J.Crew at 950 F Street NW |
Cruising around J. Crew's website, I got a little excited after seeing a sidebar item, "The Liquor Store." So, I clicked it. No luck. And no booze. Just clothes. The link led to a line of clothes from their Manhattan shop which is housed in a former liquor store. This is the shop you go to find that men's jacket that's always modeled with the bottom two buttons undone (not very good at keeping the cold out, man), chambray bow ties (there's an Anthony Williams joke somewhere in there), and old (but not really - they're new, but we washed them already. and they're faded) "work" jeans. But no booze. So, know that. J. Crew does not serve booze.
That being said, they've been operating two traditional clothing stores in the District for some time now. One is located in Friendship Heights, the other in Georgetown.
Now, J. Crew is planning to open a store downtown, at 950 F St NW, not far from Anthropologie, American Apparel, H&M, Zara, Forever 21, Peruvian Connection and other clothing stores. J. Crew will be two floors totaling 8,600 square feet. In comparison, both H&M and Forever 21 are each over 25,000 sq ft. Anthropologie is 10,700 sq ft. The J. Crew store will open in August.
And why not on F Street? The street had its retail heyday years ago, but isn't too shabby these days with a great mix of retail and restaurant, catering to office workers, residents as well as tourists visiting the museums, theaters and other attractions in the neighborhood.