Get your snifters, tumblers and martini glasses ready, because the long-awaited opening of a Virginia ABC store on S. Washington Street in Old Town is happening on Wednesday.
Virginia ABC has been looking to open its eighth store in Alexandria for more than a year.
“Our teammates look forward to serving customers in Alexandria at this new location,” said Virginia ABC CEO Dale Farino in a statement. “As Virginia ABC celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, we are proud to serve all Virginians by generating revenues from new stores like this one that help make the commonwealth the best place to live, work and raise a family. Virginia ABC has returned more than $2.9 billion to the commonwealth in the last five years to fund essential services including education, public safety, transportation and infrastructure.”
Opponents of the 3,700-square-foot storefront at 825 S. Washington Street say that it will bring the wrong element to the neighborhood, and their Change.org petition against it garnered 340 signatures. Supporters of the store made their own Change.org petition, and raised more than 200 signatures.
The store is the former home to the Queen Bee Designs pop-up and is on the same block as Faccia Luna (823 S. Washington Street) and Southside 815 (815 S. Washington Street).
There are three ABC stores within two miles of the new location. The nearest ABC stores are at 501 Montgomery Street in Old Town North (1.4 miles away), at 3161 Duke Street (about 2.6 miles away), at 5940 Richmond Highway (about 1.4 miles away) in the Huntington area of Fairfax County, and at 1524 Belle View Boulevard in Fairfax County (about 2 miles away).
Vienna-based Rosenthal Properties manages leasing for the space, which is owned by Writ Limited Partnership.
