Unable to find new site, Washington antique shop will close its doors
The Inn at Little Washington recently bought the building
Antiques at Middle Street announced it’s going out of business in June, marking the loss of another small business in the Town of Washington.
Its owner, Al Harris, decided to shutter since he was not not able to find a new location after the property that houses the unit he rents was purchased by The Inn at Little Washington in March for a hefty price as the the three-Michelin-starred restaurant seeks to expand in the town.
Harris, and Middle Street Gallery, the building’s other retail tenant, were given by The Inn an unexpected notice to vacate the building 90 days from the sale date.
“I can’t blame the owners for selling. You know, if you offered me $1 million for any house that I got, I wouldn’t bat an eye in doing it … I have accepted the whole thing now and it gives me no problem at all,” Harris said in an interview.
He had rented space in the building for the past 12 years, which he said was the perfect location for the business because of the foot traffic in downtown Washington. He had tried to find an alternative location, but was unable to afford anything else and couldn’t find another site that offered enough foot traffic to sustain his business.
The building and land where the shop is located, 325 Middle St., was sold to The Inn for $1 million by longtime owner Tara C. Loyd, a trustee of two trusts owned by Sharon Labovitz, an Alexandria-based former newspaper publishing company owner.
Representatives with The Inn did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson said executives were out of town at a conference and were unable to respond. The rents of both Harris and Middle Street Gallery were waived by the Inn for the remainder of their leases, according to Inn General Manager Bob Fasce.
Susan Raines, a representative of Middle Street Gallery, said the gallery has received numerous offers from members of the community for space to move, but they haven't decided on any yet.
Antiques at Middle Street started as a booth at the Strasburg Emporium before moving to Ginger Hill Antiques and finally landing in Washington. The store, which is holding a closeout with a discount on all merchandise, carries antiques that range from just a few dollars to thousands.
Harris opens the shop Friday through Sunday to catch the weekend crowd, but spends much of the week’s remainder on the road traveling across the east coast to various auctions in search of new inventory that is both old and potentially authentic.
He doesn’t always find treasure.
But when he does, it's because of his decades of experience in the business sniffing out genuine items. “I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty good,” he said. He started off collecting clocks in the late 1960s before delving deeper into the world of antiques. A retired Central Intelligence Agency employee, Harris views the business as more a hobby than his lifeblood.
But he still has an enormous inventory on hand that needs to be rid of. Harris bought a storage shed to store much of it in his backyard while trying to hatch up a plan to sell as many of the items as possible for a fair price.
“I’ve been around a long time. And my philosophy is, I can’t afford to worry about things that I can do absolutely nothing about. And this is well out of my control,” he said of his circumstances. “I can sit back and whine and cry, or I can try and do the best I can with what I have … just because I’m not crying doesn’t mean I like [it].”