New fabric store moving into former Hancock Fabrics location

Fabric Place Basement will be opening later this year in the spot formerly occupied by Hancock Fabrics in the Beacon Center on Richmond Highway.

When Peter Isaacson decided to open up a second location of the fabric store that had been owned by his family for generations, he looked south. Way south.

Isaacson owns Fabric Place Basement, a Natick, Mass.-based store that has been in his family since 1946. After restarting the family business in 2010, Isaacson will be opening Fabric Place Basement’s second location the Beacon Center on Richmond Highway in the spot formerly occupied by Hancock Fabrics.

So why open a second store almost 500 miles from Natick? For Isaacson, it’s all about location.

“I just saw it as a big opportunity to have a store where one already existed,” Isaacson said. “I’ve always loved D.C. and was thrilled when I found this location so close to D.C.”

Isaacson’s son Ryan is helping set up the new store and will manage it through its launch. Ryan Isaacson said the Route 1 location was desirable because the now-shuttered Hancock store was among the most-profitable locations for the franchise, which went out of business nationwide in July. And with the other two Hancock locations in Northern Virginia also closed, as well as the 2015 closings of local G Street Fabric locations, there was a large opening in the market.

Ryan Isaacson said he’s already impressed with the daily foot traffic that comes to the store from shoppers unaware Hancock closed. But former Hancock customers should expect big differences once Fabric Place Basement is open.

“We’re going to have a far better looking, better stocked store than what was previously there,” Peter Isaacson said. “[And] at better prices.”

The Isaacsons said that Fabric Place Basement has an advantage over larger chains due to its flexibility. Because there are only two stores to think about, Fabrick Place Basement can purchase designer material in smaller batches at discounted prices and pass the savings on to their customers, Peter Isaacson said.

“I can get really good deals on designer goods [that] a major chain can’t,” Isaacson said. 

Fabric Place Basement is aiming to open on October 1, Ryan Isaacson said.

An earlier version of this article had an incorrect first name for Ryan Isaacson.