"He said the more the merrier, and it'll only make it more of a destination, which is exactly what we thought." That's Michael Babin, principal at Neighborhood Restaurant Group, telling ALXnow how Crooked Beat Records owner Bill Daly reacted when Babin called to say NRG was opening a second record store in Del Ray.
Mobius Records opened at 2016 Mount Vernon Avenue on September 12. Crooked Beat reopened at 2101B Mount Vernon Avenue on September 25. The Alexandria Brief puts the two shops about 128 feet apart on opposite sides of the Avenue, roughly a one-minute walk. Crooked Run Fermentation opened its taproom at 2003 Mount Vernon Avenue in late August.
All three new businesses opened within a few doors of one another, close to Mount Vernon and Howell. That clustering was a choice. The owners decided closeness would bring in more customers than distance would, and the result is a block that works as a destination for an afternoon rather than a spot you pass on the way somewhere else.
Two shops that wanted to be neighbors
Mobius is new to Del Ray, but the shop isn't new. Owner Dempsey Hamilton has run Mobius on Main Street in Fairfax City since 2014, and the Del Ray store is an expansion done with NRG. The Alexandria Brief describes the partnership as more than ten years in the making, with past projects that include an annual Record Store Day beer and pop-ups at NRG's Snallygaster festival. The Del Ray shop carries the same range as the Fairfax store: new releases, reissues and used records across genres, on vinyl, CD and cassette. Mobius took over the former Mulberry Lane Play Café space and shares it with Shorty's Deluxe, the sandwich shop.
Crooked Beat got to the block a harder way. ALXnow reported that the basement shop at 2417 Mount Vernon Avenue had to close in May after flooding in January. The flood cost about $60,000 in merchandise, and a GoFundMe campaign recovered $23,500. The new space is a two-story townhouse of 950 square feet, and neighbors say it had been empty for more than ten years. According to the Alexandria Brief, a longtime customer bought the building, and the shop rents it. "It's like the Twilight Zone, same colors, same atmosphere," Daly said in a video when he announced the reopening.
The two stores overlap less than their shared category suggests. Crooked Beat's site describes new and used vinyl with an emphasis on indie labels, thousands of used records, and DC and regional artists. It lists classic rock, soul, punk, new wave, reggae, soundtracks and jazz among its used genres. Mobius also sells CDs and cassettes, and its homepage sorts stock into "new this week," "the used bin," best sellers, and a CDs-and-tapes section. If you go through both shops' bins on the same afternoon, you're shopping two different collections.
A taproom that chose to stay small
Crooked Run's plan fits with the record shops. Co-owner Lee Rogan told ALXnow, "We were looking for locations under 1,000 square feet and this spot came up." The taproom took over the former Dolce & Bean space after a three-month interior renovation. It has more than 20 seats inside and eight outside. The menu has Crooked Run's beers along with wine, cocktails, chicken tenders, pita and hummus, and mozzarella sticks. Rogan also said the taproom would be family friendly and that he wanted stroller parking in a nearby alley.
Rogan put the thinking plainly: "We're not trying to come in and be 'the place' in Del Ray. Because that's not what Del Ray is all about. It's about little places that people can go to and shop in and enjoy, just a local neighborhood spot."
The sizes back that up. Crooked Beat's new space is 950 square feet, and Crooked Run went looking for less than 1,000. Neither business could anchor a block by itself. Together with the shops already there, they can.
The block they joined
Mobius and Crooked Run moved into a stretch NRG has run for years. The Zebra describes NRG's businesses as clustered around Mount Vernon and Howell avenues. Here's what is on the 2000 block now:
- Evening Star Café and Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ, 2000 Mount Vernon Avenue. Evening Star turns 29 this year.
- The No. 9, the lounge upstairs from Evening Star at the same address
- Crooked Run Fermentation, 2003 Mount Vernon Avenue
- Planet Wine, 2004 Mount Vernon Avenue
- Mobius Records and Shorty's Deluxe, 2016 Mount Vernon Avenue
- Crooked Beat Records, across the Avenue at 2101B
The record shops add some evening activity to the block too. The Alexandria Brief reports that Shorty's Deluxe is expanding with a larger menu, evening hours and café seating. Mobius has said it plans DJ nights, live performances at Evening Star, and Record Store Day events in the Hi/Fi Tex-Mex courtyard. The Zebra says The No. 9 is central to that plan, with live sets, record-release listening parties and special vinyl nights in the works. So far only the Mobius shows have dates. The courtyard events are still plans.
Planning an afternoon around the hours
The schedules don't line up perfectly, so plan around them. Crooked Run's location page lists Monday through Thursday from 3 to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Crooked Beat's site still calls its schedule "Soft Open Hours": Thursday and Friday 3 to 7 p.m., Saturday noon to 7 p.m., Sunday 1 to 6 p.m. In September, Daly said full-time hours would follow in about a week. The site hadn't been updated when we checked, so confirm before you go. Mobius hasn't posted regular weekly hours for the Del Ray store yet. It opened with 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Based on what's posted, Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. is the safest window to catch both record shops and the taproom open. Thursday and Friday afternoons after 3 p.m. work for Crooked Beat and Crooked Run.
The dates that run through this block
From now until mid-December, nearly every date worth holding in Del Ray either happens on this stretch of the Avenue or goes right past it.
October
- Sunday, Oct. 25, 2 p.m.: the 30th Annual Del Ray Halloween Parade. The route starts at E. Bellefonte Avenue and ends at the Mount Vernon Rec Center field. New this year is a group and float contest. Entrants check in at Mount Vernon and Howell starting at 1 p.m. and must register by 1:30 p.m. That check-in point is the record-shop block.
- Through Sunday, Nov. 1: Nightmare on the Avenue, the seasonal Halloween pop-up bar at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue, a few blocks north.
November
- Thursday, Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.: NØ MAN record release show at The No. 9, booked by Mobius. Tickets are $15, and the show is all ages. It's the first dated Mobius show in the room upstairs from Evening Star.
- Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving: RSD Black Friday. Record Store Day has its Black Friday 2026 page up. Neither Del Ray shop has announced whether it's taking part, but for the first time in a while, the neighborhood has two stores that could.
December
The Del Ray Business Association's calendar has three December evenings on or near the Avenue:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, Dec. 6, 6 p.m. | Del Ray Holiday Season Kick-Off, with Christmas tree and menorah lighting and luminarias along the Avenue | Pat Miller Neighborhood Square |
| Thursday, Dec. 10 | Shops of Del Ray Holiday Sip & Shop | Mount Vernon Avenue |
| Saturday, Dec. 12 | 11th Annual Del Ray Candy Cane Bar Crawl | Mount Vernon Avenue |
Sip & Shop is the first holiday shopping night in Del Ray since the 2000 block got its two record shops. Mobius sells records, CDs, tapes and merch, and Crooked Beat sells new and used vinyl, so either one is an easy stop for gifts.
At Kristen Jones Real Estate, we think the businesses within walking distance of a home are part of how its story gets told. If your Del Ray home is a short walk from Mount Vernon and Howell and you're curious what that's worth this season, request your complimentary home valuation and we'll walk you through it.
