Reston's Vibrant Economy Part 5: At Least You'll Still Be Able to Get Your Turkey There

The Giant in Tall Oaks Shopping Center is closing on Nov. 28. The grocery store, which has been providing dented canned goods and the like for something like 33 years, joins a variety of other businesses which have shuttered their doors at Tall Oaks, including Hollywood Video and Burger King. (And when was the last time you heard of a fast-food place going out of business?)

Frankly, Tall Oaks is starting to look a lot like the old Hunters Woods Shopping Center, only with a bit more stucco and a bit less Logans Run-style architecture. Pretty soon, it'll be like Hunters Woods' final days, with just a couple of open businesses surrounded by vacant storefronts. Only the grocery store was one of the final, canary-in-the-coalmine holdouts at the old Hunters Woods.

Maybe they should do what they did at Hunters Woods -- raze the place and rebuild it as something completely different. Of course, in Tall Oaks' case, that would mean creating a village-like, pedestrian-friendly shopping plaza which requires long strolls to the far-away parking and -- oh, wait. Never mind.