A new coffee shop is open in Arlington Forest in a low-slung shopping center just off Arlington Blvd.

Sense of Place (4807 1st Street N.) replaced a Subway sandwich shop in the Arlington Forest Center. It opened yesterday (Monday), next door to Brick’s Pizza, the DaVita dialysis center and the Mathnasium of Arlington education center.

Sense of Place features a coffee bar that serves specialty pour-over coffee, which uses a filter and a dripper to extract more flavors. At the bar, a certified barista will serve the coffee, while a sign nearby expressly bans the use of laptops to encourage customers to enjoy their drinks without distraction.

“At the bar, customers take the time to see, smell, and taste subtly different notes of flavors and textures with every sip that they may not have noticed before,” the cafe’s website reads.

The new cafe serves its own house-brand coffee, called Enzymo Coffee. The coffee beans undergo a natural fermentation process before being roasted, which staff said keeps the coffee fresh, the acid content low and prevents any post-caffeine crashes an hour or two after drinking.

Also on offer: various other hot and cold drinks as well as homemade pastries, paninis and sandwiches.

Early Tuesday morning, the store was already doing brisk business, despite having been open for just one day. Multiple customers told ARLnow how excited they were to have an independently-owned coffee shop in the plaza, which is also home to Outback Steakhouse and used to house the now-shuttered Filipino grocery store Fiesta Oriental.

Sense of Place is open from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays.

Hat-tip to Mike Marketti.


(Updated at 7:20 p.m.) Local coffee shop Commonwealth Joe is encouraging Arlingtonians to explore businesses in Crystal City and Pentagon City with special “passports.”

The program will run for a week, from today (August 7) until Sunday, August 13. People can stop by Commonwealth Joe (520 12th Street S.) and pick up their own passport, or they can get a team passport for up to three people.

Once passports are claimed, the goal is to visit all of the participating businesses to get the passports stamped.

Participating businesses include: Sweetgreen (Crystal City), Orangethoery Fitness, Pure Barre, CrossFit South Arlington, Earth Treks, WeWork Crystal City, TechShop and the Crystal City Wine Shop.

Once the passports have all of the necessary stamps, participants turn their passports into Commonwealth Joe, where each team that completes the challenge within the week will get a free drink.

In addition, there will be prizes for the first three teams to get all of the stamps. These grand prizes include day passes from Earth Treks, free Sweetgreen salads, WeWork merchandise and more.

A spokeswoman for Commonwealth Joe said they started this event to help build relationships with other local businesses and to help people explore the neighborhood.


Just months after national chain Applebee’s closed in Ballston, its replacement, Filipino restaurant Bistro 1521, has opened its doors.

Located at 900 N. Glebe Road on the first floor of the the Virginia Tech Research Center and next door to the recently-opened Stageplate Bistro, the new spot occupies a large restaurant space, with seating capacity for 220 inside and 60 on the outside patio. It opened July 31.

The restaurant has a slew of Filipino staples, including soups, salads, rice and dishes with noodles and various meats. Bistro 1521 also has various grill and house specialty dishes including jumbo squid stuffed with tomatoes and onions; Cebu crab cakes and a “1521 Burger” with ground beef, longaniza (a Spanish sausage), atchara (pickle) and sweet potato fries.

Those behind the restaurant include Manny Tagle, bartender Jo-Jo Valenzuela and wife Christina Valenzuela, and general manager Solita Wakefield. Wakefield was previously a co-owner of Bistro 7107, a Filipino restaurant on 23rd Street S. in Crystal City, which recently closed. Jo-Jo Valenzuela said the dishes will be recognizable to those who love Filipino food.

“We want to be careful about calling our food authentic, because everyone’s mother cooks meals differently,” he said. “But we’re definitely traditional Filipino comfort food.”

The restaurant’s name refers to the year Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines, and the artwork on the wall includes references to the country’s flag and other part of its history.

Dinner service begins at 4 p.m. each day, with lunch and brunch services set to launch in the near future.


District Taco will donate $1 today (Monday) from every regular burrito and breakfast burrito it sells to a nonprofit that serves underprivileged children.

The event, called Back to School Burritos, will take place all day at each of District Taco’s 10 locations across the area. The money will be donated to the National Center for Children and Families, which will help purchase school supplies for underprivileged children and families in the region.

District Taco CEO and co-founder Osiris Hoil said he came from a disadvantaged upbringing and so tries to give back to the community whenever he can.

“When I was a child my parents were very poor, and it was very hard for them to buy school supplies for me and my brothers,” Hoil said in a statement. “Helping other kids makes my heart feel full and makes me extremely happy.”

Hoil started District Taco as a food cart in Arlington, before opening his first brick and mortar location on Lee Highway. It has since added restaurants in D.C. and Northern Virginia, with its first locations in Maryland and Pennsylvania both set to open this fall in College Park and King of Prussia, respectively.


Casual Adventure will be open until at least Christmas, after it signed a new short-term lease on its Virginia Square building.

Owner Eric Stern said he and his staff requested the extension from property owner 1404 Hancock Street Investment LLC, a company registered to local custom home builder BCN Homes.

The pair then agreed on the extension, in part, Stern said, because new development in the area is taking a “little bit longer than originally anticipated.”

“We’ve had a great business relationship, and we were able to extend at least for the time being,” he said. “Then we’ll figure things out from there.”

The long-time outdoor retailer had been set to close its 3451 Washington Blvd location this spring after 61 years in business. It first announced its closure in April and subsequently held an “End of an Era Sale” with large discounts.

Stern said the influx of customers and outpouring of sadness at the store’s closing showed there is still “an obvious need or want for us in this space.”

“The general support from the public has been overwhelming in a positive way,” he said. “I certainly appreciate everybody who’s come in and shared their stories of the trips they’ve taken over the years, the products they’ve bought from us over the years and the photos they’ve had from their trips.”

Casual Adventure is currently holding a summer clearance sale with merchandise marked down as much as 70 percent. Stern said fall items will start arriving shortly.

Hat tip to Buzz McClain


The D.C. area is home to four of the top ten richest counties in the country.

For businesses that cater to these local customers, the concentration of wealth provides an excellent opportunity for driving revenue but also presents unique challenges for improving customer engagement.

One way to enhance engagement, especially with customers with high disposable incomes, is by incorporating personalization through the use of digital kiosks.

When deals and specials don’t drive sales

More wealth means more disposable income. While discounts and price drops remain attractive even to the wealthy, it simply is not a sustainable way for long term engagement with customers. Customers, especially the wealthy in the region, aren’t as motivated to make a purchase simply based on deals, coupons, and discounts as other consumers. Rather, businesses have to go beyond price-driven relationships and think about how to engage customers with personalized, sophisticated experiences.

In the age of technology, where people spend the majority of their waking hours interacting with a screen, digital channels provide the easiest and most direct route to engage customers. Digital signage kiosks in particular provide a familiar and engaging platform that allows businesses to provide immersive experiences that are highly targeted.

Selling sophistication

When used correctly, digital kiosks signal to customers that a business is forward-thinking and tech-savvy. This sells sophistication, and customers will bite.

Let’s take a look at a few applications of digital kiosks and how they elevate the customer experience:

  • Doctor’s offices and clinics with check-in kiosks will have faster check-in times and reduced back-and-forth between the patient and receptionist. Displaying trivia and wait times on the screens will reduce perceived wait times, a big pain point for the healthcare industry.
  • Spas can display welcome messages for bridal parties, birthday parties, etc., to further personalize the visit. Displaying staff bios and social media posts on the digital screens familiarizes customers with the business and encourages engagement even after the customer has left the property.
  • Rather than displaying news, banks can display mortgage rates and stock tickers in the branches, and add check-in kiosks for customers to complete any necessary forms while they wait for their number in the queue.
  • Realtors can replace static signs with digital window displays showing local listings, points of interests such as schools, shopping, churches, etc., available showings, and even realtor profiles. Making virtual tours available on digital kiosks in the office gives potential home owners an opportunity for discovery and exploration, and the realtor a chance to wow them.
  • In retail locations digital kiosks present an endless aisle where customers can search for and order items not in the store. Stores such as Bloomingdale’s and ZARA have installed kiosks in their changing rooms where customers can ask for alternate colors and sizes. Kiosks can even recommend items that would complement the original.
  • Restaurants are also using digital kiosks. McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Panera are just a few that have introduced kiosks for shorter lines, improved accuracy, and personalization – customers can save their order modifications as favourites or order from their history.

The use cases are virtually endless. Digital kiosks can display weather, traffic, event listings, emergency alerts, wayfinding and building directories, corporate communication, etc.

Impressive ROI

In addition to improving the customer experience, digital kiosks also improve efficiency and reduce overall operating costs.

They eliminate the cost of printing static signs, allow brands to instantly update their messages for real-time interaction with their customers, and add visual appeal to a venue or building. Also, when the kiosks display important customer-facing information, employees will spend less time answering questions and more time on pressing tasks, thus improving their productivity.

The D.C. area is home to a unique demographic that is primed to make purchases using a wealth of information. They also expect more from their actual shopping experience. For this group and in instances when discounts don’t drive sales, kiosks are providing the perfect complementary service within brick-and-mortar environments.

Jacqueline Hoffmann is a Solutions Consultant at Mvix, a leading provider of content-rich digital signage solutions. She leads the Washington, D.C. team, working with designers and engineers to build digital signage networks that connect brands with people. To learn more about Mvix, please visit www.mvixdigitalsignage.com or call 703.584.4304.


ACPD Says It Follows the Constitution — In a public statement of values, the Arlington County Police Department said yesterday that it “has always adhered to the Constitution and is committed to safeguarding the rights of all individuals.” The department continued: “We faithfully, and without bias, honor our obligations to the community and will continue to provide professional law enforcement services in accordance with our core values.” [Facebook]

Bistro 1521 Now Open — Filipino restaurant Bistro 1521 reportedly opened last night. The 7,000 square foot eatery is located in the former Applebee’s space at 900 N. Glebe Road in Ballston. [Washington City Paper]

District Taco Opening in Pa. — District Taco, which started as a tiny food cart in Arlington, is continuing to expand. DT is planning to open a location in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, its first restaurant outside of D.C., Maryland and Virginia. [Twitter]

Fmr. Arlington Resident Sexually Enslaved Housekeeper — A former American diplomat, who reportedly used to live in Arlington, “has for the second time been found liable for enslaving and sexually trafficking a housekeeper while posted at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.” [Washington Post]

ACFCU Branch Closed After Fire — The N. Glebe Road branch of Arlington Community Federal Credit Union is closed after a fire yesterday evening. “Thx for understanding as we work 2 make sure bldg is safe,” the credit union said via social media. [Twitter]

ACFD Battles Fire in Bailey’s Crossroads — The Arlington County Fire Department has had a busy couple of days. The department battled at least three fires yesterday afternoon and also, on Saturday, assisted on a blaze in an empty apartment at a three-story complex on Oakview Gardens Drive in Bailey’s Crossroads. Five people were displaced and $20,000 in damage was caused, but no injuries were reported. [Falls Church News-Press]

Photo courtesy Curtis Prathers 


A Crystal City-based startup is planning to add 184 jobs here as part of an expansion, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Monday.

Trustify, which moved into new offices overlooking Long Bridge Park earlier this year, is planning to spend just over $1 million on building and equipment costs associated with the expansion. The 184 jobs are expected to be added over a period of three years, according to Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

A VEDP spokeswoman said Trustify will be eligible for nearly $120,000 in state reimbursement for job recruitment and training.

Trustify is a sort of “Uber-for-PIs,” using the internet to connect businesses and consumers with trained private investigators. It makes money by taking a cut of the hourly fee charged to customers.

In a press release, McAuliffe and other officials, including Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette and state Sen. Adam Ebbin, heaped praise on Trustify for its rapid expansion.

“Trustify’s impressive growth in a short amount of time is a strong example of what high-tech, entrepreneurial companies can accomplish in the Commonwealth,” said the governor. “Arlington County and the Northern Virginia region are home to a dynamic IT industry… We are proud to have this innovative business in the Commonwealth contributing to the new Virginia economy, and look forward to Trustify’s continued success.”

Trustify President Jennifer Mellon, in turn, lauded Arlington County as a place to do business.

“We decided on Arlington, Virginia for many reasons,” Mellon said. “The community here in Arlington is a fantastic place in which to work and commute. Arlington provides employers and employees many benefits and advantages that are not available in other areas and communities. We believe the DC Metro area, in general, is a beacon of inclusive innovation with some of the best percentages of women and diversity in tech compared to the rest of the country. We have transportation, office, and community options and benefits that made this area the clear choice for Trustify.”

Trustify says it raised $6.6 million in new funding this year, according to the Washington Business Journal. With that funding the company hopes to grow and capture more of the U.S. private investigations market. Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that Trustify is after at least a $1.5 billion dollar market; there are some 28,500 private investigators nationwide making an average annual wage of around $53,500 a year, according to the BLS.

By the numbers, the company is one of the hottest tech startups in Arlington, but it is not without its critics. It has a very vocal, persistent critic in Glen Hellman, a local tech scene commentator and strategist who also goes by the nickname “Mr. Cranky.”

Hellman ripped what he characterized as an uncritical Washington Business Journal article on the governor’s Trustify announcement, despite being mentioned in that very article.

“It’s a good thing Washington Business Journal doesn’t have a sports page because they’d be writing headlines about every kid who ever received a participation trophy for being the bench warmer on the worst team in the lowest league of some minor 3rd grade soccer team,” Hellman said in an incendiary blog post this morning. “I believe the reason Trustify puts out these press releases is to counter any bad press they receive, to push down the SEO of negative stories and obfuscate… the truth in order to raise money from poor unsuspecting widows and orphans.”

The full press release from the governor’s office, after the jump.

(more…)


A small grocery store at the Dominion Hills Centre shopping plaza will close at month’s end, another business to depart the neighborhood strip mall.

The Dominion Hills Grocery & Deli at 6035 Wilson Blvd will close at the end of July after 13 years. The store’s owner said the closure is because of a sudden rent increase by the property owner.

A sign on the store’s front door reads:

To our friends, neighbors & customers at Dominion Hills Centre,

This is to inform you all that Dominion Food-Mart will be closing on July 31, 2017. We deeply appreciate the loyalty and the support from you all for the past 13 years.

It has been a great pleasure knowing and being friend[s] with you.

We will miss you all very much!

The store is the latest to depart the shopping center, months after Little River Yoga Studio, Great Harvest Bread Company and the florist all shuttered.

Those storefronts are still listed as being for rent by the property’s owner, Rosenthal, but all are still vacant.

A reader emailed to say that she and others in the Dominion Hills community are concerned that the shopping center will “go the way of Clarendon,” which has seen the departure of long-time businesses as rent has increased.


Beauty operators who need to develop a client base and gain valuable experience in order for their business to flourish are often at a loss.

Going out on their own is prohibitively expensive and a great risk for the professional if it does not work out as planned. Many professionals never obtain the income they truly need or desire.

Which is why Arlington’s Metropolitan Suite is such an innovative — and for many — an important idea: Beauty and wellness operators rent fully equipped booths in a professionally operated salon — operators at the Metropolitan Suite only pay for the time they use at the facility. Metropolitan Suite offers operators a way to make the money a salon owner or a long-term lease renter makes without the overhead or worry.

Since the operators book their clients at their own convenience and pay for only the time they are in the booth, there is no more wasting time waiting for walk-ins. The professional can pay by the hour, the day or by the week. Longer-term leases for salon space are available for those operators who have the clientele following needed to be successful.

The sleek, modern and impressively up-to-date “luxury beauty lounge” on N. Pershing Drive is welcoming and comfortable, offering everything an operator needs to perform full salon services to the public including unisex hair cuts color, hair texture alteration services and styling.

Other professionals that operate their business at the nonprofit Metropolitan Suite are skin specialist, make-up artists, nail technicians, full-body waxing techs and licensed massage therapists. It’s a full-service salon offering everything a day spa offers.

Kinite McCrae founder and Executive Director of the Reach Far Foundation, was wondering how opening a hair salon would fit into her organizations’ non-profit purpose and agenda. After much thought and endless hours of research, it was decided to make Metropolitan Suite a hub for creating scholarships for underprivileged youth living in the metropolitan area.

Each client visit to the salon and or when an operator reserves a station, they are not only benefiting themselves but they are participating in the support of others.

“We also rent rooms for people to teach classes, in techniques they specialize in,” says McCrae.

Those community-oriented entities intend to help young adults or those looking to change careers so they may have the opportunity to chase their dreams and or get through a post-secondary trade school, says McCrae.

Coming soon, the Metropolitan Trade Academy will offer courses  that lead to a license or instructor’s certificate in cosmetology, barbering or nails.

More information about Metropolitan Suite, located at 2300 N. Pershing Drive in Lyon Park, can be found hereThe phone number is 571-777-8878 and the email address is [email protected]New operators can apply at this site.

We’re real people, doing what we love. Providing beauty services and making a difference in the lives of others. Thanks to the Reach Far Foundation dba Metropolitan Suite.” — Nickie S., Salon Manager, Metropolitan Suite.

The preceding was a sponsored business profile written by Buzz McClain.


The Arlington Chamber of Commerce will launch its first ever live podcast series next Monday (July 17), recorded in front of an audience at 1776 in Crystal City.

The series is titled “Secrets to Success” and will host a different Arlington business titan, who will share their stories about the Arlington business world.

The first show will feature Pinkie Dent Mayfield, vice president for corporate affairs and special assistant to the chairman at education and media company Graham Holdings. ARLnow founder Scott Brodbeck will be the program’s moderator and will lead the discussion with Mayfield, who will share her business philosophy at the offices of startup incubator 1776 (2231 Crystal Drive #1000).

Those on hand for the event will be able to ask Mayfield questions during a Q&A segment. The event also features a networking portion and food served from Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

For those unable to attend, the podcast will later be published online.

The evening’s agenda is as follows:

  • 4-4:30 p.m.: Registration and open networking
  • 4:30-5:15 p.m.: Live recorded podcast
  • 5:15-5:30 p.m.: Q&A (not recorded)
  • 5:30-6 p.m.: Networking reception

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