business closing

Melody Tavern Closes Its Doors

By ARLnow.com

Another business has closed at the Market Square at Potomac Yard development.

Melody Tavern (3650 S. Glebe Road), a bar/restaurant that hosted live music, has closed after about a year in business. On Facebook, the owners thanked customers for “10 wonderful months.”

“This location is far more challenging than anticipated so we have decided to close the doors,” the Facebook post said. “We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause some. Thank you and God Bless.”

This is the latest in a lengthening line of business closures at the off-the-beaten-path retail cluster, located on the ground floor of the Eclipse condo building between Crystal City and Potomac Yard, just off Route 1.

Melody Tavern had replaced McGinty’s Irish Pub, which closed in December 2010. Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet closed there in July after just 7 months in business. Harris Teeter has yet to reopen after a major sewage backup in May. (No word yet on a reopening date.) Meanwhile, across the street, a Jerry’s Subs and Pizza closed last year.

Part of the blame may be the lack of foot traffic from anyone other than residents of the two adjacent residential buildings, and the fact that the businesses are set back from the street and hard to see to people driving by. Another possible explanation: last November, we reported that Melody Tavern had to issue a press release after it was revealed that some GPS navigation systems directed people to a vacant lot several blocks away when trying to find the restaurant’s address.

Hikaru Sushi in Courthouse Closes

By ARLnow.com

A small Japanese restaurant in Courthouse has closed.

Hikaru Sushi, at 2200 Wilson Blvd, closed its doors over the weekend, we’re told. The restaurant’s sign has been taken down, the phone lines have been disconnected, and workers could be seen removing kitchen equipment on Saturday.

One resident reported via Twitter that the owner of the Hikaru told customers that he was moving and thus decided to close the restaurant. We were unable to reach the owner for comment.

The restaurant enjoyed generally positive reviews on Yelp. It recently sold a Groupon deal that expired on Sept. 19.

Photo via hikaru-sushi.com. Hat tips to @shtickstickler, @ClarendonScene and @Tamarabrams

Marvelous Market Has Closed in Ballston

By ARLnow.com

 

The Ballston location of the Marvelous Market, a small regional chain of gourmet food stores/cafes, has closed permanently.

Located at 888 N. Quincy Street, the store closed its doors for good on Monday, a tipster said. The contents of the store — including tables, signs, sinks, appliances and electronics — were promptly put up for auction.

The store was owned by a independent franchisee, not the chain’s parent company, according to Ryland Johnson, the director of operations for the Marvelous Market. There are currently 5 company-owned stores and 2 franchise stores open in the D.C. area, he said.

Johnson declined further comment.

The Ballston store is not the only Marvelous Market location to close recently. A McLean location closed in March, a Reston location and a Tenlytown (D.C.) location closed last year, and today it was revealed that the chain’s Capitol Hill franchise has severed ties with the company and reopened as “The Silver Spork.”

According to the company’s web site, the Ballston location was the last remaining Marvelous Market in Virginia.

Hat tip to @zippychance

Rosslyn’s Santa Fe Cafe to Close

By ARLnow.com

After 24 years in business, Santa Fe Cafe (1500 Wilson Blvd) will be closing its doors.

The restaurant — the longest-running in Rosslyn — will be closing around Oct. 27 (exact date TBA). Owner Kip Laramie said he made the difficult decision to close after finding out his rent was to increase nearly 30 percent should he renew his lease.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to help people have a howling good time at Santa Fe Café for the last 24 years,” said Laramie. “My staff and I have seen Rosslyn develop from a convenient but somewhat sleepy neighborhood into one of the most vibrant places in the country to live, work, play and learn.”

The news comes as Santa Fe Cafe is in the midst of its annual Hatch green chili harvest festival. During the festival, which runs through mid-October, the restaurant serves special dishes made with the famous green chiles from Hatch, New Mexico. The spicy chiles are flown in fresh from a local grower in Hatch, then roasted and peeled.

Over the years, Santa Fe Cafe has served its New Mexico-focused cuisine for a number of notable people and organizations, including the New Mexico State Society, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, former Governor Bill Richardson, the U.S. Supreme Court and a number of local trade associations and nonprofits. The restaurant has hosted benefits for the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network and BRAVO.

Laramie, who will turn 60 in March, said he would have liked to run the restaurant for a few more years, before retiring and handing it over to his staff. Now, he said his goal is to make sure his 11 employees — three of whom have been with the restaurant since it opened on May 1, 1988 — find new jobs.

“I’m very fortunate to have this wonderful group that i’ve worked with for so long,” he said. “I’m going to do everything I possibly can to find them an even better job than they had here.”

Laramie said he has had a good relationship with the owner of his building — which is now vacant, after some 1,300 Air Force personnel moved out as a result of BRAC — but the extra rent required to renew the long-standing lease was too much for his small business.

“It was just a decision by the landlord that the space is worth more than I can afford,” he said. “I don’t hold those cards, unfortunately.”

Laramie, a former restaurant broker, said it’s tough for a small, locally-owned restaurant to succeed in a high-rent environment like Rosslyn, but added that he’s not alone.

“I think some of the chains that moved in here are even having a tough time,” he said. Still, Laramie thinks Rosslyn will be an even more attractive place to own a restaurant once a few of the large planned or under-construction new buildings open.

“A couple of years from now, it will be a wonderful place to have a business, with all these buildings that are going up,” he said.

Daily Deli Closes in Ballston

By ARLnow.com

Daily Deli, a restaurant serving “New York Style Sandwiches” in Ballston, has closed after less than a year in business.

The deli, at 1000 N. Randolph Street in the former Upper Crust Cafe space, served Illy coffee and Carnegie Deli-branded meats, but received mixed reviews on Yelp, with customers complaining about the food and the service.

“I had to tell someone three times what was in a Reuben, only to have her slather mayo all over the bread,” wrote one reviewer.

A sign in the window says the restaurant space is now available for lease.

Photo courtesy Bill Colton

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Boathouse Meeting Today — A public meeting regarding a proposed boathouse along Arlington’s Potomac River shoreline is being held tonight. The National Park Service is holding the meeting at Washington-Lee High School (1301 N. Stafford Street) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Senor Pan Closes — After just 6 months in business, Columbia Pike-area cafe/bakery Senor Pan has apparently closed, according to the Pike Wire Twitter feed. Senor Pan was located at 922 S. Walter Reed Drive.

Student Production Plays at Fringe Fest — Mindset, a “surrealist rock opera” created, directed and choreographed by H-B Woodlawn students, is currently playing at the Capital Fringe Festival. The show originally featured all Woodlawn students, but now professional actors have been added to the cast. [Sun Gazette]

Flickr pool photo by Damiec

Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet Has Closed

By ARLnow.com

Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet (3600 S. Glebe Road) has closed after less than 7 months in business.

The family-owned restaurant opened on the ground floor of the Eclipse condominium building, near Potomac Yard, on Christmas Day 2011. No word on why the restaurant closed, but a tipster tells us it didn’t seem to be attracting enough customers. Hee Been was closed yesterday, according to another business owner at the Eclipse, and a property manager was seen changing the locks today.

Hee Been’s original Alexandria location, at 6231 Little River Turnpike, is still open, according to an employee who answered the phone there this afternoon.

When it opened, Hee Been featured an 80-foot-long dinner buffet with some 85 different items representing three different types of cuisine: Korean, Japanese and Thai. The restaurant was an ambitious undertaking for the development, at the far southeast corner of Arlington. Though the Eclipse and the nearby Camden Potomac Yard apartment complex both have residential tenants, the large National Gateway office complex, across the street from the Eclipse, is still awaiting an office tenant.

This is the latest in a string of bad news for the area. In May the Harris Teeter grocery store at the Eclipse closed due to flooding caused by a sewage backup. It has remained closed since. An Irish bar, McGinty’s Public House, closed late in 2010.

McGinty’s was replaced by Melody Tavern last year.

Arax Cafe in Westover Has Closed

By ARLnow.com

 

Arax Cafe (5852 Washington Blvd) in the Westover neighborhood has closed its doors for good.

A sign in the window of the now-empty coffee shop reads: “To our extended family… we are sorry to announce we are closing at the end of the month. Thank you for 11 fabulous years!”

Arax Cafe enjoyed generally positive reviews on Yelp, where patrons raved about the shop’s Armenian specialties, including pastries and meat pies.

Hat tip to Megan F.

Rosenthal Dealership on Columbia Pike Closing Tonight

By ARLnow.com

Today’s the last day in business for the Rosenthal Chrysler Jeep dealership and service center at 3400 Columbia Pike.

According to an employee who answered the phone, the dealership will close permanently after tonight. Employees are either being transferred to other Rosenthal dealerships or were given advance notice that they should seek other employment, we’re told.

The Rosenthal site, at the corner of Glebe Road and Columbia Pike, is set to be redeveloped into a multi-family residential complex. The plans for the complex includes a six-story building with 245 apartments, 44 townhouses, 12 stacked flats and retail space on the ground floor.

The Arlington County Board approved the redevelopment last month.

Photo via Google Maps

Sangam Restaurant Closes on Columbia Pike

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) Sangam Restaurant has closed, less than a year after it moved from the Comfort Inn in Ballston to 3205 Columbia Pike.

Owner Edward Dean says financial difficulties forced him to shutter the location. For the time being, Dean says he’s continuing to operate a delivery and catering business, with the same staff as Sangam, out of another Indian restaurant in Arlington. Customers can call 703-524-2728 to place orders, he said.

Dean, a retired diplomat, says he lost more than $1 million trying to make the restaurant work between 2004 and today. While perhaps not a financial success, the restaurant did win some accolades, including three straight first place awards at the Taste of Arlington.

Even though it struggled while on the ground floor of the Comfort Inn, Dean said moving Sangam to its most recent location on Columbia Pike was “the biggest mistake I made.”

Now, Dean says he’s looking for a partner to try to get the restaurant up and running again in another location. If that doesn’t work, Dean said, he may have to abandon his restaurant ambitions altogether.

O’Sullivan’s to Expand into Sam’s Corner Space

By ARLnow.com

O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub (3207 Washington Blvd) in Clarendon has signed a new lease that will allow it to expand into two adjacent storefronts.

O’Sullivan’s will soon take over the next-door Fragrance World and  Sam’s Corner storefronts, owner Anselm Griffiths tells ARLnow.com. Fragrance World will move to a new storefront on N. Irving Street while Sam’s Corner, a deli, will close permanently, Griffiths said.

Griffiths hopes to start construction on the expansion in July. O’Sullivan’s is expected to remain open during most of the construction, which Griffiths hopes will wrap up around mid-September. When it’s all said and done, O’Sullivan’s will expand from about 1,800 square feet to 3,350 square feet. In addition to making more room for concert and happy hour crowds, the new space will allow O’Sullivan’s to focus a bit more on its dining business, Griffiths said.

The popular but often cramped pub first opened as Molly Malone’s in 2004, before Griffiths became an owner and changed the name in 2006. A second O’Sullivan’s location opened in Herndon about two years ago.

O’Sullivan’s and other storefronts along Washington Boulevard and N. Irving Street are not part of the Waverly at Clarendon Station apartment project behind it and will remain open even after the development gets underway, Griffiths said.

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