(Updated at 4/2/24) Build-A-Bear Workshop is seeking a permit from Fairfax County to renovate a space at Springfield Town Center.

Earlier this month, the Missouri-based toy retailer submitted a permit application for “interior alterations” at an undisclosed space inside the mall. The cost of the renovations total more than $50,000, according to county records.

During a walkthrough of Springfield Town Center, FFXnow noted only one vacant in-line space, formerly occupied by Savi Salon.

A spokesperson for the mall did not confirm whether Build-A-Bear planned to lease the former salon space. However, they noted the toy company would be a “great addition.”

“At the same time, we look forward to sharing the news on who will fill the former salon space when it’s available,” they said.

Build-A-Bear did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The company currently has one location in Fairfax County — an outlet in Fair Oaks Mall. It can also be found at Westfield Montgomery in Bethesda, Maryland.

Established in 1997, Build-A-Bear is best known for its stuffed animal customization services, but it also sells ready-made toys, clothes, school supplies and other accessories.

A Connecticut-based Japanese grocer will bring a brand-new concept to Tysons by the end of this year.

Marufuji Japanese Market is expected to open in December near the Spring Hill Metro station at Tysons 3 Center (8520 Leesburg Pike), taking over a space vacated in 2019 by the furniture store Ethan Allen, property owner Rappaport announced today.

The 18,444-square-foot store will be the largest one yet for the Fuji Mart Group, a grocer with headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, that currently operates eight Maruichi Japanese Food & Deli and Maruichi Select locations in New England.

“We are very excited to have Marufuji at Tysons 3 for their first location in the greater D.C. area,” Rappaport Leasing Representative Zach Elcano said in a press release. “With their specialized Japanese groceries, they provide a truly unique shopping experience, and their food hall component will bring a much-needed boost to the [quick-service restaurant] scene of the eastern portion of Tysons.”

Founded in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1991, Fuji Mart describes itself as a “company for foodies, by foodies” that aims to give customers “the best Japanese gourmet discoveries, Japanese cuisine and unique experiences.”

Since an ownership change in 2013, the company has opened grocery stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Maruichi’s first Rhode Island location is set to open this spring, according to its website.

Marufuji in Tysons will build on those existing stores with “an extensive selection of Japanese groceries, including fresh produce, specialty snacks, and an array of pantry staples,” according to the press release. The store will also feature a delicatessen with freshly prepared items.

“We’re excited to bring the best of all of our store concepts to Tysons Corner,” the Fuji Mart Group said in a statement. “Look forward to world-class sashimi, Japanese and American Wagyu beef, select items that aren’t available anywhere else in the U.S., and so much more. We’re proud to bring the best of Japan and America to the grocery baskets of Tysons.”

Located at the southeast corner of Route 7 and Spring Hill Road, Tysons 3 Center is now fully leased with Marufuji joining The Tile Shop, a Starbucks and an Exxon gas station.

The retail and restaurant mix in Dulles International Airport is getting a shake-up.

At a board of directors meeting today (Wednesday), the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority unveiled more than a dozen new concessions planned at Dulles and Reagan National Airport.

“Having a mix of local and national brands at our airports represents added value for passengers,” said Jaimini Erskine, Airports Authority vice president for marketing and concessions. “We continue to seek out new brands that showcase the Washington region experience.”

Though it’s not mentioned in MWAA’s announcement, the incoming eateries include the smoothie bowl and juice shop South Block, which is expected to open in Dulles Airport’s Concourse D, founder and CEO Amir Mostafavi confirmed to FFXnow.

South Block’s plan for an airport location was first reported by The Burn.

Mostafavi says the shop is on track to open in the late summer or early fall, becoming the company’s 18th location in the D.C. area. The business has other locations slated for Chantilly and West Springfield.

Dulles also has several new retail shops on the horizon, MWAA announced:

• Plum Market — Market with all natural, organic, local, and specialty items.
• Brighton –– Handcrafted accessories, jewelry, and leather goods designed by talented artists and artisans.
• The Goods @ IAD — Store combines an array of travel essentials and check-out with convenience of technology.
• IAD Express — Last-minute travel essentials.
• Capital Supply Co. — One-stop-shop travel essential needs.
• Starbucks — New location of the national coffeehouse chain.
• Washington Essentials (Pre-Security) — An array of necessities for travelers on the go.
• Relay — Travel essentials featuring gourmet snacks, health and beauty, gifts, books and apparel.

According to MWAA, these concessions will join recently opened newcomers to Dulles, including the bookstore Ink by Hudson, the health food restaurant Freshii, Potbelly, a Hudson news and gifts shop, Brookstone, and Market 1962, a grab-and-go market named after the year that the airport opened.

Some previously announced retailers, including Union Kitchen and Rappahannock Oyster Company, are also still in the works.

Over in Arlington, Reagan National Airport is set to get a new Lego store. The store will “showcase Lego activity sets, bricks and licensed gifts,” the Washington Business Journal reported earlier this week.

The smaller airport is also adding a Starbucks, the restaurants Mi Vida and Nalley Fresh, a location of the D.C.-based bookstore Solid State Books and others.

Work on all of the newly announced concessions will begin this year.

“These food, beverage and retail brands represent the latest awards of a multi-year program to redevelop more than 80 concessions at both airports,” MWAA said in a news release.

Construction is underway at Springfield Plaza on a new Container Store.

Last year, the retailer specializing in storage and organization solutions signed a lease for a roughly 15,000-square-foot space in the shopping center at 7206 Old Keene Mill Road, according to the Washington Business Journal, which said the business anticipated a summer 2024 opening.

During a recent visit, FFXnow observed that former retail spaces have been gutted, and construction appears to be in its initial phase.

Rappaport, the property owner, declined to comment on whether the project is on track.

The Container Store is known for its kitchen and pantry organization products, closet storage systems, shelving, office supplies, and travel accessories. The business didn’t respond to inquiries about its opening schedule before publication.

This new outpost adds to the company’s more than 200 locations nationwide, including two in Fairfax County (Reston and Tysons) and one in Arlington. It will join a nearly 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods that opened at the shopping center last October, replacing the former Giant.

The architecture consulting firm that helped design Capital One Center’s baseball stadium now has a base of its own in Tysons.

Little Diversified Architectural Consulting moved into a new office in Pinnacle Towers (1753 Pinnacle Drive) at the end of February, a spokesperson for the national company announced on Feb. 29.

Located in Suite 1100, the 7,500-square-foot space is hosting the firm’s 37 D.C.-area workers, who were previously split between offices in Arlington and Sterling.

“This move marks a significant milestone, allowing our growing team to collaborate more closely, innovate together, and better serve our clients,” Little marketing and business development manager Lillian Parker said.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, where it was founded in 1964, Little now has more than 400 employees across five offices in the U.S., including ones in California, Florida and a second North Carolina location in Durham.

The company’s D.C. area office was located at 4245 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, but then, it acquired the Sterling-based firm Hughes Group Architects in May 2023. The new Tysons office is roughly 500 square feet smaller than the Arlington space, according to Parker.

Little provides architecture, site design, planning, marketing and engineering services. Its projects in Fairfax County have included Capital One Park, which kicked off its second season last month, and Herndon High School, according to its website.

Little’s arrival comes at an uncertain time for the office market in Tysons. A market study released last year by the Tysons Community Alliance found that foot traffic remained below pre-pandemic levels, and vacancy rates had climbed to 20% in 2023.

In mid-February, one of the area’s most prominent tenants, the media publisher Gannett, moved out of its longtime headquarters at Valo Park, announcing that it will relocate its corporate base to New York City while maintaining a D.C. news bureau for USA Today.

Though not in Tysons, another design firm — Land Design Consultants — announced last fall that it would open a second Northern Virginia office in Dunn Loring. About 20 employees were expected to move into the 4,000-square-foot space this past January.

River-Sea Chocolate Factory is making progress on its plans to open a production facility in Reston.

The company, which has a retail store and hot chocolate cafe in Chantilly, is seeking to add a location near Reston Station at 11495 Sunset Hills Road, according to county permits.

While River-Sea co-founder Krissee D’Aguiar didn’t indicate exactly when the factory will open this year, she noted that Reston is officially home for her and her business.

“I grew up in Reston and we live in Reston, love Reston,” D’Aguiar wrote in a statement. “Also, as D.C.’s Bean-to-Bar chocolate maker, we wanted to be closer to Metro to be more accessible to customers and visitors in the D.C. area.”

Krissee and Mariano D’Aguiar started making chocolate in 2017 after visiting family in northern Brazil, where they saw the potential of using food to act as a “connecting bridge” between their life in D.C. and Brazil, according to the company’s website.

River-Sea has said that it will maintain its retail shop and cafe at 4520 Daly Drive, Suite 100, in Chantilly after the Reston site opens.

A new home design and furnishings store has taken up residence in the standalone building that once housed Crate & Barrel’s Tysons location.

Patrick’s Elegant Living opened at 1800 International Drive in late February — a couple of days ahead of a planned soft opening on Friday, March 1, the Washington Business Journal reported.

Set for a grand opening on March 14, Patrick’s new flagship spans 45,000 square feet, dwarfing all of its previous locations, including one still operating at The Wharf in D.C., according to co-owner Troy Englert. The build-out took about a year and “turned out even better than” expected, he says.

“It turned out to be just fantastic,” Englert told FFXnow. “[We were] having a great time putting it together with the vendors, and the store’s just beautiful.”

Crate & Barrel constructed the two-story, free-standing building in 2000 and remained there until March 2022, when it relocated nearby to the recently renovated Tysons Galleria. The furniture and decor retailer is now paired at the mall with its sister brand CB2.

Coincidentally, Patrick’s made the same journey in reverse, moving to the vacated retail building after its 800-square-foot shop on the third floor of Tysons Galleria closed in December.

“We had a great time at Galleria, but we were on the third floor, and not everybody knew we were there,” Englert said.

As the Tysons Galleria lease neared its end date, Englert and co-owner Patrick Dempsey got into contact with Macerich, the real estate developer that owns Tysons Corner Center. Though they considered relocating there, the pair decided a mall wouldn’t be the right fit, so Macerich suggested the former Crate & Barrel building, which it also owns.

Englert says the new space is the first one big enough for Patrick’s to show off all its wares, from indoor and outdoor furniture to kitchen accessories, toiletries, candles and even some jewelry.

The company started in 2007 as Patrick’s Fine Linens, opening a roughly 9,500-square-foot store in Old Town Alexandria. When that location suffered from water damage in 2018, the team began looking for a larger space “to show our design capabilities,” but the right space didn’t materialize, according to Englert.

Instead, Patrick’s opened the stores at The Wharf and Tysons Galleria, along with a now-closed, 2,000-square-foot location in Chevy Chase.

“[The Old Town store] was a good size, but it didn’t showcase everything we did,” Englert said. “Now, with this, we have vanities for bathrooms, we have a full kitchen installation upstairs, because we do the interior design of an entire house. In fact, we work with people to even build their house.”

According to the WBJ, the store also has space set aside for Bored Rebel, a graphic T-shirt start-up whose products will be featured in swag bags for this year’s Oscar-nominated actors and directors.

Patrick’s Elegant Living will soon roll out a red carpet of its own for home decor designer Michael Aram, who will appear for a meet-and-greet on March 18 after the official grand opening.

More than anything else, though, Patrick’s values customer service, Englert says, noting that the team works with patrons throughout the home remodeling or furnishing process.

“We started out really small…and now, we have everything, and it’s only because of our customers,” he said. “One hundred percent, our customers have believed in us from day one, and we just want to thank our customers for giving us this great opportunity.”

Patrick’s is currently open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, except for Sundays, when it operates from noon to 6 p.m.

A mental health facility has opened its doors in Reston, promising to help both clients and new and training therapists.

Columbia Associates — which operates a network of outpatient mental health clinics throughout the D.C. area — is now operating at 12007 Sunrise Valley Drive.

A grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony is slated for 10:30 a.m. on March 20. Rep. Gerry Connolly is expected to attend.

“The Reston Clinic provides comprehensive, individualized care using evidence-based practices that respect privacy, confidentiality, and autonomy,” Columbia Associates said in a media advisory. “Services include therapy, psychiatry, [transcranial magnetic stimulation] therapy, and Spravato.”

The Arlington-based company now operates seven outpatient mental health care clinics in Northern Virginia and Maryland. An eighth clinic planned at 10721 Main Street, Suite 2400, in Fairfax City is expected to open on Aug. 1, according to Columbia Associates’ website.

In addition to mental health counseling and therapy, Columbia Associates provides training to support new therapists, helping them gain the supervision and clinical hours needed to become independently licensed. The company also offers telehealth services and accepts most insurance plans, including Medicaid, Medicare and Tricare.

Professional pickleball players, local officials and community members are expected to turn out in abundance for the upcoming grand opening of Down the Line Sports Center in Fairfax City.

After a soft opening in early February, the indoor pickleball facility at Courthouse Plaza (10390 Willard Way) will officially introduce itself to the city tomorrow (Thursday). The event will kick off at 5 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting, followed by a meet-and-greet with six pro athletes visiting from around the country.

Those players — Rafa Hewett, Connor Garnett, Dylan Frazier, Pablo Tellez, Lea Jansen and Etta Wright — have also been enlisted for an evening of exhibition games that will start at 7 p.m. The $50 tickets for the exhibition include food and drinks at Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company, which is next door to Down the Line.

As of this morning (Wednesday), fewer than 20 tickets were left, according to Down the Line owner Jenni Bae.

“We’re really excited about our grand opening tomorrow,” Bae told FFXnow. “…Having six Major League Pickleball players here at one time to do an exhibition is a really big deal and something really special that we wanted to bring to the community, so we’re hoping that they enjoy it, and these are the kinds of things that…we want to bring to this area moving forward.”

Located in a former CVS, Down the Line Fairfax features three full-sized pickleball courts, one half-sized court and a short practice court, along with a players’ lounge and mini pro shop. Each of the full courts has a scoreboard that can be updated live, and courtside TVs will soon allow players to watch instant replays.

Bae says the soft opening has gone “really well,” describing the center’s members as already feeling like family.

Down the Line’s memberships cost $45 per month and come with discounts on private court and open play fees, a two-week window for booking private courts in advance and other perks.

“We’ve already built a community here. People have been really welcoming and excited to have this extra space as an option to play pickleball, so we felt very welcome,” Bae said.

Support for Down the Line has also come from local leaders. The facility won the Fairfax City Council’s approval in December, and construction costs were partially covered by a Façade and Interior Improvement Grant from Fairfax City Economic Development (FCED).

Being able to form those relationships, including the FCED, in advance resulted in a “very, very smooth” build-out, according to Bae, who’s excited that Mayor Catherine Read, FCED President and CEO Christopher Bruno and other city officials will participate in tomorrow’s ribbon-cutting.

“I am blown away by the unwavering commitment and dedication shown by Jenni Bae and her family to reach this milestone,” Bruno said. “Their vision and determination are commendable, and I am thrilled that Fairfax City will now reap the benefits with the unveiling of this newly activated destination for all of Northern Virginia.”

Down the Line’s arrival in Fairfax is a prelude to plans for a second, even larger facility in Annandale.

Replacing the vacant Kid’s Choice Sports Center at 4311 Ravensworth Road, the 50,000-square-foot center will feature 18 full-sized indoor courts, six golf simulators, a sports bar with food and drinks, and a pickleball and golf shop.

Bae’s team hopes to open the Annandale location around the end of 2024 or early 2025. Members of the Fairfax center will get priority access to a membership in Annandale, along with other benefits, though the details are still being worked out.

Bae says her goal is to ensure all members and customers have a “high-quality experience” at Down the Line, whether they visit the Fairfax center or the future one in Annandale.

“We’re excited to see more people come in, experience our center and the different things we have to offer,” she said. “…Everyone who comes in here, the first thing they notice is the atmosphere and the vibe here is very welcoming, makes you feel very at ease and at home, and that’s exactly what I wanted to provide for the people that come in here.”

(Updated at 2:30 a.m. on 2/22/2024) A Pakistani fashion company will soon leave its first footprint in the U.S. with the unveiling of a new Tysons store.

Khaadi is set to launch a 5,500-square-foot “Experience Store” at Tysons Corner Center this Saturday, Feb. 24, a company spokesperson confirmed to FFXnow. The retail outlet will be located on the mall’s second floor near Barnes & Noble.

This will be Khaadi’s first physical location in the U.S., but it has already expanded outside of its home in Pakistan to the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates, totaling 50 stores worldwide.

“Khaadi sees the US market as the next crucial step in its global expansion journey,” Khaadi spokesperson Tinath Saeed Fahd said. “The United States, with its vast retail landscape, presents abundant opportunities for brands offering unique and diverse products and Khaadi is prepared to embrace these opportunities.”

Tysons Corner Center was chosen as the site for Khaadi’s U.S. introduction because of its status as “Virginia’s premier shopping destination,” Saeed Fahd added.

“[It] highlights Khaadi’s ambition to expand its international presence and build connections with a wider audience that extend beyond shopping,” she said.

Here’s more from the company on its background:

Founded in 1998 by Shamoon Sultan, Khaadi is a leading retail brand which has experienced unprecedented growth from a single store selling hand-woven fabric to 50 stores spanning the globe from Pakistan to UAE, UK and now US.

Khaadi’s commitment to innovation and pushing the boundaries of fashion, means it’s always looking for ways to evolve designs. The brand’s designs are known for their vibrant colors, intricate craftsmanship and connection to Pakistani and Eastern culture and heritage. Khaadi’s aesthetic is a mix of traditional and modern elements, which help create a unique and contemporary feel, catering to a wider audience globally.

With the Muslim community as a primary audience, Khaadi sells both fabrics and ready-to-wear clothes, including kurtas, shawls, pants, shirts, skirts, jumpsuits, and other formal and casual items.

The Tysons store was “carefully” designed to celebrate “creativity, style and individuality,” according to Saeed Fahd.

“The modern, minimal space hosts a curated collection of everyday versatile ready-to-wear assortments along with accessories for an effortless style solution,” she said.

(Correction: This story previously said Khaadi will offer gift-wrapping options. A spokesperson says that won’t be available at the Tysons store.)

After making its introduction in Tysons, Khaadi plans to continue expanding in the U.S. with stores anticipated in Texas and New Jersey in the next two years.

Khaadi will continue a fashion-focused year for Tysons Corner Center, which welcomed Rothy’s last month and is set to add Primark and Mango.

The mall has also lured the restaurants Maggiano’s Little Italy and the Cheesecake Factory away from their longtime homes in Tysons Galleria. The chains are expected to move this summer and in the fourth quarter of 2024, respectively.