RTC PAID PARKING: Small Business, Paid Parking, A Baby and Some Bathwater

There is much talk and concern about paid parking in Reston Town Center. I’ve read and seen a number of news reports and articles, had friends who live in Reston call me or come in up-in-arms, and heard many people declare they’ll be boycotting the center during the week, and only come if they have to on the weekends, when parking is free. Well, I’m here to offer a perspective from one of the most longstanding small business retailers in the center.

My art gallery ArtInsights has been in Reston Town Center for as long as it’s been here. Before my business opened, there was a dirt floor in the space we designed in the lobby of Two Fountain Square.

Since then, there have been at least three owners, and we’ve been here, from the salad days of Mobil, and their delightful, money-tossing attitude, through various leaner times to the current company, Boston Properties. We’ve watched upwards of nine companies, both big and small, put locations across the hall from us and quickly close up shop. (We’re quite confident Davelle, who just moved 5 steps across the lobby from us, and has been in RTC even longer than we have, will do very well with their gorgeous new space). The Gap, Eddie Bauer, Express, Hold Everything, Bath and Body Works, and countless gift stores and art galleries have come and gone, becoming a distant memory.

There are also success stories, and having been open here for over 20 years, we like to think ArtInsights as one of them. Appalachian Springs, Davelle Clothiers, Potomac River Runners, and The Eyewear Gallery are all small businesses who have survived and thrived here, some for as long as the center has been here. It takes a keen business sense, great customer service, and products you can’t get anywhere else to stay in business and keep clients. Regardless of the secrets of success or failure locked inside the walls of these buildings, one thing is true here and everywhere. Retail is not for sissies.

Paid parking. I don’t think any retailers were thrilled with the news. Speaking for my company, just like all the loyal shoppers who had been coming to RTC for years, we saw it as a new revenue stream for Boston Properties, and not as a benefit for any of us. It wasn’t in any of our leases, obviously. It came as a bit of a surprise, even though we’d heard rumors for years. It also comes as shoppers are getting more and more used to things like flying drones delivering their online purchases, and during a time of political and economic uncertainty that, however temporary, does brick and mortar stores no favors. On the other hand, we have seen the influx of people using the garages and going to the metro first hand. We also can’t speak to Boston Property’s need for additional revenue. We can speak to the fact that since they’ve been running the center, the grounds have been beautifully updated, every single building has undergone extensive repair, and we have had consistent support from management on any number of issues. Through this transition, they have worked with us to find new programs that will bring new visitors into retail on the weekends. Because for people who keep saying they love Reston, there’s an awful lot of trash talking going on out there. Are declarations that starting September 12th you’ll avoid the center meant to do more than put a bunch of businesses under and lower property values?

Also, fortunately for our gallery, we can be flexible. We can ask our clients, many of whom travel from other parts of the region if they aren’t flying in from other parts of the country or world, to come on the weekends when they can. We can be open on Sundays, and stay later or have appointments on Saturdays outside regular hours. We can figure it out. We are very fortunate to be destination oriented. We haven’t ever been dependent on foot traffic, as we have clients all over the world…but of course, we will also be validating parking for our framing and art clients. If someone wants to come in during the week, we aren’t going to punish them, or make them pay for their convenience.

In that same spirit, i’d say to those who are going to “boycott” RTC, or “take their business elsewhere”, that we businesses have had nothing to do with the decision to charge for parking. We RTC small businesses represent a part of society committed to personal interaction, and are part of what makes this part of Northern Virginia unique. You may be able to go to another Banana Republic store, but you can’t get hand-fitted for a designer suit like you can at Davelle. You might be able to go to Michael’s for framing, but you won’t be getting the framer the White House, the Corcoran, and the Smithsonian use, as they do my partner and husband here at ArtInsights, nor will you find original art from Star Wars or famous Marvel or DC artists. The people at Potomac River Running Store remember names of their clients years after a purchase. Appalachian Spring has events with the most famous craftspeople in the US. (and on the weekends..).

Before you put the idea of ever coming to RTC to shop out of your mind, consider what small businesses mean to the larger retail landscape, and what those in Reston Town Center have done for the center over the 25 years it has existed. We have had to walk the line between small and big business. We are challenged to create inventive marketing to compete with box stores, exist with banking and tax laws that skew toward the Fortune 500 companies, and find a way to thrive in spite of decisions big businesses like Boston Properties must make to satisfy their shareholders or beancounters.

Restonians: You want to live in a community that has one of the most beautiful centers in Northern Virginia and is rated one of the best cities in the country. Top ratings don’t come cheap. Every once in a while, big companies are going to figure out how great it is, and move in.

In the larger scheme of things, If you want a world of color, diversity, and uniqueness, you have to support those committed to supplying it. Even if some of your favorite shops can’t afford to validate for their clients as we can, isn’t it worth $2.00?

For a list of the companies currently committed to some form of validation for their clients coming to Reston Town Center, GO HERE.