New homes being constructed at Featherstone Square
A new store owner hopes a party will once again happen inside Woodbridge’s Featherstone Square.
Ania Jaffa is the managing director, chief proprietor, and just about any other official-sounding title you can come up with for Nyea’s Party store. The independent business owner opened the store this fall after retiring from working in the account management department at AT&T, not a job one would associate with parties.
Nyea’s caters to everyone but has found a niche market with the Hispanic market in Woodbridge. In addition to baby shower party goods, the store has been selling a lot of party favors like plates, napkins, and cups designed by Uzuri Kid Kidz. It’s an Ohio-based artist that draws the characters with the familiar Disney look and feel, but feature Hispanics and African-American children to “mirror their lifestyle and will help fill the void in the current market.”
After Jaffa, of Manassas, retired, she looked around the area for a location for a party store.
“Then I came to Woodbridge and said “you know what, there is a niche here that I think I can fill,” said the New York City native.
The independent party store opened in a place many would consider to be an unlikely spot. For years, Featherstone Square has seen its share of small tenants come and go. The shopping center is anchored by a Food Lion and a large furniture rental store.
The surrounding neighborhood along Route 1 is noted more for its “brown” spots in need of redevelopment, and for its congested traffic.
Much of that is changing. Ryan Homes has opened a new sales office inside the center as construction is now underway for new condos and 30 townhomes on nearly 9 acres of land of Featherstone Road, just across from the shopping center.
The owner of the shopping center is also petitioned the county to build the new homes.
The new construction will bring more people to the neighborhood, and more people to the shopping center, Jaffa hopes.
“I’m used to transitional neighborhoods, you see a lot of that in New York, It’s a cyclical thing,” said Jaffa.
