Other than zen-like memories for area hunters, there was little left to pick over by closing time New Year’s Eve at Old Town’s Trophy Room.

The shop’s owner, Michael W. Zarlenga, failed to find a buyer by Dec. 31, and has closed the business and is selling the building he purchased six years ago.

On Monday, the store was jammed with longtime customers and those just looking for a bargain. “They’ve been walking in all day with fruit baskets, sympathy cards and even beer,” Zarlenga said. “I’m just said it had to come to this.”

Zarlenga started The Trophy Room in 2001 with high hopes, leaving a flourishing downtown law practice to chase his dream of Old Town entrepreneurship. Once a corporate securities attorney with a high-powered DC law firm, Zarlenga married his law school sweetheart Lisa Hebenstreit and settled here in 1994.

A lifelong hunting enthusiast, Zarlenga opened stocking its shelves with fly fishing gear and hunting apparel. By 5 pm Monday, most of the metal racks of everything from Barbour jackets to cactus juice outdoor repellant was gone. The canoes which once hung from the ceiling were sold, and multiple types of wildfowl calls had flown off the shelves. “Customers just went through here like locusts,” Zarlenga said.

The only Orvis shop on the East Coast which sold apparel and firearms turned off the lights for the last time.

“I’m just ticked they’re closing,” said Jake Ellzey, a Naval commander of an F-18 squadron from Virginia Beach, in town to visit his parents. “This is what a gun store should be: Quality products, knowledgeable service and a small town feel. You don’t find shops like this in a town like Alexandria.”

Ellzey was awaiting background checks for a Browning shotgun and a home protection pistol he was purchasing, both about 30 percent off. “I just came in today and saw that they were closing. It just smacks of local politics. They’re killing the tax base by what they’ve done.”

In 2006, Zarlenga paid $2.4 million for the building he had once leased. He then spent another $325,000 buying out leases and hiring architects, lawyers and historic consultants to gain the necessary city permits for a needed facelift. The old brick building was constructed in 1805 by John Ramsey, an importer of fabrics, spices and other goods arriving by vessels on Old Town’s waterfront and the last renovations had taken place in 1980. “The building needed serious structural improvements,” Zarlenga said.

Zarlenga’s team came up with concept drawings of the renovations and met with staffers from the city’s Board of Architectural Review (BAR) and Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), giving them wide latitude for any changes needed to gain approval. In May, the BZA approved Zarlenga’s variances, but in June the BAR denied his permit to demolish or encapsulate 25 feet of material, which included removing old shutters, restoring the building’s facade, raising the roof and back of the building by seven feet, adding an elevator and replacing old electrical and plumbing systems.

“We just wanted to modernize a 200 year-old building while fully maintaining its historical aspects,” Zarlenga said.

On Sept. 15, City Council voted to deny Zarlenga’s request. Historic preservationists argued that the building’s “flounder” style was characteristic of the city’s rich history and that changing it would damage the historic streetscape. It’s called flounder-style because it looks like the profile of a fish, but Zarlenga said historians he hired failed to identify the design in the historic flounder style. “We just wanted to raise the roof and we pledged to use all of the old materials,” he said.

But opponents said the back of the building, with its angled roof and one window, would be irreparably harmed if altered. Zarlenga asked Council to reconsider the BAR’s June denial, but members voted 6-1 against it. “We really sympathized with his position,” Vice Mayor Del Pepper said. “It was truly agonizing. But as much as we appreciated his position, we had to take into consideration the historic nature of the building. It’s a rare example of a flounder house.”

Zarlenga does not agree, and said he had architectural experts testify that the Trophy Room was not in the flounder style. He said his business had the potential of adding $2.5 million to the city’s tax base. “The city’s not serious about being a business-friendly city,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people have asked me if I’m going to open up the business outside the city limits so I don’t have to deal with the city.”

David Graff of Mount Vernon, Commanding Officer of the DC Contracting Management Agency, was picking through the remnants of the liquidation sale, looking at wood mallards, gun vests and field training products for his labrador retrievers. “They’re a real tradition here and I will miss them,” he said. “I’ve noticed quite a few shops closing along King Street. I guess this will make more room for ice cream shops.”

Tim Dickinson of Seminary Hill, who runs a public affairs business in Old Town, was rueful. “The city’s been around for more than 200 years and they allowed this to happen? Unbelievable. Letting a store go like this epitomizes the lack of vision by the city. When National Harbor opens, the water taxis will bypass Old Town because of things like this.”

Standing below a signed photo by Laura and George Bush, with the inscription, “To our favorite Orvis guys,” manager Gary Rothrock said next week he was planning to sell the remaining stock of guns online, and all of the fixtures on Craig’s List.  “We had a great store,” Rothrock said. “We worked seven days a week for six years. It’s just a shame this happened.”

Lying on the floor, Zarlenga’s two American water spaniels lounged about, watching the flurry of activity. “It’s a shame this place is closing,” said Laura O’Dell of Mount Vernon, a partner at KPMG. “Even the dogs look sad.”  

Back in the day, business was often brisk at Th On days when the World Bank was meeting downtown, Lincoln Town Cars would idle outside, and envoys from Europe, Africa and the Middle East would swarm the place, snapping up as much camo clothing and accessories as they could haul home.