400 likes.

“The reaction was great,” Stegall told ARLnow.com. “We didn’t anticipate the response with my mom’s feature. That blew her away. As her son, I found it so special because she was able to reflect on how many lives she has touched. It was a very emotional experience for her.”

“My mom is an Arlington legend having taught here for 30 years and now helping in the shop where she gets to see many of her former students come in all grown up,” Stegall noted. “People really seem to like the old-school aspect of a neighborhood bakery run by a son and his mom.”

More “Humans of Bakeshop” posts are in the works — perhaps up to one per week.

“A big thing I have worked hard to build is a sense of community for the bakery,” Stegall said said. “For example, we have people that have met at the bakery and gotten married, couples that now have children and spend their Saturday mornings with us. Grandparents that grew up in the area bring their grandchildren here. It’s very special for us. That’s why we started the Humans of Bakeshop series. We want to share the personal stories of people that help operate the bakery and customers that spend their time with us.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Building demolition on Glebe Road (photo courtesy "Westover Leftover")

Pi Day in Arlington — Today is March 14, or 3/14, the day that celebrates the mathematical constant Pi (3.14159). In honor of Pi Day, the business review website Yelp is holding a “pie” event at Bakeshop (1025 N. Fillmore Street) in Clarendon, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. [Yelp]

Red Light Cameras Play ‘Pivotal Role’ — Red light cameras play a “pivotal role” in improving traffic and pedestrian safety. Arlington County says. The county’s red light cameras — currently active at four intersections — resulted in a 50 percent decrease in red light violations at those intersections, the county said. [Arlington County]

State Awards for APS Schools — Eight Arlington public elementary schools have earned a distinction as 2013 Virginia Index of Performance award winners. The schools honored are Arlington Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Ashlawn, McKinley, Nottingham, Taylor, Henry and Jamestown. [Arlington Public Schools]

Arlington’s All-Male Book Club — “Our Man in Arlington” columnist Charlie Clark explores “one of those rare literary phenomena — an all-male book club.” The group of 10 professional men has been meeting to discuss books in the East Falls Church/Westover neighborhood for 13 years. [Falls Church News-Press]

Photo courtesy “Westover Leftover”

Bakeshop Featured on Cooking Channel

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) Bakeshop (1025 N. Fillmore Street) was featured on the Cooking Channel “Unique Sweets” this past Sunday.

The Clarendon confection store’s owner, Justin Stegall, and his mother Linda were both featured on the program, as well as Bakeshop’s oatmeal creme pie, 7-Up cupcakes, and red velvet cake. The episode was focused on nostalgic “childhood treats.”

Unique Sweets bills itself as “an insider’s peek into innovative eateries across America that are creating the most unique and exciting desserts today.” The show airs on the Cooking Channel at 10:30 p.m. on Sundays, though repeats are aired multiples times during the week.

Stegall says he got a call from the producers of the show out of the blue, asking if he wanted to be featured. A camera crew spent seven hours in the store a couple of months ago, Stegall said, and the finished, edited segment was about seven minutes.

Stegall says he was surprised by how many people have told him that they saw him on television.

“It’s kind of funny, I didn’t know cooking TV was as big as it was,” he said. “The craziest thing is that my friends… are calling up and telling me they saw me on TV, and I didn’t tell them it was going to be on.”

Screen capture collage courtesy of Lu

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

GOP Will Likely Control Va. Senate — Despite the clean sweep by Arlington Democrats, it looks like Republicans will pick up the two Virginia Senate seats they needed to wrest control of the state Senate from Democrats. “If the results hold, Republicans will have complete control of state government for only the second time since the Civil War,” the Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, Republicans will now have a two-thirds majority in the House of Delegates after picking up six seats there. Gov. Bob McDonnell said the GOP-controlled General Assembly will be more likely to push a “pro-life, pro-family, pro-marriage” agenda.

Hawaiians Protest Bail of Arlington Resident — Dozens of demonstrators marched through Honolulu last night to protest the release of State Department Special Agent Christopher Deedy, an Arlington resident, on $250,000 bail. Deedy, 27, is charged with second-degree murder after shooting a man in the chest during a late-night argument inside a McDonald’s in Waikiki. [Associated Press]

Closures Planned for Tuckahoe 5K — The third annual Tuckahoe 5K run will be held on Saturday morning. Rolling street closures are planned in the East Falls Church neighborhood between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. For interested runners, limited race day registration will be available at Tuckahoe Elementary School. [Tuckahoe 5K].

Cookie Within a Cookie in Clarendon — What do you get when you place an Oreo cookie within a chocolate chip cookie? You get an ‘Oreo in a Blanket,’ which is being offered by Bakeshop in Clarendon (1025 N. Fillmore Street). [Clarendon Culture]

Bakeshop Does Breakfast

By ARLnow.com

Clarendon’s cupcake-and-coffee store Bakeshop is now serving breakfast.

At the bright and early hour of 8:00 a.m., Tuesday through Friday, Bakeshop (1025 North Fillmore Street) will unlock the doors and start selling bagels, croissants, coffeecake and Wrecking Ball coffee. The new opening hours took effect yesterday, and we hear it was surprisingly busy for the first day.

County Employee Targets Signs on Struggling Fillmore Street

By ARLnow.com

The sign police finally caught up with the notorious small business scofflaws of North Fillmore Street yesterday afternoon.

According to Screwtop Wine Bar owner Wendy Buckley, a county zoning employee “randomly” stopped by just before 4:00 p.m. and took her sandwichboard sign.

“This sign cost me over $175!” Buckley wrote in an email shortly after the incident. “I just got a call… telling me he threw it in a dumpster.”

Also gone: the sign for Bakeshop, the cupcake-and-coffee place down the block from Screwtop. See below for the county’s explanation of why the signs were removed.

“I’m a pretty positive and easy going person,” Buckley said. “But with today’s actions I am beginning to wonder what won’t this county do to hurt small businesses?”

Buckley quickly added that the county board has been “great” and are “the only people who ‘get it'” when it comes to the needs of small businesses.

In fact, during July’s three-hour board discussion of sidewalk seating on Fillmore Street, board member Chris Zimmerman emphatically encouraged his county colleagues to be more permissive with signs, especially sandwich board signs. Zimmerman and other board members spoke specifically about using signs to attract more foot traffic to the sleepy portion of North Fillmore Street where Screwtop and Bakeshop reside.

“Each of us on North Fillmore Street has a sandwich board sign to try and attract eyeballs down from Clarendon Boulevard,” Buckley said. “I am always happy to comply with any law, but our little businesses are doing everything we can to survive on this street. I don’t see how our signs, which are out of the way, can hurt anyone.”

Update at 2:15 p.m. — The head of the Arlington County Zoning Office has responded to our story.

Zoning Administrator Melinda Artman says sandwich board signs are prohibited throughout Arlington County. Despite supportive words for the signs at the July board meeting, Artman says board members must take legislative action in order to permit the signs to be placed on county property.

Screwtop was given three warnings about its sign, Artman says. The first was issued on June 10. The last was issued within the past couple weeks, and included a warning citation that the sign was “subject to immediate removal,” according to Artman.

It is a criminal misdemeanor offense to place a sign on public property in Arlington County. Violations are subject to fines up to $2,500. Screwtop has not been fined.

Artman says the county confiscates hundreds of signs per week, but tries to warn business owners first before removing them. 

“Of course we support small business here in Arlington… but the feedback we receive from the community is that sign enforcement is very important to them,” she said.

When a sign is confiscated it’s thrown out, since the zoning office has no storage capacity.

Artman says many businesses, especially in the Ballston area, openly flout the county’s sign regulations. Sign enforcement has become a cat and mouse game; recently inspectors started conducting sign enforcement randomly rather than at set times, because businesses had gotten wise to the inspection schedules. The county now deploys six inspectors on sign enforcement details for three hours each week.

Another Cupcake Bakery Coming to Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

Watch out, Bakeshop. Another cupcake shop is coming to Clarendon, and they’re bringing along a loyal following.

Manhattan-based Crumbs Bakery is opening seven stores in the Washington area. As first reported by Washingtonian, one of the stores will be in Clarendon.

A Crumbs representative told arlnow.com that the Clarendon location is scheduled to open in May. She said she was unsure of the future store’s exact location.

First Look at Clarendon’s New Cupcake Shop

By ARLnow.com

Upscale cupcake bakeries are nothing new. Georgetown Cupcake, Baked & Wired, and Hello Cupcake are just a few of the gourmet baked goods establishments lining the streets of the District. Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe on 2150 N. Culpeper Street in North Arlington has won some online acclaim for its more traditional cupcakes. But Bakeshop, at 1025 N. Fillmore Street, has the distinction of being the first of its kind in Clarendon.

The store is a labor of love for chief cupcake maker Justin Stegall. Stegall’s sweets have been sold at various DC coffee shops, including Chinatown Coffee Co. (hat tip: Washington City Paper). Now, he finally has a storefront to call his own.

Bakeshop hasn’t officially opened yet, but Stegall has been inviting people to check out the store during special hours announced via Twitter. During Saturday’s snow storm, about 60 people stopped by for a so-called soft opening. Within five hours, the store was sold out.

(Pictures and an expert cupcake review, after the jump.)

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