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…

We start off this Monday morning with the very sad news that Star Foster, a co-editor of sister site Phillyist, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday morning. Phillyist will be going dark for a few days out of respect for Foster, who was with the site since its inception. Here at DCist, and across the -ist network, we offer our condolences and thoughts for her friends and family. Gallaudet Taps New President: The board of…

Our city, splendid and powerful as it may be, is certainly not very sexy. While DC is infused with a vibrance and energy that other cities may lack, the sights, smells and sounds of a newly opened Pottery Barn, sprung forth from the rubble of a block of Southeast row houses do not provide quite the same sensory scintillation as, say, a South Beach mambo, or a West Village table for two. Capitol Hill sexploits,…

(From DCist contributor Colleen Egan) For an engaged couple, their upcoming wedding brings thoughts of unity: a merging of lives, families, DVD collections. But for a frequent wedding guest, the pending nuptials can spark a bout of separation anxiety. Separating with your cash, that is. From plane fares to rental cars to hotel rooms, the wedding gift might be the only purchase of which you have control. DCist perused the area to find shops with…

(From DCist contributor Amadie Hart) Clarendon, a historic shopping hub in Arlington County that was devastated by the construction associated with the construction of Metro’s Orange Line in the 1970s, has undergone a wholesale transformation in the last decade. Small storefront retail and ethnic restaurants have been giving way to larger, chain developments. In recent years, stores such as Crate and Barrel, The Pottery Barn, the Container Store, and Williams Sonoma, and restaurants such as…