Graham Center has officially closed after seven decades of hosting small, often immigrant-owned businesses.
The shop windows at the West Falls Church strip mall are now boarded up, and a chain-link fence covered with black windscreens surrounds the property, complete with “No trespassing” signs.
Within the next month, Graham Center and its faded, rusting white-and-red sign are slated to be demolished, making way for a new medical care facility from VHC Health.
“VHC Health has submitted a demolition permit to Fairfax County and is awaiting approval,” a VHC Health representative said by email. “Demolition is expected to begin in early September, wrapping up by the end of October, and then the transition to new construction will begin.”
Approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last October, the VHC Health facility will combine emergency room and urgent care services through a partnership with the Texas-based health care company Intuitive Health. Measuring nearly 25,000 square feet, including 10,250 square feet of medical office space, the center is expected to serve an estimated 19,500 people annually on a walk-in basis.
As part of the redevelopment, VHC Health agreed to make a number of improvements to the 2.4-acre site at the corner of Arlington Blvd (Route 50) and Graham Road, including the addition of internal crosswalks, sidewalks, a shared-use path in place of an existing service drive, landscaping, and a pedestrian refuge that extends the Graham Road median.
Businesses close, relocate
However, the project required the departure of the remaining businesses in the shopping center, which had stood since 1953 and largely catered to the nearby Asian and Hispanic communities.
Some of the businesses, including Elviz Styles Salon, Skyline Nail Supply, USA Mobiles and the restaurant Pupuseria Mana, were able to secure new locations in the area, according to Viet Place Collective, a volunteer organization that advocates for Vietnamese small businesses in Northern Virginia.
USA Mobiles and Elviz Styles both moved directly across the street, with the former going into the office building at 7202 Arlington Blvd, Suite 207, and the latter relocating to Phenix Salon Suites (7259 Arlington Blvd) in Graham Park Plaza on the south side of Route 50. Skyline Nail Supply is now in the Corner at Seven Corners shopping center (6280 Arlington Blvd), and Pupuseria Mana can now be found at 2828 Graham Road in the strip mall next to Super A Market.
Local dentist Dr. Hung Nguyen is now operating only out of an office in Arlington, and the Vietnamese restaurant Pho Golden Cow can still be found in Springfield, though the owner expressed interest in finding another location in the West Falls Church area, Viet Place Collective said this spring.
For some of the Graham Center’s oldest tenants, however, the May 15 deadline for them to vacate the premises was a permanent goodbye.
Carina’s Fashion shuttered on Jan. 1 after 18 years, Annandale Today reported.
Biên Hòa Oriental Supermarket’s closure in April was “a particularly profound loss to the Vietnamese community, as they were one of the largest and last-standing Vietnamese grocery stores in the area,” according to Viet Place Collective.
Modern Shoe Repair owner Garbis “Gary” Gocer decided to retire after running the shop for 47 years. Picking up the trade from his uncle, who was a shoe maker, he opened the business not long after immigrating to the U.S. in 1978.
“I will miss all my customers the most,” he said in a comment shared with FFXnow by Viet Place Collective. “My customers have come in and given me cards congratulating me for retiring. It is an early retirement … I wanted to work 2 or 3 more years. I am getting old, I need to keep my mind sharp.”
With Viet Place Collective’s support, the businesses were able to secure some concessions from VHC Health, including rent relief, an extension of the original March 31 deadline to leave the shopping center, full returns of their security deposits, and coverage of any junk removal expenses.
Gocer said through Viet Place Collective that the concessions, particularly the deadline extension, “helped me a lot,” giving him more time to sell off his inventory and supplies.
When announcing its success in April, Viet Place Collective expressed hope that its campaign to support the displaced Graham Center businesses sent a clear message to Fairfax County and future developers.
“If development happens, those who are displaced deserve to benefit from it, too. Immigrant-owned small businesses are not disposable, they’re an integral part of our community!” the organization said. “… We hope that Fairfax County will require tenant protections / benefits in all future developers’ proposals. And we’ll hold them accountable to it.”
The displacement of older small businesses by new development remains a concern, especially in the Falls Church and Annandale areas where Fairfax County’s immigrant communities have previously thrived.
A partial redevelopment of the Eastgate Shopping Center in Annandale for housing will force out several businesses, including the popular The Block food hall, Kimen Ramen & Izakaya, Chicken Pelicana and B-Thrifty. The Block is hosting “everything must go” pop-ups today (Tuesday) and on Aug. 26 before it closes for good at the end of the month.
Pelicana will close this coming Sunday (Aug. 24), leaving the Korean fried chicken chain with just one location in the D.C. region. A new Fairfax County spot could join the new Luna Hall in Tysons in the coming months.
