Melissa Romano is filling a vacant Lake Anne Plaza storefront with Danish modern furniture, nonalcoholic cocktails and a nod to Reston's modernist roots.

Romano, co-owner of Lake Anne Brew House and a Cornell-trained architect, created Vintage Reston in the former Chesapeake Chocolates space at 11426 Washington Plaza West. The chocolate shop closed at the end of September 2024, and the brewery leased the adjacent unit in July 2025 with plans to eventually double its taproom seating.

Those expansion permits are taking longer than expected. Rather than let the storefront sit dark, Romano turned it into a rotating showroom for her personal collection of restored mid-century furniture, lighting, glassware, barware and art, Patch reported Wednesday, Aug. 19.

"My passion and creative energy have always been drawn to beautifully designed objects, especially Danish modern and mid-century furnishings," Romano said.

The space is arranged as a series of furnished living rooms rather than a conventional resale shop. Visitors can sit on the couches, gather around tables and handle the merchandise before buying. Inventory will rotate as pieces sell, supplemented by consigned furniture, household goods, artwork and a small number of Romano's original works.

A beverage counter rounds out the concept: packaged craft zero-proof cocktails, nonalcoholic beer, adaptogenic drinks and nostalgic sodas.

The mid-century theme fits Lake Anne Village Center, which dates to Reston's 1964 founding by Robert E. Simon Jr. and remains one of Northern Virginia's best-known examples of modernist community design. Romano, a Reston native who has lived on Lake Anne with her family since 2003, has said the surrounding architecture made a mid-century aesthetic the only option for the brewery's look, a philosophy she described in a Brewing Industry Guide profile.

Romano and her husband, brewmaster Jason Romano, opened Lake Anne Brew House in April 2016. The original 1,000-square-foot taproom holds 47 seats and six brewing tanks. When Romano announced the lease in July 2025, she said the expansion would help the brewery "continue to grow our business here" and "support the continued vitality of Lake Anne Plaza" at a time when closures are hitting the industry.

As of Aug. 8, 2025, the taproom expansion stood at roughly 20% progress in the planning and permitting phase, with FGM Architects' Matt Stevison, a Lake Anne neighbor, leading the design team alongside Romano. No updated timeline for permit approval has been published since.

Vintage Reston is explicitly temporary. Once permits clear, the storefront will be folded into the expanded taproom.

Details on hours and inventory are available at lakeannebrewhouse.com/vintage.