Giant Employee Arrested in Connection with Embezzlement — A 54-year-old employee at Giant in North Point Village Center was arrested on Dec. 12 on embezzlement charges. Police said that an internal investigation found that the suspect was reportedly taking merchandise from the store without paying. [Fairfax County Police Department]
Trains Run on Silver Line Extension — Test trains have been running on the Silver Line extension in Fairfax and Loudoun County. Officials announced that the project has reached substantial completion last month. [Inside NOVA]
Plastic Bag Tax to Begin — Beginning Jan. 1, residents will have to pay a five-cent plastic bag tax for disposable plastic bags, including grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores in the county. [Fairfax County Government]
The Glossary Nail Spa is opening a second location in Reston.
Owner Hollee Ho tells Reston Now that she plans to open a new salon in North Point Village Center in February 2022.
Ho, a Fairfax County resident, has operated more than 20 salons over the course of her career. She now owns five salons, excluding the future location in North Point Village Center.
The spa will be located at 1458 North Point Village Center, space formerly occupied by Ellada Studio, a beauty spa and studio. A sign permit was processed by the county in late August.
She hopes to “capture the clients of Reston and Great Falls by providing them a very spacious salon and easy parking.” The new location is roughly 3,200 square feet.
The Reston Town Center location opened in 2019. Ho says that location will remain open for the foreseeable future.
Several salons and studio have come and gone in the last few years at North Point Village Center, including Ellada Studio.
The sushi joint Matsutake Sushi is expected to fill the vacancy left two years ago by Boston Market in November.
Bb.q Chicken has officially arrived in Reston.
The Korean fried chicken eatery opened its doors at North Point Village Center on June 27, and its first week of business has been a success, according to franchise manager Sabina Cho.
Occupying a space previously filled by Jerry’s Subs, this is bb.q Chicken’s first franchise in Reston, but the chain has established more than 2,000 locations nationwide since coming to the U.S. in 2014.
A spokesperson told Reston Now in May that the company is working to expand its presence in Northern Virginia, which also includes restaurants in Centreville and Falls Church.
“It’s definitely a very good area,” Cho said of Reston.
Bb.q Chicken’s arrival was fortuitously timed as spreading COVID-19 vaccinations led Virginia to ease its public health restrictions last month, ushering in a gradual resurgence of in-person dining.
Because of its relatively small size, bb.q Chicken’s Reston location was actually designed to cater more to takeout customers, Cho says, but it has a few tables for patrons who would prefer a sit-down meal.
“We would love to have more dine-in customers,” she told Reston Now.
The menu includes about a dozen different flavors for the restaurant’s signature chicken wings, from the golden original version to soy garlic and a galbi flavor intended to evoke the Korean-style barbecued ribs. There are also other Korean dishes, such as kimchi fried rice, and various side dishes.
Other food-oriented tenants at North Point Village Center include Glory Days Grill, Gregorio’s Trattoria, and Finn Thai. The sushi joint Matsutake Sushi is expected to fill the vacancy left two years ago by Boston Market in November.
A new Korean fried chicken restaurant will open in North Point Village Center this summer.
Bbq Chicken at 1432 North Point Village Center in Reston is targeting a July 4 opening, a restaurant representative tells Reston Now. Build out is currently about 75% finished.
The location was previously a Jerry’s Subs that closed in September 2019.
The restaurant is part of a national franchise with close to 2,000 locations across the country, but this is the first one in the Reston/Herndon area. There is a location in Falls Church.
Several more locations of bbq Chicken are being planned for the area, including in Herndon and Ashburn, by the end of the year, the restaurant representative says.
The franchise specializes in Korean fried chicken with menu options for spicy, honey garlic, and more traditional Korean flavors like galbi (sweet with sesame seeds) and gang-jeong (cinnamon and spicy).
The bbq Chicken spokesperson says the company is expanding the number of locations in Northern Virginia, because Korean fried chicken has traveled well and can be easily prepared for pick-up and delivery.
They chose North Point Village as the restaurant’s introduction to Reston because the shopping center provides substantial parking with good access for delivery drivers.
The shopping center also will have a sushi restaurant opening in it in November of this year. Earlier this year, Christie-Adam Salon and Spa opened, replacing another hair salon.
North Point Village Center is owned by Lerner Retail, whose portfolio includes the to-be-redeveloped Spectrum at Reston Town Center.
North Point Village Center opened in 1993 and was the last of Reston’s five village centers to be built.
Photo via bb.q Chicken US/Instagram
(Updated at 10:15 a.m. on 5/25/2021) A new sushi restaurant is coming to Reston’s North Point Village Center later this year.
Matsutake Sushi is expected to open to customers in November, Matsutake National Inc. President Heesook Chun confirmed to Reston Now in an email.
Matsutake Sushi will be moving into 1492 North Point Village Center, which has been vacant for the past two years. The most recent tenant was a Boston Market that closed in 2019.
There are other Matsutake Sushi locations in the D.C. region, including one at Worldgate Centre in Herndon that closed, Washington Reagan National Airport in Arlington, and Frederick, Maryland.
Chun says he no longer owns most of them, except for the Arlington venue.
The menus at those restaurants include sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, hibachi, and tempura.
North Point Village Center is owned by Lerner Retail, whose wide area portfolio includes owning the Spectrum at Reston Town Center, which is still set to be redeveloped.
North Point Village Center has had several comings and goings over the last year.
Christie-Adam Salon and Spa replaced another hair salon earlier this year. GNC shuttered last summer. Also this time last year, a fire broke out on the shopping center’s roof and swastikas were found spray painted on the sidewalk. FCPD classified it as a hate or bias incident.
North Point Village Center is one of Reston’s five village centers and the last one built. It was opened in 1993.
Photo by Laura Crielly
A hair salon and spa is replacing a hair salon in North Point Village Center.
Christie-Adam Salon and Spa, which is currently located in Great Falls, plans to open a new location at 1410 North Point Village Center, on March 2, a business spokesperson tells Reston Now.
The space was formerly occupied by KLS Studios, a hair salon that has plans to shift its operation to Tysons earlier this year.
Christie-Adam first opened in 1999 in Great Falls. The full-service salon and spa offers skin treatments, massages, hair cuts, hair dye treatments, and nail services.
Another business in North Point Village Center has closed.
KLS Studios, a hair salon, that was founded in 2010 by two women, officially closed its doors to the public on Jan. 30.
According to the company’s website, the hair salon is currently operating from a temporary location and plans to reopen in the Tysons Corner area.
Appointments are being taken at a private location and can be scheduled by calling 571-313-0414.
The salon was located at 1410 North Point Village Center. No word yet on what will replace the business.
Photo via Laura Crielly
European Wax Center – a hair-removal salon – will be accepting its first clients tomorrow (Sept. 29) at 9 a.m. for its first day of operation in North Point Village Center.
The salon offers a range of waxing services including facial and body waxing such as eyebrow waxing, bikini, legs, arms, and more.
The hours of operation will be from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.
Manager Tippy Gibson said the spa will close an hour earlier after Day Light Savings (Nov. 1).
Gibson said her wax specialists are “excited and ready to go.”
Photos courtesy Tippy GibsonÂ
Restonians looking to grab a bite on Wednesday can get more bang for their buck by taking part in a fundraising event Chick-fil-A in North Point Village Center tonight (Wednesday).
The Dranesville Elementary PTA is sponsoring a Mobile Spirit Night. Customers who place an order between 4-8 p.m. through the restaurant’s app will direct a portion of the sale to the PTA.
The location at 1494 North Point Village Center is taking part in the event, which applies for all pick-up, drive-thru, delivery or curbside orders made through the app.
GNC plans to close its location at North Point Village Center after the company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early last week.
The vitamins and supplements retailer plans to close between 800 and 1,200 stores across the country.
A company representative told Reston Now the Reston location, which is located at 1456 North Point Drive, will likely shutter its doors within the next two weeks. An exact closing date has not yet been determined.
In a June 23 letter to its customers, the company stated that the COVID-19 pandemic “created a situation where we are unable to accomplish our refinancing and the abrupt change in the operating environment has had a negative impact on our business.”
Here’s more from the letter:
As a result, we felt the best opportunity for us to continue to improve our capital structure and address certain operational issues was to restructure through a Chapter 11 reorganization. This gives us the opportunity to improve our balance sheet while continuing to advance our business strategy, right-size our corporate store portfolio, and strengthen our brands to protect the long-term sustainability of our company.
Other Virginia locations are also closing, including the stores in Vienna, Sterling, Franklin and Charlottesville.
Photo by Laura Crielly
Fire investigators say that a fire at North Point Village Center last week was caused by a lightning strike.
The June 11 fire was contained to the former location of The Boston Market, which has been vacant since July.
No injuries were reported and no occupants were present during the incident. Fire and rescue crews responded to the scene after a delivery person noticed the flames from the roof at around 3 a.m. that day.
The incident resulted in nearly $75,000 in damages, according to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.
A fire also occurred on the roofline of the same building in August 2019.
Photos via Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department
A fire broke out in North Point Village Center around 3 a.m. today (Thursday).
Crews from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department quickly extinguished the fire, which was primarily isolated to the building’s roof.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. No injuries were reported.
Damages are estimated at $75,000.Â
The village center was also vandalized with swastikas and other graffiti last month.
Photos via Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department
This is an opinion column by Del. Ken Plum (D), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.
The outpouring of generosity in our community during the COVID-19 pandemic has been incredible. I continue to learn of people who have responded in remarkable ways to the needs that have been brought on by the quarantine or that have been recognized as a result of our having to stay home. The lack of face masks resulted in dozens of persons working alone or as part of groups to sew face masks and make them available to first responders, medical staff and others. Access to food has been a major concern, and numerous food pantries and distribution centers have been expanded or established to make food available to those in need. Food donations have come pouring in. For a list of places where you can respond to the food crisis, my website, kenplum.com, includes a Food Resources Directory. I am so pleased and honored to live in such a caring community.
Just as I am celebrating the goodness of our community, some misguided individual or individuals show up and for whatever their motivation decide to spray paint hate symbols on the sidewalks and buildings in one of our shopping centers. For whatever has happened in their lives to fill them with the hate they express, they are unable to exist in an open society that so many worked hard to establish. Graffiti with the worst of the hate words and symbols is bad enough, but in our state and throughout the country there are too many acts of bullying and violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks more than a thousand hate groups with 36 of them located in Virginia. That is why in the last session of the legislature I introduced a bill that the Governor has signed into law to strengthen our hate crime penalties.
I thank Rabbi Michael G. Holzman of the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation for his “Call for Courage” after the recent hate event in Reston for providing me a meaningful perspective: “The solution is to call these symbols what they are, marks of cowardice. While they claim to communicate hate and fear, they really belie the underlying weakness and loneliness of the perpetrator. We are all afraid, and courage is the ability to face a fear and carry on despite it. Cowards allow fear to drive their decisions and actions, undermining one’s duties and purpose.” (Full statement is at www.nvhcreston.org.)
I concur with Rabbi Holzman’s recommendation as to what we should do: “The moment calls for courage. We invite everyone to drown these cowardly messages with the message “Hate has No Home Here.” Write this on sidewalks, take photos, use the hashtag, and post it online. Let us show Reston, Herndon, Vienna, Northern Virginia, the Commonwealth and the Country that we go forward together.” And I would add, let us continue to show through our acts of generosity and support for our neighbors and those in need in this time of a pandemic that we are a caring and compassionate community. Hate has no place here! (Hate Has No Home Here yard signs available for purchase at hatehasnohome.org)
Financial hardship created COVID-19 has forced a local beauty spa and studio in North Point Village Center to shutter its doors.
Ellada Studio (1458 North Point Village Center) closed its doors after the owner struggled to pay $20,000 in monthly rent and other expenses. The owner told Reston Now that the business received no relief from its landlord despite promises of receiving a lower rate before the COVID-19 crisis.
In a May 15 letter to the tenant, Lerner Corp stated that the business’s “obligation to pay rent is unaffected by the current circumstances or any event of force majeure.”
“Then they changed their mind and demanded the difference and the dollars for the time [we were closed],” Aidana Ablyazova, the co-owner, told Reston Now. She partners with her mom, Nurgul, to run the business.
Although the U.S. Small Business Administration offered a $10,000 grant, that amount was nowhere near enough to cover half of the studio’s rent or payroll. The owner applied for other federal grants, but received nothing. The owner and employees will now move over to Taaj Beauty Lounge, a beauty salon in Tysons Corner.
“The business itself is dead,” Ablyazova said. “But my employees are coming with me and I’m going as an employee to now.”
She says it doesn’t make sense to rent or have a business during the public health crisis.
The mother-daughter duo first opened Ellada Studio at North Point Village Center in November 2016.
Hair Cuttery, which is located at 1434 North Point Village Center, also appears to have closed, according to a message posted on its storefront.
Photos by Laura Crielly
Swastikas were discovered in North Point Village Center today (Wednesday).
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, several swastikas were spray painted on the sidewalk and along the concrete of the shopping center.
The word “Lucifer” was also found on the wall of a building.  FCPD says the case — which was classified as a hate or bias incident — remains an active investigation
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn issued the following statement about the incident:
Acts of hate will not be tolerated. And vandalism and hate crimes are both criminal acts. Throughout this pandemic we have witnessed tremendous community spirit and goodness and I am confident that will continue. The Police Department is investigating and I encourage anyone with information related to this incident to call the Police non-emergency number at 703-691-2131.
A group of neighbors bought lunch for workers who cleaned the spray paint. A thank you sign was left on the building.
File photo
