The signs downtown are mostly the ones you know. Over the past twelve months, though, the people behind several of those counters have changed. A shop that has been open since 1983 has a new owner. A three-level furniture and antiques store changed hands. A woman who finished high school in May now has a boutique on Broadway. The Alexandria Art Guild has a retail storefront.
Put together, downtown is getting new owners while the storefronts stay the same. For anyone heading downtown for Black Friday or Small Business Saturday, the season will be the first in their new roles for a lot of the people behind the register.
The long-running shops have new owners
The best example is at 509 Broadway. Scandinavian Gift Shop has been selling Scandinavian goods in Alexandria since 1983, and it now belongs to Mindy Joneson. The Echo Press reported on Oct. 24 that she has stopped carrying items that weren't authentic to Scandinavia and added new clothing lines. If you've been buying the same holiday gift there for years, expect the shelves to look a little different.
Two doors down the block, at 619 Broadway, Past and Present Home Gallery passed from Jeff and Lynelle Lanoue to Alicia and Markus Denny in October 2025. The store has three levels and more than 13,000 square feet of antique, vintage and newer furniture and collectibles. That's a lot of floor to take over. This holiday season will be the Dennys' second as owners, so the store is still fairly new to them.
Neither shop closed, and neither one moved. Both still have the same name over the door. That's the usual way downtown turnover happens here. The building, the stock and the regular customers stay put, and the owner changes.
First-time owners, first storefronts
The new shops bring new owners too, and two of them are just starting out.
Grace and Gather Boutique opened at 516 1/2 Broadway and sells women's clothing and accessories. Owner Gabbie Rassat graduated from high school in May 2026 and, according to the same Echo Press Chamber item, decided to chase her dream of a boutique in her hometown. Plenty of people spend the summer after graduation on a lake. She spent hers opening a store.
Just off Broadway, The Collective MN is a curated vintage clothing shop at 116 Sixth Ave. Owner Aidyn Duffy loves vintage clothing and likes matching the pieces he finds with the right buyer. Both shops find customers through Facebook and Instagram, so check their pages for hours before you go.
So in one Chamber visit on Oct. 14, two of the four businesses recognized were long-running shops with new owners, and two were brand-new shops. That split pretty well describes downtown right now.
Groups and restaurants are taking storefronts too
Some of the new tenants are organizations and established restaurants moving into downtown buildings.
The Alexandria Art Guild leased 612 Broadway starting Oct. 1, 2025, in the space Faction Board Shop used to occupy, and turned it into the Center for the Visual Arts. The Echo Press described the space as a place to buy local artists' pottery, glass, jewelry, sculpture, textiles and paintings, with room for exhibits and workshops. Last year its first public exhibit was a Holiday Art Sale that opened Nov. 20. The Guild's Center page lists hours of Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The venue calendar on Explore Alexandria shows a holiday tea there on Dec. 5.
Longtrees moved downtown too. In May 2025, the Echo Press reported that the restaurant was leaving its old site for The Rune, billing the move as a larger supper-club format with two patios and a refreshed menu that kept some familiar dishes. Its 2026 menu lists the address as 319 Broadway, and its website takes reservations and online orders. That makes it an easy place to start or finish a downtown afternoon.
Here's the stretch in walking order, so you can plan a loop:
| Address | Business | What's new |
|---|---|---|
| 116 Sixth Ave. | The Collective MN | New vintage clothing shop, owner Aidyn Duffy |
| 319 Broadway | Longtrees | Moved to The Rune |
| 509 Broadway | Scandinavian Gift Shop | New owner Mindy Joneson, new clothing lines |
| 516 1/2 Broadway | Grace and Gather Boutique | New women's boutique, owner Gabbie Rassat |
| 612 Broadway | Center for the Visual Arts | Art Guild storefront in the former Faction Board Shop space |
| 619 Broadway | Past and Present Home Gallery | New owners Alicia and Markus Denny |
Every stop on that list is within a few blocks.
Farther out on Broadway, the new businesses look different
Head north past downtown and the new arrivals are a different kind of business, which makes the downtown changes easier to see.
At 1422 Broadway, the former SuperAmerica, which later became a Speedway, closed last October, according to the Echo Press. The site is being turned into a three-unit building, and the Echo Press confirmed on Oct. 7 that Domino's Pizza and Jersey Mike's Subs have permits for the build-out. The third tenant hasn't been announced, and no opening date has been given.
A little farther along, Smart Cookie runs a drive-through coffee-and-cookie window at 1705 Broadway St., inside the Cenex Midtown Express drive-through. It held its grand-opening ribbon cutting on Aug. 25, 2026.
Along that part of Broadway, the new businesses are built for people who stay in the car. Between Sixth Avenue and 619 Broadway, it's people taking over long-running stores or opening their first one. Both kinds are useful. They just give you a very different afternoon.
When to go meet them
This season's downtown calendar packs most of its events into one weekend, so the stores above get their biggest test early. We covered the full fall schedule in our October calendar post. Here are the dates that matter for shopping:
- Friday, Nov. 27: Christmas in the Fort runs from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Runestone Museum, with Santa, choral performances and refreshments. Lights on Broadway starts at 5:30 p.m. and runs from 4th to 10th Avenue, which covers every downtown address in the table above. Downtown Alexandria's event schedule pairs that night with Black Friday and the Christmas Parade.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday is on the Downtown Alexandria schedule. It's the day the new owners at 509, 516 1/2 and 619 Broadway are working toward.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: The Downtown Holiday Shopping Extravaganza is on the same schedule, and the Art Guild's holiday tea at 612 Broadway falls on the same day.
- Fridays through Sundays, Nov. 27 to Dec. 27: The Garden of Lights walk at Legacy of the Lakes Gardens runs from 5 to 8 p.m., organized by Friends of Christmas. It's a good way to finish an evening after the shops close.
Thanksgiving weekend is about four weeks out from this post. If you want to see the changes at Scandinavian Gift Shop or browse three floors at Past and Present before the crowds, a weekday in early November is the quiet option.
If you own a building or a business on Broadway and want to talk through what all this turnover means for your place, or you just want someone to compare notes with over a Smart Cookie coffee, Justin Habel answers his phone. Let's Connect.
