MANASSAS, Va. — Melissa Harris has doubled her sales since moving to the corner of Center and Main streets just six weeks ago.
Harris is the co-owner of Totally Vintage Design, which moved from an old location one block over on Battle Street into what was previously a sandwich shop inside the old Rohr’s Museum in Downtown Manassas.
The gift boutique has become known for its selection of unique gifts, and for a selection of chalk paints used to restore old furniture and other home fixtures.
The Manassas City Economic Development Authority this month granted Totally Vintage $6,000. It’s cash the small shop doesn’t have to pay back as long as it remains in business for the next two years. Harris said she would use the cash to build a dressing room inside the store, add metallic store fixtures, and erect a barn door in place of an older, large door that leads to Main Street.
Harris scored a 60 out of 100 possible points on a rubric the city’s EDA uses to evaluate a business’ contributions to the city. Totally Vintage Design’s scoresheets notes the business will invest $28,000 in capital improvements to its retail space, collect $291,000 in gross receipts, and generate $3,155 in business taxes for the city.
Harris’ shop employs about five part-time employees. She plans on increasing the number of hours her employees work as sales grow, but the grant money will not be used toward that effort.
She moved her shop from Jefferson Street in Haymarket to Downtown Manassas two years ago, where she found a more engaged local business community, and multiple events designed to draw shoppers to the neighborhood, she said.
She runs the store with her mother — something she said she always wanted to do. Before opening her shop, she taught spin classes at the Freedom Fitness and Aquatics Center.
