New Balance to Take Over Old Glory Space

Buried in the submissions to the Old Georgetown Board this month is an application to convert the former Old Glory building to a New Balance shoe store.

The application calls for a somewhat dramatic alteration to the street level facade, as you can see above. I didn’t happen to catch the Old Georgetown Board discussion on this application last Thursday, but I would be surprised if it were approved as is.

But in either event, the New Balance is going to come. This is a bit of a shame. Not for any fashionable reasons, but because it means yet another restaurant building on M St. is being converted to fashion retail. While the decline has been less steep in recent years, the aggregate loss of dining options on M St. over the past 10-15 years has been significant. True, Old Glory itself closed way back in 2018. But the relatively short-lived Americas Eats Tavern maintained a lot of the same casual dining spirit (although not quite at the same prices). The two restaurants combined for nearly 30 years of food being served at this address. Now it will be only dad shoes served instead.