Bookstore opens in Mosaic District
A Barnes & Noble bookstore opened in the Mosaic District April 24.
Despite being much smaller than traditional Barnes & Noble stores, it has about 24,000 titles, a café with Starbucks products, and a children’s area with a Lego table.
The store, 2921 District Ave., Merrifield, has a focus on local authors and plans to host author events and book clubs.
Several events are planned for the next few days:
April 25, 5 p.m. – Ellen Crosby, author of Harvest of Secrets
April 26 – Olivia Hinebaugh, author of The Birds, the Bees and You and Me
April 27, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. – Face painting and balloon twisting for kids
April 27, noon – Kwame Alexander, author of The Crossover, winner of a Newbery Award and a Coretta Scott King Award
April 27, 4 p.m. – Eleanor Jones, Barb Goffman, and Libby Klein
April 28, 10 a.m. – Barbara Carrol Roberts, author of Nikki on the Line
April 28, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. – Face painting and balloon twisting for kids
April 28, 1 p.m. – Tiffany Foo, author of Ruby Foo and the Traveling Kitchen
Very cool. Glad this company remained in business, we like it a lot.
This is great news for Mosaic.
The blog refuses to post my concerns again that all of this new retail is hitting Mosaic and not Mason. This morning I drove by the big open field where the temporary fire station was on Columbia Pike and again there was a homeless man sitting on a folding chairs on the corner across from the fake 7 eleven. The field was covered with litter, the man on the folding chair looked pathetic and was surrounded by plastic bags of his earthly belonging. All I could think of was thank you Penny Gross. This is your Bailey's Crossroads revitalization: sad and pathetic. Building that homeless shelter high rise smack in the middle of what could have been a potential and vital commercial mixed use center is turning into a homeless mecca.
We need new to leadership to give Bailey's a boost and undo the mess that Gross continues to perpetuate. All of us need to stand up to her and say NO MORE!
The homeless shelter was supposed to go in Lincolnia area if you recall but people had “issues” because the homeless shelter was going to unleash biblical plagues or something.
I would blame Ms. Gross for problems in Mason but I just don't see it that way. It’s not nearly that simple. Perhaps she can take some blame, perhaps she could have shown more leadership to push various projects thru that are cancelled or delayed but it wasn't all up to her.
There has been plenty of opposition to projects, sears and spectrum for example, that it sets a bad precedent for developers. The other major issue I see is a lack of quality transit such as much better bus service or Metrorail (pipe dream, I know).
People want to jump all over Ms. Gross on this blog but there is much more that has gone into Mason ostensibly being left behind. I say this as someone who has never voted for her.
I agree with you on the overall NIMBY resistance to projects. However, Gross could have navigated through this muck better than she had. That is what she had sold her best skills on, and for that she has miserably failed. The County dealt with relocation of the homeless shelter poorly and thought they could get away with plopping it from the sky. They had plenty of time to think this through, an entire decade and they didn't. It was a failed coup and now we will all suffer with the disgraceful sacrifice of Bailey's as a homeless mecca. Bailey's Crossroads will be forever scarred by poor leadership and plain old stupidity.
It’s like, maybe 0.5 miles from Mason. Why does everything you ever want need to be in the same district? Mosaic is closer to me than half of Mason, to include baileys. What does it matter?
Because our choices in Mason are limited and out of balance with surrounding districts. For that same reason why do we need a homeless shelter high rise? This entire urban revitalization and the comprehensive plan has been one big scam to shut Mason's constituents up.
Adam, some day you will wake up and find your driveway full of shopping carts, a temple in the house on one side of you, a Korean fried chicken restaurant on the other side smoking you right out of the shower, and no place to park!
Well, I’ve lived here 12 years and I’ve noticed it’s only gotten better, and I don’t live in a particularly amazing neighborhood. So sorry that people like you literally shit on every post here – good or bad. Do us all a favor and move out already, I’d take two temples over cranky old people like you.
I've lived here 30 years and the change has been slow. We moved here because of the diversity of schools and the price of houses. I agree with Adam – things have gotten a lot better over time. Sometimes I have a messy, loud neighbor, and sometimes I have a quiet retired couple. Things change. I see walkers, busy stores, lots of options, parks, trails, and more to come, albeit slowly. This is not Fairfax of 30, 50, or 70 years ago. There are plenty of rich and poor people all around you. I am appalled about the endless hatred for infrastructure for the homeless – it happens in every jurisdiction, unfortunately. Where are the homeless to go? We have lots of apartment buildings because that was what developers wanted to out up back in the day. This is a market economy, and Supervisor Gross can only suggest, tweak, and strategize. She doesn't build. I thank the County for pushing for the redevelopment of Landmark Plaza, but Ms. Gross won't build there – the landowners will. Finally, Mosaic isn't just a nice place- it was a very large underdeveloped piece of land near a Metro, the Beltway, and several Commonwealth highways. It took a long time to come to fruition. But it is a national model, and that means it is not easy to replicate. Mason will probably always be a mostly residential area with small shopping centers, properties slowly increasing in value, with a handful of development opportunities. Based on the hue and cry against almost any development (see apartments in Cherokee), none of that is going to change very much. That's ok.
I'm 40 and have lived here all my life outside of living in Pittsburgh for college. This area has NOT gotten better. It's a complete dump. Not sure what you people are talking about…oh wait, you are Dems.
Nice post James
Anon 620…my question is why? Why continue to live somewhere you think is a dump? If it’s really that bad – and I categorically think you’re wrong – why the F wouldn’t you just pull up stakes and gtfo?
Adam, if 6:20 did that, then s/he wouldn't have anything to complain about! Oh–wait–they would surely find something before too long. Whining is in their blood, kind of like malaria in a mosquito.