News

Two months after closing due to staffing issues, the Dollar Tree at 3811 Mount Vernon Avenue in Arlandria has reopened.

The store reopened to the public on June 30. A lone staffer told ALXnow that several employees have been hired to keep it up and running.


News

Be ready for some wet weather, because the National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch for Alexandria and the surrounding area from 1 to 11 p.m.

At 1 p.m., the weather service also issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch that is in effect until 9 p.m. The NWS stated that flash flooding, caused by excessive rainfall, is possible.


Sponsored

Among the movers serving Alexandria, VA, 495 Movers stands out for a simple reason: its local hourly rate includes packing materials, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and protection for floors, walls, and elevators. The company has been in business since 2009 and has completed more than 20,000 moves, a number that keeps climbing.

Anyone who has hired movers in the DC area knows the familiar pattern. A low hourly rate wins the call. Then the invoice arrives with a charge for boxes, a charge for taking the bed apart, a fee for the stairs, and another for the elevator. By the end, the number on the bill has little to do with the number in the ad. 495 Movers was built to avoid that.

495 Movers at a glance

  • In business since: 2009 (17 years)
  • Moves completed: more than 20,000, local and long-distance
  • Licensed in: Virginia
  • Serves: Alexandria and the rest of the DMV
  • Local hourly rate includes: packing materials, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and home protection on every move
  • No separate fees for: stairs or elevators
  • Also offers: junk removal, custom crating, and self-storage
  • Reputation: 4.7 stars across nearly 1,000 Google reviews

Who is 495 Movers?

495 Movers is a full-service moving company serving Alexandria and the rest of the DMV, founded in 2009 by people who had worked as movers for several other companies first. They wanted to do it differently.

“We wanted to take a different approach, offering a simple, honest, and transparent approach for the customer,” said Moti Kachlon, co-owner at 495 Movers. For local moves, that meant building the most common extras into the hourly rate. Seventeen years and more than 20,000 moves later, the company is still growing.

What makes moving in Alexandria different?

Alexandria is a hard place to move. A truck on an Old Town block gets watched by neighbors, property managers, and a family wondering whether the sofa will make the turn on a staircase built long before sofas got this big.

Old Town’s rowhouses have narrow staircases and tight turns, which is why large furniture often has to come apart to get out. Del Ray’s bungalows and rowhouses have basements that hold more than anyone remembers. And condo and apartment buildings in Carlyle, Potomac Yard, and the West End often require movers to carry a certificate of insurance and book the elevator, with building managers who care a great deal about scuffed hallways. The street adds its own complications, from cobblestones to limited curb space.

That’s the context for how 495 Movers prices its work.

What does 495 Movers include in its hourly rate?

For local moves, the rate covers four things that many movers bill separately:

  • Packing materials. Boxes, tape, paper, and wrap are provided at no additional cost, whether a move needs a few or a few hundred.
  • Furniture disassembly and reassembly. Beds, tables, desks, sectionals, and wardrobes are taken apart, moved, and put back together at the new home. In an Old Town rowhouse, that’s often the only way a dresser gets down the stairs.

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News

ALIVE!, Alexandria’s largest organization preventing food and housing insecurity, has announced new leadership for its executive committee as the organization enters fiscal year 2026.

The nonprofit, founded in 1969, serves approximately 20,000 individuals each month by providing food, transitional shelter, financial assistance, eviction prevention, and furniture and household essentials. Carlton Willis, a fifth-generation member of Alfred Street Baptist Church, where he serves as a deacon, has been elected as the new board president, following his previous service as vice president.


News

Good morning, Alexandria! Today is Tuesday, July 1, the 182nd day of 2024. There are 183 days left in the year.

⛈️ Today’s weather: Showers and thunderstorms are likely, mainly after 4 p.m. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Increasing clouds, with a high near 91 degrees. Heat index values as high as 102 degrees. Southwest wind 6 to 9 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. The chance of precipitation is 60%—new rainfall amounts between a half and three-quarters of an inch are possible.


Event

Northern Virginia Fairfax Families for Safe Streets (NoVA FSS) cordially invites you to attend and support our upcoming World Day of Remembrance (WDoR) for Road Traffic Victims.

World Day of Remembrance is an annual event where we honor those whose lives were prematurely ended after being struck by a person driving. This year is particularly painful and sad as we think about the recent death of a 13-year-old Frost middle school student who was struck and killed by a person driving a truck on Pickett Road. We will also honor the nearly 30 other people (as of today’s date) who have been killed on Northern Virginia streets while, walking, biking, or rolling since last year’s day of remembrance.


News

A 42-year-old man suspected of stabbing his son in the arm and then himself, in fact was not stabbed and died from a gunshot wound to his chest, according to dispatch reports and the Alexandria Police Department.

APD said that Daniel Foster was pronounced dead at the hospital after allegedly stabbing his 21-year-old son in the arm with a pocket knife in a West End apartment on Sunday evening (June 29) in the 6000 block of Edsall Road. Foster was found with what were believed to be knife wounds to his chest, but, in fact, he was fatally wounded by a gunshot.


News

Alexandria will soon embark on a two-and-a-half-year-long sewer separation project to reduce flooding in the city’s Westover neighborhood.

The city says that the sanitary sewer network in Westover, including parts of Bashford Avenue, Powhatan Street, Second Street, Colonial Avenue and Vernon Street, can’t handle intense storms. On Thursday, July 10, the city will host a design information meeting on their solution — the $2.6 million Colonial Avenue Sanitary Sewer Separation Project.


News

The City of Alexandria is under a flood watch until 11 p.m. tonight, as the National Weather Service warns of potential flooding from excessive rainfall across the Washington metropolitan area.

The flood watch, issued at 3:07 p.m. on Monday by the NWS Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC office, covers Alexandria, along with Arlington, Falls Church, and other parts of northern Virginia. The alert remains in effect until 11 p.m. EDT this evening.


News

Alexandria’s plan for the development of its West End just won a top award from the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA).

After years of discussion, the City Council adopted the AlexWest Small Area Plan last December. With the massive WestEnd mixed use development working to unveil several new buildings, and Inova at Landmark poised to open in 2028, the plan recommends significant expansion of Dora Kelley Nature Park, a new public park adjacent to the Winkler Botanical Preserve, and a new park at the corner of Seminary Road and N. Beauregard Street.


News

The guest conductor of Alexandria’s upcoming birthday celebration on the waterfront has been announced.

John Devlin, music director of the Lancaster Festival Orchestra in Ohio, will take the baton and lead the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra through its program on Saturday night, July 12. The concert includes Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture during the dazzling fireworks, as well as live cannons from the U.S. Army Presidential Salute Battery.