Lake Anne Plaza's Newest Mid-Century Shop Exists Because a Permit Is Late

Next door to Lake Anne Brew House, the old Chesapeake Chocolates storefront now holds a black leather couch, wooden chairs and geometric room dividers. Everything is for sale, and you're welcome to sit on it. The shop is Vintage Reston, and it's open on weekends. It's also temporary, and how long it lasts depends on when a Fairfax County building permit comes through.

Most of what's new at Lake Anne Plaza this fall works the same way. The shops are small and owner-run, many sell older or secondhand things, and several of the reasons to visit have end dates in November. A plaza built in the 1960s as a modernist village center is having a good mid-century moment, and part of it is a stopgap that will close.

A showroom built out of a delay

In July 2025, Lake Anne Brew House announced it had leased the former Chesapeake Chocolates space to expand its taproom. As FFXnow reported in August, the expansion will double the seating at the bar. It will also let the brewery serve hard ciders and non-alcoholic beers and give more room to Nordic-Knot, the wholesale pretzel bakery owned by co-owner Melissa Romano.

The county permitting took longer than expected. Romano is an architect, and rather than leave the space empty she filled it with her own collection of mid-century furniture, lighting, glassware, barware and art, much of it restored by hand. Consigned pieces and some of her original artwork are mixed in. The lounge serves only zero-proof drinks: craft mocktails, throwback sodas and non-alcoholic beer.

Romano explained the idea in the shop's announcement, as quoted by FFXnow:

"I believe the history of a place should be reflected in its architecture, its furnishings and the objects we surround ourselves with."

The Vintage Reston page calls it a "temporary mid-century modern resale shop and zero-proof lounge." Posted hours are Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sundays 1 to 4 p.m., and you can book an appointment by email. Romano told FFXnow the expansion will be done once the county approves the final building permit for the combined space. She also said Vintage Reston and a planned community room called The Common Ground will stay part of the expanded Brew House "even after the walls come down."

So the collection is staying, but the standalone showroom, where you browse a furnished room next to the brewery, lasts only as long as the permit is pending. In mid-August, the most recent update we have, the expansion was still waiting on it. If you want to see it as a separate room, go soon.

The rest of the block also sells things with a past

Vintage Reston isn't an outlier on the plaza. Over the summer, a few hundred feet away on Washington Plaza North, another shop opened with nearly the same idea.

Kinship Wine + Wares at 1635B Washington Plaza North sells wine alongside retro barware, glassware and other vintage housewares. Owner Jennifer Monago is a certified sommelier who used to work in furniture retail. According to FFXnow's September coverage, the shop opened quietly over the July 4 weekend, treated the summer as a soft opening and held its grand opening on Sept. 19. The wine list leans toward small producers, sustainable vineyards and family-owned wineries. Hours are 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Monago told FFXnow her family loved the farmers market when they moved to Reston more than 10 years ago, and that "when a space became available, I jumped at the chance." She plans tastings, classes and partnerships with other Lake Anne businesses and the Reston Farmers Market.

Next door, Elden Street Tea Shop is at 1633A Washington Plaza North. A couple of doors down, Reston's Used Book Shop at 1623 Washington Plaza North buys and trades used books. Across the plaza, Reston Art Gallery and Studios, known as RAGS, is at 11400 Washington Plaza West. The Reston Community Center describes it as an artists' collective featuring artist-made jewelry, original prints and photography.

Put together, that's a short walk of shops with restored furniture, vintage glassware, used books and local art, all inside a modernist village center built in the 1960s.

November is when the calendar runs out

What makes the next few weeks different from a regular Saturday at Lake Anne is how many events are ending or happening only once. The farmers market is the biggest. Visit Fairfax lists the Lake Anne Reston Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon, from April 25 through Nov. 21, 2026. If this post reaches you Thursday, Oct. 29, there are four market Saturdays left. We haven't seen a winter schedule announced for Lake Anne.

The tea festival is the one to plan around. Elden Street Tea Shop is hosting the 4th Annual Northern Virginia Tea Festival on Nov. 7 and 8, with tickets sold through the shop. Day One is the VIP day, with a trip to a working Virginia tea farm, a tea meditation and sound bath, and a "Matcha Rave," which is an alcohol-free dance party with matcha drinks and vinyl. Day Two moves to Lake Anne Plaza for a marketplace of tea vendors and artisans and 15 classes and workshops. The Lake Anne Reston Condo Association is listed as a sponsor.

The Nov. 8 festival day falls on a Sunday, so it's not a market Saturday, but it is during Vintage Reston's Sunday hours and Kinship's Sunday hours. The Saturdays fit together even more easily. You can go from the market to Vintage Reston and then to Kinship without hitting a closed door, since all three are open at 10 a.m. Saturdays, and the market and Vintage Reston both close around midday.

For Jingle on the Lake, Public Art Reston's events page lists Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as a "Festival Art Activation." Check the details with the organizers closer to the date.

Up the hill, a longer wait is starting

The permit waits at the plaza are short next to the one just north of it. On Sept. 29, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to authorize a comprehensive plan amendment for the 16.5-acre Crescent Apartments property on Cameron Crescent Drive, between North Shore Drive and Baron Cameron Avenue. It raises the allowed nonresidential space from 2,000 to 30,000 square feet.

FFXnow reported that the change makes room for a larger Reston Community Center facility near the plaza. RCC currently runs a satellite location at 1609-A Washington Plaza, and its main building is farther south at Hunters Woods Plaza. Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn called the vote "a big step forward." He also said there's "still a lot of work to be done," that financing a new public space is an open question, and that the extra space could end up going to another use such as child care.

According to the same report, Alcorn hopes RCC can keep a presence directly on Lake Anne Plaza even if a bigger facility goes up nearby. He called a public-use space on the plaza "critical to the revitalization of Lake Anne." Next, the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority has to choose a development partner, and a site plan process with another round of community input follows after that. None of that will change the plaza this year. It does show that people are planning around what Lake Anne becomes over the next decade, while the shops on the plaza now are working on much shorter timelines.

One check before you walk the water's edge

On Oct. 14, Reston Association posted an advisory about small clumps of potentially harmful algae on Lake Anne. Boating can continue, but people should stay away from affected algae and water, and take extra care with pets. Look at RA's alert page before a dog walk along the plaza edge to see whether the advisory is still up.

Vintage Reston will run Saturdays 10 to 2 until the county finishes the permit, and the farmers market's last 2026 Saturday is Nov. 21.

If you're a Lake Anne owner wondering how the plaza's changes and the Crescent redevelopment could affect your street over the next few years, I'm glad to walk through what's public so far and what to watch as the process goes on. Brett Selestay | Let's Connect.