Residents of the City of Falls Church will be the beneficiaries in July of the opening of a new, 64,000-square foot discount retail store at the site of the old Ames department store in the Eden Center.
National Wholesale Liquidators, an east coast chain that fashions itself a cross between Walmart and Costco, has taken over the Ames site and is currently renovating it with a target to open July 20.
"It specializes in name brand general merchandise, everything from tooth paste to electronics, with everyday low prices and no membership requirement," said Edward E. Szydlik, a representative of a public relations firm representing the company.
When the Ames Department store closed in 2001, it cost the City significant sales tax revenue from one of its leading retailers. The prospect of the new store not only buoyes the City's tax revenue picture, but provides residents with a close-by alternative to the kind of stores that are otherwise not in the immediate area.
"We welcome it as an important addition to the retail component of the City," remarked City Manager Dan McKeever. "It will surely attract many new shoppers to the City from throughout the region, who may also spend time in some of the outstanding Vietnamese and Chinese-American restaurants in the Eden Center."
National Wholesale Liquidators have been in operation for 20 years and is now in a rapid growth mode with 40 stores already operating from Boston to Washington, D.C. In addition to Falls Church, new stores are planned for the Baltimore area, New Carrolton and Langley Park, with further moves out to Norfolk and Detroit planned in the intermediate future.
The central half-million square foot warehouse is in Edison, New Jersey.
Szydlik told the News-Press Tuesday that he spent a week in the Falls Church area to better appreciate the market for the new store, and said he was very impressed by Falls Church. "It's a wonderful community, and we're going to want to be a wonderful part of it," he said.
He said the store will feature quality name brand products and will have a Walmart or Costco feel, except that it will also present "opportunistic buys" of products that need to be liquidated. "There is also no burden to buy in bulk," he said. "Customers can buy one of anything."