Flashbacks:
The RNGC Caddyshackpocalypse
Bollards!
Who knew that a simple piece of lingerie hung in a store window would draw so much attention? The Action McNews Team rushed to Lake Anne Plaza to discuss the economic development issues involving differentiated retailing opportunities in a transitioning retail market. Oh, who are we kidding? They came to juxtapose images of naughty nighties with kids playing innocently in the nearby fountain. We smell a local Emmy!
Confidential Restonian Operatives tell us that there's some frantic behind-the-scenes scrambling to invalidate the lease for Maria’s Passion Paradise due to the way the property was subdivided or find some other loophole to keep the store from opening. Our BFFs at Patch managed to track down the store's owner, Tiana Coturro, who stresses that she's going for a tasteful retail experience.
"I want to have my own business and help people," Coturro said. "So I started thinking lingerie and candles, things that make you feel good. I originally thought about having workshops to help couples who are in committed relationships. I am not a licensed therapist or anything. This is more about entertainment, ways to get in a romantic mood."Call us old-fashioned, but we prefer flipping through musty used copies of Looking For Mr. Goodbar whilst noshing on something delectable from a cupcakery. Apparently the Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association and the Lake Anne Merchants Association agree:
Lake Anne Merchants' Association president Eve Thompson says for her, the issue isn't adult merchandise - it is the quality of the merchandise.We'll leave it to you, faithful "web log" readers, to envision what "quality" might look like in this context, the end.
"Our niche at Lake Anne has got to be 'small and boutique,' " says Eve Thompson. "We have to work hard at being excellent. Not everyone here is doing that. We are trying hard to bring quality merchants here and also to get the merchants we have here to adapt a level of quality."
In the Lake Anne context...
ReplyDeleteQuality = "Grosery"!
The mercato in the Lake Anne parking lot used to have a rental store, complete with beaded curtain separating the porno section. No one minded.
ReplyDeleteSo when MPP opens I going to buy candy pants, just to say to the bluenoses, "Eat my shorts."
I say let it open - it will be the most exciting thing to happen in Lake Anne in decades. This will draw people to Lake Anne. It looks more tastefull than Victoria's Secret.
ReplyDeleteTransparency in lingerie will be a nice change since there's so little transparency in our governing bodies around here. Can anyone navigate the FFCty website to find out how much money supervisors make annually? Seems like that should be easy to find...
ReplyDeleteAnd as for RA paid employees, I'd like to seem some sunshine in that area as well.
Okay, I know this is a story about soft porn at Lake Anne, but it's been done TO DEATH at Patch, so I'm trying to use the situation to leverage some answers about other, more serious issues that face us.
Let it open! Moms can buy something for the kiddo at Small Change and then something for the spouse at this establishment!
ReplyDeleteTwo comments. One the plaza looks great in the shots, and when they did the close up on the, um, whatever the little lacy thing was it was priced at $6.00, how nice could it be?
ReplyDeleteYou can't get lingerie from Wal Mart for that cheep.
"Lake Anne Merchants' Association president Eve Thompson says for her, the issue isn't adult merchandise - it is the quality of the merchandise."
ReplyDeleteNot a single store in the Plaza has fit that description in the entire 10+ years I've lived in Reston. Every store there sells low-quality dreck; books, clothes, and food that simply isn't worth buying. Is she going to void the lease of all the other lame, unprofitable little stores in the Plaza?
Hi All,
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to enter too far into this debate because there isn't going to be any way for Lake Anne to win from a perpective standpoint.
I do want to make it clear that I have no power to void anyone's lease. I would argue that we have several excellent shops, but understand that Lake Anne is not for everyone.
Thanks
Eve, kudos to you for responding at all. Agreed that this entire story is a no-win situation for Lake Anne. A pity that some people don't understand that LAVC shouldn't be a smaller, more concretey version of RTC's chain-store splendor.
ReplyDeletelake anne should be come the anti-towncenter. we need a space for the marginalized. LEt it open!
ReplyDelete"A pity that some people don't understand that LAVC shouldn't be a smaller, more concretey version of RTC's chain-store splendor."
ReplyDeleteInstead, it should be a concretey version of an ordinary shabby little strip mall that nobody visits and that can't sustain any profitable businesses! Like Tall Oaks, but with more cinderblocks!
quality = Certified Fair Trade Organic edible underwears
ReplyDeleteI heart concrete.
ReplyDeletealso this:
ReplyDelete"I originally thought about having workshops to help couples who are in committed relationships. I am not a licensed therapist or anything."
sounds kinda loopy.
I want to see Bob Simon walk over from his roost in Heron House to the little shop of drawers and buy something.
ReplyDeleteThen, surely, it must be good for Reston!