The Georgetown Metropolitan

Despite the prevalence of vacancies around the Georgetown retail areas, a lot of stores are planning on opening soon. Here are a couple I’ve learned of recently:

-Away

This hip luggage store appears to be opening at 3237 M St., which was most recently the Same Day Health testing site. Like a lot of stores opening in Georgetown recently, this is a “direct to consumer” brand. DTC brands are basically companies that start off selling directly to customers over the web, and then move to opening their own brick-and-mortar stores.

This location was going to be a flavored vodka shop, but that seems to have fallen through.

-Diptyque

This scent-oriented shop has already opened at 3237 M St. (although I have to admit not noticing it yet). It sells various fragrant items such as candles and hand cream.

This location previously hosted Pacers Running, which moved over to Wisconsin Ave.

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Douglas looks to convert office building at M and 27th to residential.
• I put out my tree on the sidewalk Sunday and it was gone this morning. Thank you DPW for the quick service! You have till March 1st to put yours out too. Although seriously that’s way too late! You could burn your house down like that…

A new restaurant has opened at 1560 Wisconsin Ave: Oakberry. It’s a large chain restaurant focused on açai bowls and smoothies. Here’s its menu for the bowls:

As for smoothies:

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• New Georgetown retail leasing dominated by small spaces.
• I’ve posted these before, but it’s always fascinating to see these old shots of kids playing in the street in Georgetown in the 1930s.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’ve dug up an Ebay find. It’s a postcard showing a pencil drawing of Dumbarton St./Ave., just west of Wisconsin Ave.

The date of the card or the drawing itself is not readily apparent from the listing. The back of the card isn’t that helpful either:

The fact that the card calls the street Dumbarton Ave. instead of Dumbarton St., suggests it’s a bit old. But the distinction between avenue and street was pretty muddy for a long time for Dumbarton. (In short, it was once an avenue, was renamed a street, but lots of people kept calling it an avenue. That usage, however, seems to have petered out mostly by the 1970s.) So my first guess would be mid 20th century for the card.

Of course there are more clues. Most obviously the drawing features a bookstore at 3148 Dumbarton. It appears to be called Sorel’s Books. I figured the name would pop-up right away in an old newspaper search, but sadly there is not a single mention of it in either the Post’s or the Washington Star’s archives.

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Calvin Caffritz passes away.
• Sign up for the Georgetown Main Streets monthly newsletter to get the latest on shops along the corridor and Takeout Tuesday.

3200 block of Volta Place

Hyde Addison’s PTA has teamed up with Georgetown’s 1310 Kitchen & Bar (chef Jenn Crovato) for a charity Pot-Pie-athon! 25% of all sales go to Hyde, to cover school needs beyond the basics provided to the school from its budget from the city. 

Sales run online today through Feb. 6. You schedule your pickup from Feb. 13 to Feb. 15 at 1310 Kitchen & Bar (located at 1310 Wisconsin Avenue NW and around the corner from Hyde).

Use this link to submit your order and the restaurant will follow up with an invoice: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYq3pZ9rkXZtou_wnzQE4OeF0WOeRHATwx9psl6aF2FruVAg/viewform

Stock your freezer with a wide-selection of locally-made comfort food while supporting Hyde-Addison Elementary! 

 Items include: Chicken Pot Pie | Spring Vegetable Pot Pie | Mac & Cheese | Penne with Lamb Ragu | Eggplant Parmesan | Zucchini Lasagna | Chicken Enchiladas | Egg Enchiladas | Moussaka | Shakshuka Starter! 

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown dominated the top home sales in the DC area last year.
• Coverage of our first ANC meeting of the year.

Looks like we might have another Georgetown Cupcake on our hands. The new cafe Yellow has been open just a couple weeks and it’s already producing lines up the sidewalk.

The scene above was Saturday afternoon. And to be fair, it has not been quite this mobbed every day. But it’s obviously hit a great sweet spot! Clearly the demand for tasty food and drinks is still well in excess of the supply. Let’s hope it inspires more places to open nearby. (I’m particularly thinking about the former Via Umbria across the street, which has been vacant since the Officina pop-up left.)

Success brings challenges, such as keeping the sidewalk clear. But it’s a good sort of problem to have.