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Glory Days closed

Discussion in 'Area Restaurants, Dining and Food' started by Ellie, Nov 12, 2012.

  1. broken skull

    broken skull New Member

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    Saw the big sign over the old glory days for the Van Metre Sales Office.

    What an embarrassment. Might as well just bulldoze that entire site and turn it into a park, then maybe the residents can get some use out of it.

    I wonder how the sales pitch goes "Welcome to the Sales Office. This used to be a bar, but the people who live here are so picky that it closed. I mean it wasnt really good anyway and the guy who owns this plaza is sucking everyone dry. But hey its a great place to live"
     
  2. Tom_624

    Tom_624 New Member

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    Ugh.
    Worst. News. Ever.
    Van Metre and a tire shop. Useless.
     
  3. hberg

    hberg give me some of your tots

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    Starbucks pulled out, the two restaurants with outdoor seating gone. Replaced by a dentist, a doctor, VM Sales office, and soon to be tire store. No reason to walk to that shopping center. No reason to visit. Worst of the shopping centers in the area. Sad. Agree - worthless
     
  4. wahoogeek

    wahoogeek New Member

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    welcome to the reality of the Ashburn urban blight.
     
  5. rich351854

    rich351854 New Member

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    We got rubinos......
     
  6. redon1

    redon1 aka Aphioni

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    Saffron is amazing but the location won't do it any favors....
     
  7. GotTwins?

    GotTwins? New Member

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    Wow - a lot of venom on here. I will do my best not to take this personally since perhaps a few misinformed people do not speak for the entire community . . . but it's really hard. Please get your facts straight before hurling insults.

    As it was pointed out a while back, Van Metre is only using the Glory Days space temporarily as a sales office - probably for 90 days or so. We have been talking to numerous permanent replacements for Glory Days, both restaurants and non-restaurants. People assume that landlords can pick and choose who to put in their centers, but that is not the case in Ashburn. There are only a small handful of sit-down restaurants interested in opening in Ashburn. Everyone assumes that by living in the highest-median income county that retailers are dying to be here, but that is not the case. Trader Joe's was offered a rent-free deal in Ashburn, but turned it down. I know of at least one high-profile restaurant in Ashburn that will be closing this year, and I'm sure that more are coming. Sit-down restaurants in Ashburn do 80+% of their weekly sales on Friday and Saturday nights, which is not a sustainable business model. Prospective restaurants know this and are scared. No lunch crowd, kids with busy schedules, too much competition - we've heard all of the reasons.

    Broken Skull thinks we are sucking everyone dry. There have been 4 sit-down restaurants that have gone out of business at Broadlands Marketplace, all of which were losing money before they paid any rent. It wasn't the rent that caused them to close; it was lack of business. Clearly they all had their issues, and the location certainly didn't help, but the bottom line is that there are a lot of dynamics in Ashburn that make it difficult for a restaurant to survive. So if you were a landlord, would you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to put a restaurant in your center with little chance of it surviving? As much as we would love to have the sexiest center in the market, we prefer to have the most stable one. If we are lucky enough to land a credible restaurant, then we will jump on it. But so far, we have had very little restaurant interest.

    I'm sorry that some of you think that this center is an embarrassment. I live and shop here, so I am personally vested in the tenant mix as well. The Safeway center has many vacancies; we have one. Moorefield Village only has a couple of tenants; Goose Creek is nothing to get excited about. So we're the embarrasment? Seems like an asinine comment to make.

    Ty Hausch
    Van Metre Commercial
     
  8. 4thand26

    4thand26 New Member

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    Perhaps some of the ire directed at VanMetre comes from the fact that VanMetre saddled our community with Openband and is still taking a 15% kickback on the horrible service that we can not opt out of. Please don't take it personally, clearly you had nothing to do with that situation, but when an entire community is held hostage by a contract that VanMetre created, there is bound to be some harsh feelings toward your company.
     
  9. T8erman

    T8erman Well-Known Member

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    It is not the entire community, it is only Southern Walk portion (about 1/2).
     
  10. hberg

    hberg give me some of your tots

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    I don't really agree. Bonefish, Parallel, the Steakhouse, Fords's, Thai Bistro, 5 Guys, are all success stories. Look at the town center by Leesburg Wegmans. There are clearly success stories here were restaurants were able to open, offer great food, good service. American Flatbread was too $$ for pizza, Glory Days had poor service and Food. The walking residents obviously want something enticing to walk to or ride a bike to that's worth it. As for VM, they have done a lot of damage to their name in Southern Walk with OpenBand. It is what it is. Get a decent tenant in there that offers something other than what I can get at every strip mall in Ashburn. A tire store, a sub par restaurant? No thank you. When you post - expect honest feedback.
     
  11. Tom_624

    Tom_624 New Member

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    "Get a decent tenant in there that offers something other than what I can get at every strip mall in Ashburn. A tire store, a sub par restaurant? No thank you."

    Agreed.

    I can understand the plight of garnering top notch draws to your "stable market" location...but gathering a group that consists of a UPS store, orthodontist, karate spot, Dominos delivery etc etc will not bring anyone business. GT, you state that it wasn't rent that caused people to close, it was lack of business. Maybe if there was better business around, better business would flourish? Success begets success. If you had a long vision of success that leveraged the new condos across the street you might value the walk-in value of stores rather than any stability that small market retail may presently bring.
    Bottom line, I understand where you are coming from. But ultimately, people's sentiment that there is no reason to walk there is true. I walk all the time...I look for excuses to walk places...and I can't come up with any here. Instead of being defensive, tap into a great resource to get feedback. So far, feedback seems to point to a restaurant with good service, outdoor seating, beer selection and somewhere a family could go. I understand that you can't just snap your fingers and a Sweetwater or a Vintage or a Ford's drops in your lap...but if you are as impassioned as you say you are then don't take honest input in a negative way.
     
  12. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    I have no reason to eat or shop at any of these stores. McDonalds? Taco Bell? Karate? Dominos? Hello?!?!? Can we have better tenants? No reason for me to either drive or walk there. choice of tenants to me aint that exciting.

    To boot, I won't shop there ever because its an VM owned place. Because of OB, You guys get enough of my revenues...12% to be exact. Don't want any more of my $ filtering down to the greedy builder via the rent VM collects from each and every one of them.....

    BTW, whats up with the Broadlands' sign being unlit for many an evening? hard up for cash?
     
  13. T8erman

    T8erman Well-Known Member

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    That may be the HOA's resposibility.
     
  14. cobymom

    cobymom Sheila Ryan

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    I forgot that Saffron was there! I shop at the Harris Teeter, and Caring Hands is our vet, but when I drive down Wynridge, I don't see any signage that reminds me that these restaurants are there. I'm going to try Saffron out this week, it has great reviews on Yelp...
     
  15. beahmer

    beahmer Member

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    Not the HOA's doing. The sign is owned by the Commercial Association. It is shut down each winter to prevent the fountains from being damaged. It is my understanding the lights have to be turned off as well since the water is frozen at that's where they are.

    Saw the guys out working on it late last week so expect it will be up and running in the next week or so.
     
  16. LightningBuggs

    LightningBuggs Member

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    Was going to chime in on this topic, but this response said everything I wanted to say. Well done. May even be able to add one more possible success story to your list, the V. The beer festival they had Saturday looked to be a success. I had friends who were turned away due to overcrowding.

    As others have stated, a good restaurant will sustain, even in SW.
     
  17. lilpea

    lilpea Member

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    I’m not a fan of Saffron. IMHO: I think it’s over priced and under spiced (not authentic to North or South Indian flavors). Case in point Naan $3 vs $1-2, Lasse $5 vsc$3, Vindiloo $16 vs $12...Saffron is significantly more expensive than other local Indian eateries. We tried it once, but likely won’t go back. Sorry one and done for our family.
     
  18. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    I sometimes drive (from Ashburn Village) to that shopping center to go to the Harris Teeter. I would definitely go there for a good restaurant but admittedly that would mostly be at dinner time, although not necessarily just Friday and Saturday nights. It's a tough location for much lunchtime traffic since there isn't anything big over there.

    Don't underestimate the drawing power of a well run restaurant with good food - Ford's Fish Shack really draws a crowd, both at lunch and at dinner. The location is slightly better since it's on Waxpool and close to businesses. But prior to Ford's, that shopping center was a real business killer. Get a place that serves good chicken fried steak and my husband would try to be there 4 days a week. ;-)
     
  19. rich351854

    rich351854 New Member

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    Honestly...I hate to say it but that stinking hospital would have fixed all of this. Having a booming lunch crowd is the key - yes Fords Fish Shack has accomplished it but most do not.

    Yes a small restaurant could be a real success but so could a lot of things. I honestly believe that in the interim we should look for clean and nice shops that are stable. Another restaurant will just compete with Rubinos and Saffron.....
     
  20. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    Have to agree that its overpriced there...my wife said some of the items if not alot others, can be had for cheaper elsewhere. We haven't gone back as its too pricey for us. We tend to go to other places that are more reasonably priced....

     

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