In the event you had been planning on stopping by The Apple Store, Pottery Barn or any other chain retailer in the same shopping center in Clarendon today, you will want to call first before heading over. The popular retail center, located at 2700 Clarendon Blvd. adjacent to the Market Common apartments, has been struggling with electricity issues for the past two days, and stores along one half of the mall have been closed since Monday due to the outage. Workers installed a large truck-based generator this afternoon to restore power temporarily, and an employee at Pottery Barn told DCist at 4:30 p.m. that they hope to open in the next hour, once the rest of the team reports to work. The Apple Store was closed when this editor went by around noon in the hopes of getting her laptop repaired. Employees at the Pentagon City Apple Store noted that they have been twice as busy as normal today due to overflow customers coming in from Clarendon. more ›

DCist's lively comment thread about the news of a sudden rise in D.C. electricity bills combined with second-day stories about how many more D.C. residents are being threatened with their power getting shut off have us on high alert for all things Pepco. Well earlier today the utility posted a web video (and written transcript) titled "Pepco Cares About Your Energy Usage", and introduced a Twitter feed where you can contact Pepco's "social media lead" directly. more ›