Stacey DiTata, owner of The Remix vintage clothing store, photo courtesy of Remix and Stacey DiTata
Sadly, The Remix vintage clothing store on the 600 block of Pennsylvania Ave., SE, will be closing in February due to the sudden and debilitating illness of beloved owner, Stacey DiTata, manager Arynne Crane told us earlier this week. DiTata had been hospitalized in Virginia and then Maryland for abut a month with symptoms mimicking a stroke with slurred speech, swollen facial features, confusion and diminished capacity. Doctors at Johns Hopkins later diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis and celiac disease, Crane said of the 49 year-old business owner. DiTata is now at Hopkins and her husband hopes to start a course of therapy, but the medical expenses that have piled up make closing the store a necessity, Crane said.
DiTata had partially retired to the sunny West Coast and was planning on visiting the store every six weeks for merchandising, but a series of small accidents after arriving here in December coupled with her apparent MS episode has kept her here since. Her husband flew East and is caring for her. DiTata also wanted to come back to keep up with her passion for rescuing lost dogs.
The Remix is hoping to post more information, including ways to help and links to MS websites on its own site in the coming weeks, and will be selling off everything, even the fixtures. DiTata’s husband has talked with the property manager, who is looking for a new tenant.
The Remix moved to the Hill from Alexandria in the summer of 2007, and Crane has been working for DiTata, with whom she is close, since 2004.
My prayers go out to Stacey and her family and may God bless her at tis time of need.
My prayers go out to Stacey and her family and may God bless her at this time of need.
Oh my God! That is SO sad! My most sincere prayers go out to Stacey and her family. Loosing Remix is a huge loss to the Hill, but Stacey’s health is so far more important… Again, my thoughts and prayers are with you….
This is devastating news. Stacey really helped make our community special– through her vibrant and positive spirit and her fantastic boutique. We are thinking of her and her family and hoping she recovers and is able to retire to the sunny place she longs for!
We only learned of this very sad news today and we are heart broken for Stacey, her husband and her unique boutique. We are thinking of you Stacey and sending our prayers.
I was a business neighbor of Remix when it was in the Del Ray section of Alexandria. I really missed Stacey when she left a couple years ago. I had lost touch with her, but was on the Hill today and decided to stop in to say hello. I was stunned to see the store empty. I inquired of her neighbors, but no one I spoke to knew what happened. Then I found this story about her. I am absolutely stunned. She is such a wonderful person and has such a flair for her business. It is truely a loss for Remix to be closed and I am very sorry for her MS flair up. My domestic partner’s father has MS and it is a difficult disease to cope with. I wish her all the very best in her recuperation and her future endeavors. She is the best. Eric