Just in time for the holiday season, shoppers at Tysons Corner Center can now “sip and stroll”—in other words, you can get a boozy to-go drink from a participating restaurant, and take it with you while you wander the mall.
The rules: Obviously you have to be of age. But also, no BYOB-ing: drinks must be purchased from a shortlist of mall restaurants (they range from the American Girl Bistro to Eddie V’s Shake Shack) and carried in designated disposable logo cups. They can be sipped in common areas, including the outdoor Plaza and in stores that are marked with signs that say “c’mon in with your drink”—not surprisingly, most retailers are on board—but you cannot take the drinks in the parking areas or garages.
The new rules went into effect Wednesday, November 1, but the mall will host an official “Shopping with a Twist” kickoff event on Wednesday, November 8 from 5 to 8 PM—the first 100 shoppers will receive a gift bag and a $25 gift card to one of the participating restaurants.
The sip-and-stroll program is similar to other such programs at shopping centers in the area—Fairfax Corner, the Village at Leesburg, the Village at Shirlington, Pentagon Row, and National Landing all have similar open container arrangements—but Tysons is the first indoor mall in the DMV area to offer it.
Feeling like you’ve been hearing a lot about these in the last few years? You’re not imagining it. The topic made headlines in 2020 when a Virginia bill passed to allow more shopping centers to qualify for the ABC’s “commercial lifestyle center” license, which permits the sip-and-stroll, by drastically reducing the property size required from 25 acres to 10.
Get more info on the Shopping with a Twist kickoff event here, and all the details of the sip-and-stroll program, including a full list of participating restaurants and retailers, here.
Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to joining Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and before that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.
