Tall Oaks Close to Signing New Anchor Store? Keep Clapping, and Don't Hold Your Breath for a Grocery

After two international grocery stores have come and gone, the Tall Oaks stucco wasteland shopping center is allegedly on the verge of attracting a new anchor, officials say. But odds are that it won't be another grocery store.

Marty Flax, senior vice president of Renaud Consulting, the shopping center's property management group, says the space "will probably not be home to a supermarket" in the future. He said he is close to signing an anchor tenant for the Compare Foods spot.

"Supermarkets have not been able to make it there," Flax said. "It is still a viable shopping center in Reston. But the way the center is situated, it is hidden. It really is a neighborhood center."

Since Tall Oaks earned the dubious distinction of losing its Giant store in 2007, not to mention a 7-11 and a Burger King -- two franchises that can survive just about anywhere -- the future of the shopping center has been uncertain. After Giant closed, nearby residents started a postcard-writing campaign to get upscale Food Lion clone Bloom to move into the anchor spot, but the company declined.

The problem has a lot to do with the low-margin economics of the grocery business -- because the companies make their money by volume, the big chains want bigger stores -- at least the size of the Giant in North Point or the Safeway on Elden Street. In fact, Giant left Tall Oaks as part of a region-wide consolidation of its smaller stores. And sadly, not even the magnetism of Compare's Susie de los Santos was enough to draw people to the smaller, less well-known international markets that followed in its footsteps.

Tall Oaks now has a nearly empty parking lot and a big, empty space, causing some residents to wonder about Tall Oaks' future as the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force prepares to assess the village centers' role in Reston.

"The community [near Tall Oaks] really depends on it," says Ken Knueven, Reston Association board member representing Tall Oaks and Lake Anne. "Tall Oaks needs a proper anchor. People who live near there want the basics.

"Tall Oaks seems to be the center that gets the least amount of discussion," he said. "I don't think it is malicious. Lake Anne and Tall Oaks represent the oldest part of Reston. The demographics are there though. I still think Tall Oaks could support a Trader Joe's, a Magruders, [or] a Safeway."

While big retail has struggled, many smaller restaurants are doing just fine at Tall Oaks. Mama Wok is a popular Asian food spot, and upscale restaurant El Manantial is thriving. El Manantial is seeking RA Design Review Board approval to expand and add patio seating to its space.

In fact, El Manantial -- an officially endorsed Restonian favorite -- wants to create an outdoor seating area somewhat reminiscent of a Paris streetscape. The plans are actually very pretty looking, although we hope the view improves from a perpetually empty parking lot.

As the focus of the Reston Master Plan process shifts to the village centers, it's possible that Tall Oaks could ultimately be replaced by something newer and shinier. We just hope that people don't buy into the "hidden" mantra and replace what is essentially a conventional strip mall-style shopping center with a new conventional strip mall-style shopping center that happens to be oriented to Wiehle Avenue. You could argue that's what helped at Hunters Woods, but that was a bigger shift from a completely different model of retail center that made present-day Tall Oaks look positively bustling by comparison in the final years before it was demolished and converted into the present-day bland strip mall nirvana.

Thinking long-term, we'd personally prefer out-of-the-box thinking to more boxy retail. After all, Tall Oaks has awesome signage, perfect for the permanent future home of the Reston Opera House or maybe an awesome rollerdrome or something, the end.