Merchant Leaving Reston Town Center, Blames Paid Parking: Report

RESTON, VA -- A long-time tenant of Reston Town Center is closing its doors, and they're blaming paid parking for their decision, according to a report.

RestonNow reports that Appalachian Spring, which opened in 1990 and makes handcrafted gifts and jewelry at 1187 Market Street, will close due to lower customer traffic that the store believes is due to the introduction of paid parking last January. You can read RestonNow's full interview here.

RTC manager Boston Properties ended free parking last January and instituted a paid parking system called ParkRTC. The decision was met with significant protests from locals who vowed never to shop there again as long as paid parking was in effect. Boston Properties scaled back paid parking hours to just weekdays during business hours, but told Patch they had no plans to make any changes beyond that.

Many RTC merchants organized in an attempt to block paid parking, and several have said they are struggling and may even leave as a result. However, Boston Properties says they haven't seen a mass exodus of merchants, and that vacancies are about normal.

Image: Patch staff