Category Archives: Retail

December 29, 2009 · 10:01 am

Sarah’s Market Dry Cleaning Service Starts Up

As described back in May, Sarah’s Market got approval to start offering dry cleaning services. The plan involved setting aside about a third of the store’s floor space for a clothing drop-off/pick-up area (no actual dry cleaning or laundering will occur on the premises).

After an extensive remodel, the store started its dry cleaning services yesterday. The dry cleaning services will be provided by Hurt Cleaners in Arlington. The dry cleaner window will be open from 7 AM till 7 PM Monday through Saturday. On top of dry cleaning, minor alteration services will also be available.

As an introductory special, there will be a 20% discount on all services until January 1.

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December 23, 2009 · 10:00 am

Scheele’s Update

It’s been relatively quiet on the Save Scheele’s front for a little while. GM started even to hear neighbors wonder whether the sale was being held up due to the ongoing credit crisis. Much of this speculation was based on the observation that construction appears to have ground to a complete halt at Marc Teren’s other project, the Williams-Addison house. So today into that speculative void stepped a fresh update from Save Scheele’s leader Mike Peabody.

He wrote to the supporters:

The contract between Marc Teren and the Scheele trust is on hold pending an appraisal of the property. After many months of negotiation between the community and Marc,  we reached agreement for the continuation of the store for up to 25 years as long as it continues to be financially viable. In return we will be helping Marc renovate the store by paying him $75,000 which together with another $25000 for expenses we hope to raise from the community. We look forward to implementing that agreement if the contract between Marc and the Scheele’s goes forward and to a happy conclusion in the new year. Happy Holidays!

Congratulations goes out to Mike and all those that pitched in. While many questions remain over the future of the market and the role the Lee family will play in that, for now it is enough to celebrate that we will likely have a Scheele’s Market at least through the 30’s.

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October 16, 2009 · 10:00 am

Update on Scheele’s

Scheele's Update

Yesterday, Mike Peabody sent around an update on his group’s efforts to save Scheele’s market:

As you may know, Marilyn Melkonian, Peter Jost and myself, assisted by Eric Rome (attorney) have been in negotiation with Marc Teren to continue the operation of the store for the next 25 years.

We are inches apart still in the wording of the agreement and hope to have it signed shortly.  It is discussed more fully in the attachment.

Once executed we must raise $75,000 prior to the closing to complete the agreement and we will be seeking pledges from you and others in the community who wish the store to be saved.  We have pledges in hand for some $25,000 from persons close to the transaction.

Hope to have a clearer picture soon.

Mike Peabody

Could a good old fashion Palio be in order?

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October 6, 2009 · 10:00 am

A Georgetown Palio?

Edith Schafer had an interesting article in this month’s CAG newsletter. In it she described the current situation of Scheele’s market. (Read this for a background on the situation).

When we last heard from Scheele’s, Marc Teren had agreed to buy the building and lease it out to a community group who would lease it back to Teren on the promise to maintain a market there.

Schafer offers a few more details on Teren’s plans than were previously available. According to Schafer, Teren would like to renovate the store and add a butcher and more fresh fruit and vegetables. He is also planning to take out the parking spaces and expand the store.

What role the Lees, who have operated the store for over 20 years, would play is still unclear. GM has even heard that they may leave as soon as Teren closes on the building, a result few around the neighborhood would be happy with.
Continue reading →

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September 15, 2009 · 10:00 am

There But for the Grace of Zoning?

There but for the Grace of Zoning?

Recently, there has been much gnashing of teeth over the supposed decline and fall of Cleveland Park. Blogs have bemoaned it for a while, but the angst gained a higher profile last week when the Washington Post focused its attention on the puzzling growth of vacant storefronts in the historically stable Northwest neighborhood.

The Post wrote:

[M]ost businesses in other parking-starved areas, such as Dupont Circle and Georgetown, appear — so far, at least — to be weathering the economic downturn. In Cleveland Park, 11 of 64 storefronts are vacant.

This recent attention comes in the wake of several high-profile tenants in Cleveland Park closing their doors, including Magruder’s, 7-11, and Starbucks(!). But many are not content to put the blame solely on the economic climate. Rather, many argue that Cleveland Park’s supposedly restrictive zoning regulations: Continue reading →

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August 18, 2009 · 10:00 am

Safeway Hardship Discount Over

Safeway recently gave us one less reason to stay loyal during the construction of Social Safeway Mark II. As GM pointed out, Safeway offered an automatic 10% discount to Georgetown residents when they shop at one of Safeway’s other stores. GM naively thought this hardship discount would last during the extent of the construction. He found out last weekend that that’s not the case. Apparently Safeway stopped the discount in July.

GM didn’t notice until his Safeway Club Card discount seemed only as big as, well, a normal Club Card discount. The cashier verified our suspicions, the 10 percent discount was discontinued. Presumably Safeway figures whatever habits Georgetowners will form during the construction have already formed.

And hey, how’s that construction coming anyway? Construction photo after the jump: Continue reading →

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August 10, 2009 · 10:00 am

A Peek Into the North Face

GM stopped by the North Face to see how the construction is coming. It looks like they might meet the August opening deadline after all:

View of the North Face Store Under Construction on M St.

One more photo after the jump: Continue reading →

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July 9, 2009 · 8:00 am

The Morning Metropolitan

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • It’s not just 40 year old independently owned establishments closing down: Smith and Hawken is closing down too.
  • It’s not just massive garden supply store chains that are shutting down: Ritz Camera is probably liquidating its stores too (including the one on M St.).
  • At least Martins is still around; although if they do too many promotions like this, they won’t be.
Photo of the waterfront by Flickr user Industriarts used under Creative Commons license.

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May 11, 2009 · 2:04 pm

Favorite Things – #10 – Abundance

GM tied the knot on Saturday at the Dumbarton House and now he’s on a two week honeymoon across Europe. As such he won’t be able to write timely articles for the next two weeks. In their place, GM has prepared a list of his top ten favorite things about Georgetown. Starting today at number 10: abundance. As in an abundance of stores, restaurants and other establishments.

As GM’s research discovered a while back, Georgetown is not as overrun with chains as many think. Yes there are a lot of chains, but there are simply a whole lot of establishments period. There over 400 stores, restaurants, and other establishments in Georgetown (it’s probably even close to 500 when you add the streets that were not in GM’s survey). That’s a huge amount of stores for a village of 60 acres.

There are so many stores and restaurants in Georgetown that if you don’t like a certain type of store or restaurant, there probably are a lot of places here that you don’t like. That makes it easy for people to write off the neighborhood because of its chains or because of its fratish bars. But in doing so, people ignore all those stores that they would like if they could see beyond the chains or frat bars.

There are three used and rare book stores in Georgetown, do you think many people know that?

It is that abundance, with its challenge to see beyond the warts, that GM selects as his 10th favorite thing about Georgetown.

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April 17, 2009 · 11:00 am

Details on How to Get Free Safeway Delivery

GM told you all about Safeway’s plan to give us free delivery during the construction of Social Safeway Jr. A helpful reader has provided the Georgetown Metropolitan with a little more detail on how exactly to claim that free delivery:

1.    Go to Safeway.com
2.    Create a New Account
3.    Order over $50 worth of groceries
4.    When you checkout, use the promotion code “FREE642”

This deal reaches significantly beyond just Georgetown. Anyone in the following zip codes can partake: 20005, 20006, 20007, 20008, 20009, 20010, 20036 & 20037. That’s a huge chunk of NW DC, covering ground from Georgetown all the way over to Dupont, Logan and Columbia Heights. 20008 alone goes from Kalorama all the way up to Friendship Heights.

But there’s one zip code pretty close to Safeway that’s not covered: 20052, otherwise known as the campus of the George Washington University. Ouch. That’s no way to draw students away from Trader Joe’s.

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