The South Alex development just off Richmond Highway (Route 1) in Penn Daw is getting some new retail tenants, all of them expected to open in the coming months.
Three new businesses are opening on the south side of the shopping center:
- Kpot (6224A North Kings Highway): a Korean BBQ chain with 168 locations around the country. The chain offers a wide selection of hot pot and barbecue dishes.
- Big Papi’s (6224J North Kings Highway): a Mexican restaurant with two locations in Maryland.
- Inspire Nail Bar (6224G North Kings Highway): a chain of nail salons with pedicures, manicures, nail enhancements and more.
Construction was still ongoing inside each of the locations when FFXnow recently visited. A representative of the property management company said there are no specific dates yet for when the locations would open, but they’re all on track to open sometime this fall.
Staff at another Kpot location said the plan is to open the one at South Alex sometime “within the next few months.” The new restaurant will be approximately 5,200 square feet in size and seat 227 customers, according to permit plans approved by Fairfax County.
In Northern Virginia, Kpot is operating right now in Seven Corners and Fairfax City (4000 Gateway Drive). It also has locations “coming soon” to D.C. and Hyattsville, Maryland, per its website, though exact addresses aren’t listed.
Big Papi’s didn’t return a request for comment, but county permits show that the 2,776-square-foot restaurant will include an outdoor patio and have 150 seats.
An existing Inspire Nail Bar location said the salon anticipates opening at South Alex in September.
The new retail will join PJ’s Coffee, which opened a few weeks ago, and an Inova urgent care facility at South Alex. Anchored by the grocery chain Aldi, which opened in 2023, the mixed-use development has a total of 44,000 square feet of retail supporting a 400-unit apartment building that opened in 2022.
Construction was temporarily delayed by a massive fire in February 2020 that investigators determined was caused by improperly discarded cigarette butts. The blaze resulted in an estimated $48 million in property damages.
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