local business

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Candidates Support Stormwater Investment — “How it gets paid for (and by whom) perhaps is a question for another day, but the three candidates in the July 7 Arlington County Board special election voiced support for increased stormwater-management efforts. ‘We need to be making a generational investment,’ said Susan Cunningham, one of three candidates on the ballot seeking to fill the seat of the late Erik Gutshall.” [InsideNova]

Analysis of N. Arlington House Numbers — “In the ZIP code 22207, serif addresses vastly outnumber sans serif addresses, 7,759 to 2,111. Many blocks feature no sans serif houses at all, or just one or two. But in isolated pockets–individual blocks or even orange and red “hot zones” spread across a couple of streets–sans serif numbers are beginning to break through.” [Slate]

How a Local Chiropractic Practice Is Doing — “Some businesses are still trying to get adjusted to the flow of business in the new normal. ‘I would say we’re about 75% close to where we were before,’ Dr. Hooman Hamidi said. Hamidi is a chiropractor in Arlington, Va. When the global pandemic shut things down, his business slowed to a crawl.” [WUSA 9]

Galaxy Hut Staying Takeout-Only, For Now — “Based on what we’ve seen, we still don’t feel it’s the safest option to allow people to hang out at our restaurants at this time. Instead, we will be expanding our pickup hours and introducing some new yums at both Galaxy Hut and Spacebar in the coming weeks.” [Facebook]

ACPD to Report More Traffic Stop Info — “The Community Policing Act, Virginia House Bill 1250, takes effect July 1, 2020. This law requires law enforcement and State Police to collect certain information from the driver during all motor vehicle (traffic) and investigatory stops and prohibits law enforcement officers and State Police from engaging in bias-based policing.” [Arlington County]

New Laws Taking Effect Today — “Marijuana will be decriminalized, local governments will have the ability to take down Confederate monuments, and Virginians will pay more in taxes for gasoline and cigarettes starting Wednesday. July 1 is the start date for most of the new laws passed earlier this year by the General Assembly.” [Associated Press]

Bun’d Up Hoping to Serve Alcoholic Drinks at Pentagon Row, but Wary of Second Virus Wave

By Vernon Miles
1/3

Like a lot of local restaurants, it’s been a rough spring for Bun’d Up — which opened at Pentagon Row (1201 S. Joyce Street) in December — but its owner hopes warmer weather and the forthcoming delivery of speciality Asian alcoholic drinks can help turn things around.

Bun’d Up’s Scott Chung said the business is being inspected later this week for a new ABC permit that, if approved, would allow it to offer in-restaurant serving or home delivery of beer and wine.

“We’re trying to jump on board with the take-home drink trend,” Chung said. “This area allows people to drink in the courtyard and we’re hoping to do take-home delivery of alcohol as well. We’ll see how it goes, and try to expand to do more Asian-inspired drinks.”

Chung said from what he’s heard, frozen drinks have been selling really well at other local restaurants. Bun’d Up just got new ice machines and Chung said he’s hoping to start with frozen drinks to test the waters.

“We’re going to focus on Asian-inspired Korean beers and soju, and specialize in Japanese whiskeys,” Chung said.

The restaurant is still trying to figure out which distributor to use and the prices for the drinks haven’t been set in stone, but Chung said it will be comparable to other restaurants in the area.

In general, Chung said he’s hopeful alcohol sales can help boost a business that’s been hurting over the last few months of the pandemic.

“In the beginning, it was pretty rough, but we’re doing better,” Chung said. “It’s still not comparable to before all this started, but we do see some weekends better than others. I think alcohol and getting an outside presence will help.”

There are other ideas in the pipeline, but Chung said the immediate focus will be putting together food that pairs well with alcohol and drawing more attention to the outside space — assuming the good weather holds up.

“The weather has still been pretty funny,” Chung said. “We had a cold rush last week, but right now it’s hot and there’s a ton of people outside.”

Chung said he’s eagerly looking forward to the third phase of reopening.

“Once Phase 3 [of reopening] happens, the business should get a lot better,” Chung said. “Once Phase 2 hit, even before that started — when they announced Phase 2, we were busier. It took some weight off people’s shoulders that it’s getting better.”

Chung is wary of a second coronavirus wave, however, and he said that’s curbed his enthusiasm for rehiring a full staff.

“We get complaints about how long it takes sometimes to get food ready,” Chung said. “That’s probably the number one complaint we hear, but we can’t staff at earlier levels. With a potential second wave, don’t want to staff more people and then turn around and lay them off again.”

Chung said if the recovery continues, he’ll hire more staff to help speed food preparation and delivery, but for now he’s waiting out the summer to see how the virus continues to impact the community.

One More Page Books Celebrates New Chapter in Online Sales

By Vernon Miles

Amanda Quain, social media manager for Arlington bookstore One More Page books, said the store has “the best problem” right now and one many other struggling retail locations would love to have: they are overwhelmed with orders.

The independent book store at 2200 N. Westmoreland Street in East Falls Church has been closed to public browsing since the pandemic started, but inside Quain said the shop is buzzing with staff putting together boxes and taking phone calls from customers.

While book stores nationwide are struggling, Quain said the pandemic has pushed the shop into an online shopping focus that’s changed how the business operates.

“We’re not planning on opening anytime soon,” Quain said. “We’re too small to do both online orders and letting people browse. We’ve had to get rid of a lot of fixtures and shelves that make shop feel cozy. Don’t want people to linger in the post-pandemic world. Sitting and staying a while have to go away. We hope increased online business goes to in-store after, but we also hope to maintain online sales.”

The store recently celebrated 10,000 orders.

Those online sales have created a new community around the bookstore that tries to replicate the experience of browsing and getting a recommendation, though Quain said the staff are busier than ever because that takes longer when not done in-person.

“A lot of it’s easier to do in-store, like recommending books, but that takes longer when that’s email or phone call,” Quain said. “We’re having the best problem. We’re very overwhelmed with orders and don’t have the staff to support it.”

Quain said One More Page also did a website redesign a year ago, which put the store in a good position when the pandemic started and customers started seeking out local businesses to support while social distancing.

The big sales come in waves, Quain said, and are often driven by trends.

“With a lot of the talk about antiracism and books by black authors there been a lot of those [sold],” Quain said. “Those are books like How to Be an Anti-Racist. We’ve been steadily increasing, but that was the biggest jump.”

Quain said other big-sellers have been Me and White Supremacy, Just Mercy, and Jubilee.

The pandemic has also driven the One More Page community to other products, like puzzles.

“Whenever we have puzzles on the website, those go pretty fast,” Quain said. “About a month ago we had one each of our puzzles and we auctioned them off. It was a steady price, whoever claimed it first got it. We were lucky, there no fighting, everyone was chill.”

Early on in the pandemic, Quain said the big push was for children’s books and workbooks. That intensified even more as summer vacation started. Quain said a lot of sales were driven by the Washington Post Summer Book Club for children.

“In the before-times, we would try to predict trends,” Quain said. “We don’t have as much time to do that now. It’s been more reactive than we like but it gives us a cool idea of what books people want. Some of them are books we’ve never heard of, or books we start stocking now.”

Quain said the big part of the book store’s survival has been flexibility, both for the store and trying to instill that in customers. There were frustrations early on, Quain said, when shipments that used to arrive overnight were taking a week or more to deliver.

That flexibility has also created some innovative new products at the store. One of the more popular, Quain said, is the One More Page surprise box. Customers pay $100 and answer extensive questions about their reading preferences, and staff put together a customized box based on recommendations.

Photo via One More Page Books/Facebook

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Schwartz Presents New Capital Plan — “County Manager Mark Schwartz has proposed a $277.5 million one-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The County Manager, rather than proposing the traditional 10-year plan, is presenting a short-term proposal until the County better understands the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the one-year CIP is on projects that are already underway, those that improve failing or end-of-life infrastructure, and those required by legal or regulatory obligations.” [Arlington County]

Juvenile Court Reeling from Coronavirus Cases — “An outbreak of covid-19 in the clerk’s office of the Arlington County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court has forced the court to close the office to the public and has concerned lawyers who practice there daily. Four of the seven clerks in the office have tested positive for covid-19.” [Washington Post]

Small Business Grants Announced — “Arlington County today announced 394 businesses are receiving the Small Business Emergency GRANT (Giving Resiliency Assets Near Term). The GRANT program provides financial assistance to Arlington’s small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The GRANT funds were designed to bridge the gap to provide near-term relief for businesses and nonprofits, some of whom have experienced delays or limitations with federal relief initiatives.” [Arlington County, Arlington Economic Development]

Va. Not Ready for Phase 3 — “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday that statewide Covid-19 numbers ‘continue to look favorable,’ but that he will not move the commonwealth into phase 3 of reopening this week. ‘I want to have more time to see how the numbers look before we make changes, especially as we see surges in other parts of our country,’ Northam said.” [Washington Business Journal, InsideNova]

Wardian to Run to Every District Taco — “This is Mike Wardian, a Guinness-World-Record winning runner, who is partnering with DT on Saturday, June 20 as he runs to ALL 12 DMV LOCATIONS (just about 60 miles)! If you see Mike on his run, snap a pic and use #whereswardian for in-app credit for a free taco!” [Twitter]

County Offers Free Trees and Tree Maintenance — “Arlington County loves trees, and knows trees are critical for our stormwater infrastructure, environmental and human health benefits, and through its Tree Canopy Fund EcoAction Arlington offers grants to plant or maintain trees on private property.” [Press Release]

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Big Response to Small Biz Grant Program — “Those hit hard by the pandemic can receive help through the small business emergency grant program. More than 1,100 businesses have applied, [County Board Chair Libby] Garvey said, and at least 63% of them are owned by women or minorities. ‘With an additional $1.6 million, we can provide grants to a total of 400 businesses, more than 50% of those that… were eligible,’ Garvey said,” during her State of the County address Tuesday morning. [WTOP, Zoom]

Chamber Presents Valor Awards — Also on Tuesday, “awards were presented to honor Arlington County’s public safety personnel and first responders. Fourteen honorees were recognized for their courageous, and often lifesaving, actions in the line of duty. Leadership of all respective departments submitted nominations for the honorees, based on their performance over the past year.” [Arlington Chamber of Commerce, InsideNova]

Road Closures for Grad Parades Tomorrow — “On Thursday, June 18, the Arlington County Police Department’s Special Operations Section will support Senior Graduation Parades for Wakefield High School and Washington-Liberty High School. Traffic around the schools will be impacted at the below listed times. The public can expect to see increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the surrounding neighborhoods.” [Arlington County]

CivFed Wants More Open Space — “The president of the Arlington County Civic Federation on June 13 delivered his message quietly but bluntly: The county government needs to put much more emphasis on acquiring land for parks and open space before the window of opportunity closes. Allan Gajadhar handed County Board members a Civic Federation resolution calling on the county government to better balance open-space and passive-recreation needs with facilities for sports and active recreation.” [InsideNova]

COVID Cases Among DCA Construction Workers — “Employees with 17 contractors working on Reagan National Airport’s massive capital improvement project have tested positive for Covid-19, according to a staff report issued ahead of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s upcoming board meeting… The most recent positive result was confirmed June 7.” [Washington Business Journal]

Juneteenth May Become State Holiday — “Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Tuesday that he will support legislation to make Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery, a state holiday in Virginia. He gave executive branch state employees the day off Friday — June 19 — in recognition of the event. On that date in 1865, federal troops told enslaved people in Texas they had been freed, more than two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.” [Washington Post]

Flickr pool photo by John Sonderman

Next Day Blinds Suddenly Vanishes, Replaced By 3 Day Blinds

By ARLnow.com
1/2

If you were hoping for Next Day Blinds, you’ll now have to wait two extra days.

The regional window covering chain, which has a showroom in the Virginia Square area, has reportedly gone out of business. Instead, visitors to its now-defunct website are being redirected to a California company called 3 Day Blinds.

“Next Day Blinds has ceased operations and permanently closed its doors,” the website says. “3 Day Blinds, with over 40 years experience in the window coverings business, has hired a number of former Next Day Blinds Sales Staff, Design Consultants, Installation Experts and Administrative personnel. We will strive to continue the tradition of providing exceptional products and services to the Greater Baltimore / Washington DC area.”

Next Day Blinds had at least nine locations in the D.C. area. The company was founded in 1993, was a prolific local television advertiser, and billed itself as one of America’s largest regional manufacturers for custom window coverings.

While no reason for the closure was given, the last post on the company’s Facebook page from early April said it was temporarily closed during the pandemic.

Dear Customers:We miss you. Please stay safe and healthy. While we are closed for now, we are continuing to support…

Posted by Next Day Blinds on Monday, April 6, 2020

The Curtain May Have Fallen on Stageplate Bistro

By ARLnow.com
1/2

It appears that Stageplate Bistro in Ballston may have taken a final bow.

The restaurant at 900 N. Glebe Road was well reviewed but struggled to attract customers to the western side of the busy street since opening in 2017. It took a brief intermission in 2018 but reopened, before closing temporarily again earlier this year.

“We had to close to regroup to come back better than ever,” general manager Mary Marchetti said in February. ARLnow reported that Stageplate, which gets its name from its owners’ entertainment industry catering experience, was “planning for the reopening to coincide with the first day of spring on March 21.”

Then, of course, the pandemic happened.

As of last week, the Stageplate Bistro logos had been removed from the windows, and a leasing sign was up. The restaurant’s website produces an error message and its phone number has been discontinued.

The tables remained set inside, however, waiting for diners that may not get a chance to dine there again.

Hair Cuttery Courthouse Snipped From Official Listings

By Vernon Miles
1/2

(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) It seems Hair Cuttery has trimmed Courthouse from its list of locations and barbershop/salon is now closed.

The location at 2020 Wilson Blvd is now empty, with a sign in the windows saying the space is available to lease. The site is also no longer listed on the company’s index of locations.

The Hair Cuttery in Courthouse opened alongside retail shops on that block in late 2014.

The next closest Hair Cuttery is at 3307 Lee Highway, but there are still other barbershops closer in Courthouse and along Wilson Blvd.

Other Hair Cuttery locations throughout the region have closed as well while the parent company has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As pointed out in the comments, Hair Cuttery locations in Shirlington and Crystal City have also been removed from the official list. Other Arlington locations — at Penrose Square, the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center, and 3307 Lee Highway — remain.

Numerous Restaurants and Other Businesses Listed for Sale in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

The pandemic has brought tough times for many local business owners. In some cases, it’s driving them to try to sell their businesses.

The website BizBuySell aggregates many business sale listings. In nearly every case, the name of the business and its exact location is omitted.

Reasons for selling, when provided, typically do not mention economic hardship, but more often involve the owner retiring or not having time to actively manage the business.

Here are some that are currently listed in Arlington:

  1. Established Retail Consignment Store — “Womens, gift and home consignment store for sale. This is a terrific time to transition into being your own boss! This is a successful, fully functioning consignment business ready for it’s next owner. The location is on a VERY BUSY street in an affluent neighborhood & has been operating as a consignment store for over 50+ years. “
  2. Massage/Skincare Business — “Average well over $250k NET profit per year! Business is fully staffed along with a management team with three years tenure. Average staff tenure is 4-7 years.”
  3. Pizza Restaurant & Bar — “Restaurant in a prime location of Arlington VA established in 2012. Semi absentee owned working around 20 hours per week. This restaurant will fit any concept. Excellent location for Italian concept. This restaurant has 2 full service bars and a total of 104 seats.”
  4. Italian Customer Favorite — “This family-owned restaurant has been in business for over 40 years in the center of Arlington. Restaurant has been totally renovated and maintained. Dedicated chef and staff that will remain with new owner, if desired. Equipment has been maintained and is in excellent working order. Seating for approximately 60+, including bar area. Great location in Arlington, VA, with on-site dedicated parking in the back.”
  5. Dry Cleaners for Sale, 1 plant, 1 pick up store — “Prime locations. Well established profitable business. Each 1600sf stores. 1-plant, 1 pick up store. Loyal customers. Owned since 1997 ( 23 years) Reasonable rent. High growth potential in booming market. Pick up store location only using about 60% of space.( could sublease other 40% to tuxedo rental for example ) Right cross street brand new apartment complex going to deliver soon.”
  6. Nail, Hair Salon and Spa — “Well established Spa serving a well-to-do community for 20 years. Grocery anchored shopping center. 11 massage rooms (2 for couples), 9 has water. 3 toilets, 3 showers, 1 sauna, 1 dry spa. Large spa but rent is very reasonable. Membership program, gift card sale available. Most staff will stay.”
  7. Fast Casual Restaurant in Prime Location — “High quality Asian street food concept in a prime location of Arlington VA. Starting a restaurant from scratch can cost you a ton of money and time. This beautifully built out restaurant can be yours at a very low cost. Fully equipped with high end equipment, furniture and fixtures. The current owner is ABSENTEE but does not have the time to watch over the restaurant anymore. With current annual sales averaging around $860,000.”
  8. Dry Cleaning Pickup Store — “This is a dry cleaning / alterations and tailoring landmark location, in the heart of Amazon Territory. In operation for over 30 years, the clientele is loyal, the rent is right and the price even better. The owner is retiring, but will stay on to help if needed.”
  9. Nice Ice Cream business in a high income area — “Unique and Very well established Ice Cream business in a very nice area surrounded by businesses and residentials. VERY high-income area with limited dessert choice. Seller’s initial investment was more than $350K about 1.5 years ago. High End Establishment. Great Reputation. Seller is looking for a experienced and passionate buyer who can utilize this business and location to make a very profitable business.
    Currently, this is a franchise business, but a buyer can keep this or put his/her own concept.”
  10. Coffee Shop in North Arlington — “Established Franchise coffee shop with kitchen located under a hi-rise residence building across the street from a government building and next to well known university in north Arlington. There is an indoor and outdoor seating, High quality relaxing atmosphere to enjoy coffee, paninis and pastries etc.”
  11. Fast Food in Popular Mall Food Court — “Low rent fast food restaurant in Arlington VA. This restaurant is located in a food court of a popular mall. This small restaurant serves sandwiches, Italian dishes and desserts. All furniture, fixtures and equipment are included with the sale of the business. The current owner has decided to start selling off some of his restaurants and semi retire to spend more time with family.”
  12. Japanese Restaurant — “Fast casual Japanese restaurant for sale in Arlington VA. This restaurant currently serves Japanese food and sushi but can be converted to fit most menus/concepts. Located in a shopping center on a very busy road. The current owner is ready to retire.”
  13. Trendy Clothing Boutique — “Trendy and well known and loved women’s clothing boutique. Fully stocked and and clientele of 800+”
  14. Thai or Other Concept Restaurant — “Well-established business (16 years) in top-rated food , excellent location in northern Arlington. can change concept if you wish to. Excellent location on a high traffic road, with favorable lease. Strong base of repeat customers, and experienced staff. Everything is already established for web presence, advertising, social media, and local and business marketing.”
  15. Successful, Well-Established Turn-Key Hair Salon with Nail & Wax Spa — “No expense spared in the Contemporary build out – hair salon recently built out approx. 4 years ago, and the nail / wax spa was just built out last year. Very Modern Design with an excellent layout. The hair salon is built out with a Reception area, 4 stylists stations, Shampoo station, Kitchenette and Restroom. The Nail & Wax Spa on the upper level is built out with 4 Manicure stations, 2 Pedicure Stations, Manicure drying station, Wax / Massage Room, Restroom with shower. Prime North Arlington Location in the affluent, sought-after Cherrydale neighborhood.”
  16. Highly Profitable Used Car Dealership — “Highly Profitable and very prime location auto used car dealership in Arlington for sale. The only used car dealer located in about 5 miles radius. The revenue of this business is strong and steady over the last decades and has an exceptional reputation in the are. The business has been generating over $6 million in sales/revenue on average.”
  17. High income hotpot restaurant — “Hotpot restaurant is a very famous Asian food service, more and more people with different cultures starts to love in the food. The restaurant has more high tech factors to support the business, the customer use Ipad and robot to order the soup base and protein food on site, and other side dish and vegetables are delivered by a conveyer chain. The location is great for the customers who are working, living and traveling in Arlington metro area, so the owner never concerns about the vacant tables. It’s normal situation when customers come in the dinner time, they have to wait 2 hours for a seat.”
  18. High Volume Restaurant & Bar — “Situated in the heart of Arlington, this profitable bar/restaurant provides an incredible opportunity for a restaurant operator to acquire an excellent location complete with all the equipment and top of line furnishings needed for a turn key operation. This restaurant comes with high quality and custom-built furnishings as well as a long-term lease with excellent options for this highly sought after and growing area. This restaurant has a total of 425 seats and over 50 hd tvs.”
  19. Fitness Spin Cycle Center with Two Locations — “Established 7 years this Cycle Fitness Center has 2 locations in the most desirable cities in the US. One location in NYC NY & the second location in Washington DC. Absentee owned & Fully Staffed with management for all the day to day operations. Their certified instructors are all Independent 1099 contractors. Each location has approximately 50 cycles and offer 4-9 classes per day. This cycle fitness center is performance-based & results-driven with optimal speed & resistance combinations available.”
  20. RESTAURANT & BAR Full Kitchen — “Currently open as a Restaurant and Bar. Huge potential for motivated and experienced parties to take over and convert to a Sports bar, Vietnamese, Chinese,Japanese, Italian restaurant, Hookah bar, or Bakery. Located in very busy corner location with a lot of foot traffic.”

See more Arlington listings here.

List: Black-Owned Businesses In Arlington

By Kalina Newman

(Updated on 6/8/20) Peaceful demonstrations are popping up across Arlington County in memory of George Floyd.

Numerous readers have asked ARLnow, and asked on local social media groups and message boards, about black-owned businesses in Arlington.

By popular demand, below are some black-owned restaurants and brick-and-mortar businesses in Arlington you can support during this historic time. (Note that this is not a comprehensive list of all black-owned businesses in the county.)

  • For those looking for a way to shake up their morning Starbucks routine, there’s Ididos Coffee and Social House (1107 S. Walter Reed Drive). Now in the process of acquiring a temporary outdoor seating permit, the cafe offers a variety of coffee and espresso drinks, as well as breakfast pastries, sandwiches, and salads. According to its website, its namesake comes from “the Gedeo area of Yirgacheffee, Ethiopia, a region that is known for producing clean bright washed coffees dominated by citrus flavor.”
  • Not too far away, Dama Pastry & Restaurant (1505 Columbia Pike) is an Ethiopian bakery and restaurant offering everything from cappuccinos to plates of oxtail served with injera bread. Similar to Ididos Coffee, the restaurant is also looking to acquire temporary outdoor seating to get business back to pre-pandemic levels.
  • Just down the Pike, Ethio Cafe (3045 Columbia Pike) serves up breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast dishes include scrambled eggs mixed with tomato, onion, and jalapeno pepper, while dinner includes a variety of vegetarian dishes, such as a combo with yellow split peas, red lentils, beets, collard greens, and more.
  • In Crystal City, Enjera Eritrean Restaurant & Bar (549 23rd Street S.) re-opened in Arlington in 2012 after a two-year closure. Pre-COVID-19, the restaurant featured live music every Friday and Saturday, but its dishes such as sambusa and tibsi are available for takeout on delivery apps such as Grubhub and Uber Eats.
  • And as the weather continues to heat up, those looking for a healthy dessert to cool down can get a scoop of gelato at Amore Congelato (1201 S. Joyce Street), which sweetens its gelato with agave syrup and incorporates fruits and vegetables into its flavors. Before opening the Pentagon Row brick and mortar, Navy veteran and owner Thereasa Black served her gelato at area farmers markets and wineries.
  • Moving away from food, a long-time, black-owned store in Crystal City was previously profiled by ARLnow: Puppet Heaven in the Shops at 1750 Crystal Drive. Owned by puppet master Lucien Alban Odoulamy, the business is the Washington area’s only puppet store and has been open for over two decades.
  • Another business, AA Locksmith Service Co. (3113 10th Street N.) in Clarendon, has been serving the area with professional locksmithing service for over 30 years. Its services range from lock installation and repairs to copying keys and helping locked out neighbors.
  • On Lee Highway, Magnum Opus Hair Salon (4751 Lee Hwy) has been open for three years, offering both men and women’s haircuts. “The Arlington community has been great,” owner Clinton Jones, who previously worked at a hair salon in south Arlington for 9 years before opening Magnum Opus, told ARLnow yesterday. “On Monday, after a crazy weekend of reopening, I had three people sit in my chair who were on their way to go protest after getting their hair cut. It really made me feel good that people were showing up to support our causes in my own neighborhood, causes they might not even be affected by in their lifetimes.”
  • Also on Lee Highway, the proudly “old school” Moore’s Barber Shop (4807 Lee Highway) has reopened and is offering haircuts by appointment only. Moore’s “is a family friendly shop that’s been in business for over 50 years.”
  • Wayne Cutz, a barbershop in the Green Valley neighborhood at 2112 Shirlington Road.

Some other black-owned businesses, as submitted to us by readers:

Know of any other black-owned restaurants and stores in Arlington that we should feature here? Email us. Want to give a shout out to a local service provider or any other type of black-owned business? Please do so in the comments.

Photo via Dama Restaurant/Facebook

College Students Launch Glass Recycling Service in Arlington

By Vernon Miles

While Arlington is celebrating a new high in drop-off glass recycling, after discontinuing the recycling of glass collected curbside, a pair of local brothers have set up their own business to fill a gap in the market.

In a local Facebook group, Joe Core said he and his brother — both college students — would pick up glass from people’s homes to take it to one of Arlington’s drop-off glass recycling bins for $7. The service is contact-free, reducing the risk of spreading disease through in-person contact.

“The idea came about as my brother and I began to recycle our own family’s glass at Quincy Park and realized it was easy for us to drive just down the street and do it,” Core said, “but for many people it may be something they wouldn’t want to go out of their way to do but rather pay someone else to do.”

Core and his brother are hoping to make some extra money during the pandemic while filling a community need.

“The transition from an idea to business occurred when my brother and I realized how boring quarantine could be and that we should use our time to make money rather than just sitting around,” Core said. “From then we put out advertisements and reached out to family friends to get our business going.”

The services can be booked online, by calling 703-517-9031 or through email at [email protected]

So far, Core said business has been decentm with a decent base of regular customers. There hasn’t been any feedback from the county so far about the business, he said.

“We haven’t gotten a response from the county yet but we have been active users of the glass recycling centers and are thankful for the centers which give us a place to recycle,” Core said.

The brothers typically do two or three pickups a day, according to Core, and it’s usually a plastic storage bin worth of glass, but sometimes it’s two or three containers per customer.

“At this point, we’ve kind of hit a plateau in terms of acquiring new customers, but are trying to figure out new ways to advertise our services,” Core said. “We are also looking into building relationships with apartment complexes to do larger community pickups.”

Image via Arlington County

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