After going dark for many weeks, the neighborhood market known as Le Petite Corner Store has closed.
Known more for its Turkish offerings, the store was less of a full service neighborhood market like Scheele’s or Sara’s. But it was popular nonetheless.
GM has been unable to learn of the future of the property. Like Scheele’s and Sara’s, it operated under a zoning grandfathering. The property, like all those around it, it zoned for residential. But since it was operating as a market before the zoning rules kicked in, it was allowed to continue.
Under the old rules, there would be a limited window of a few years for another operator to open up a shop here and keep the grandfathering. But under the new rules, it would be able to apply via a special exception to continue as a market shop regardless. In fact, with some limitations, practically every property in Georgetown could apply for the same special exception under the new rules. Of course, there’s little business justification for people to do that. And GM fears this historic market will be converted to residential like so many of the historic commercial properties that used to dot the neighborhood. (If the home has a door exiting to the corner of a block and has big picture windows, it almost certainly was a business at some point).
There’s been some precedent for hope in Georgetown. Scheele’s was saved by involved neighbors. And while Griffin Market closed, Stachowski’s was a pretty damn good replacement. Fingers crossed.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Hi Topher!
Do you know who owns the building?
Katie
Sent from my iPhone
>
These kinds of businesses are precious to Georgetown (and shockingly few) and every effort should be made to preserve this one as a corner market. Maybe the new ANC can get behind the effort with support from the neighborhood.
One block over from Book Hill portion of Wisconsin Ave … one of the slowest foot traffic patterns in that area … the 2007 article said the room was the size of a living room … hard to justify the typical retail rents … quaint but imagine the heat loss thru those 1930’s windows … in that era almost 100 years ago, the cost to heat was minimal … people walked because cars were not abundant … now nobody would walk there unless desperate … it would have to be a very special use retail to be profitable … however a medical cannibis dispensary would probably succeed … even as a Georgetown medical student, none of us ventured much that way … owner may as well make it residential since people are desperate to live in Georgetown at almost any price. .