Retail Use Rumored to Replace Bandolero/Tacklebox

As GM discussed yesterday, Tacklebox and Bandolero are officially no mas. And it didn’t take long for word to leak out that the replacement is likely to be retail.

Prince of Petworth is reporting that he heard a reliable rumor that both storefronts would be taken over by a store confusingly called “& Other Stories“. This is a higher end outlet from the Swedish clothing purveyor H&M, which has a normal brand store across the street.

If true this will be yet another example of retail (particularly women’s clothing) replacing a restaurant or bar on or near M St. In the last couple years the examples are plenty:

• Qdoba -> Alice and Olivia
• Papparazzi -> Frye
• Rugby -> Nandeau
• Rhino Tap Room -> Club Monaco (reportedly)
• Pizzeria Uno -> Billy Reid
• Serendipity 3 -> Under Armour (not official, but very likely)
• Saloun -> Gant
• Fino Italiano -> Free People (still under construction)

The drop off of restaurants on the west side of M St. has been particularly sharp. Now the only restaurants left west of Wisconsin are J. Pauls, Clyde’s, Pizzeria Paradiso, and Cafe Tu-o-Tu way off by the Key Bridge. Like in the rest of Georgetown, restaurants still carry on just off M, like Leopold’s or Kintaro, but the rents on M St. proper appear to be pricing out all but the most successful (i.e. high turnover/drink sales) restaurants.

(Edit: In his gloomy haste, GM forgot about Subway, Sweet Green, Good Stuff and Capriotti’s. Not a small oversight! But the point remains that the drop off from 4-5 years ago is still steep.)