Petco Will Fill Last Large DCUSA Space

DCUSA : 3100 14th St NW

The dreams of an indie, vegan friendly, organic grocery opening just two blocks from Mount Pleasant are officially dead. They actually had been for some time, but the impending arrival of Petco to the 15,000 square foot space in Columbia Heights' DCUSA development put the nail in the coffin. DCUSA is a very large (890,000 sq feet) retail development at the corner of 14th and Irving Sts NW. It opened in March 2008.

Petco was an original, planned tenant of DCUSA. The pet supply retail store was first slated for space 115, which is now half empty and half filled by The Children's Place clothing store. Petco will now occupy space 125, under the DSW shoe store. Space 125 was originally assigned to Whole Foods, then in October 2008, set aside for Ellwood Thompson's, a Richmond, VA based grocery. However, Ellwoods never did open a store in the District. They eventually opened a very similar store in Rockville, MD, named Dawson's Market.

Petco location at corner of  Hiatt Pl and Irving St NW

Ellwood Thompson's: If and When...

Yes, the economy sucks. And locally that means plenty of empty retail storefronts. Most are in older buildings in which a former tenant has moved or closed. But some vacancies are in new construction. Like in DCUSA, the massive retail development located three blocks from Mount Pleasant.

One of the original planned tenants was Whole Foods. That deal never materialized and later speculation focused on Ellwood Thompson's, a Richmond, VA heath food store. Then the signs went up. It was official, Ellwood Thompson's was opening a location in DCUSA: target date, winter 2009. That was immediately followed by the realization that the country was already in economic disarray, with many of the problems originating with real estate. So, the move to DC was put on hold. However the company was still spending money. They are paying the rent on the DCUSA space and over the last two years completed a huge expansion of the Richmond store including a stand alone coffee shop located across the parking lot from the store. (They have great vegan breakfast wraps by the way. And a Clover.)

I hope they make it here someday soon. Here's what you'd have to look forward to when and if they can make it happen. The location would be 15,000 sq feet of space in DCUSA on the first floor, directly under the Best Buy store. Elwoods would front on Irving Street and face the Highland Park building. It's unknown if they'd make room for the stand alone coffee shop, but perhaps it'd look like the last photo here. One can hope, right?

10-Year Tax Bill Helped Bring Grocer to DCUSA

The Ellwood Thompson's Local Market decision to open a store at Columbia Heights' DC USA was helped along by an emergency bill passed by DC Council. Ward One Councilmember Jim Graham an Ward Two Councilmember Jack Evans co-sponsored the bill.

The new emergency bill (NEIGHBORHOOD SUPERMARKET TAX RELIEF CLARIFICATION EMERGENCY DECLARATION RESOLUTION OF 2009 - PDF [updated 2009 version of the bill]) clarified an existing piece of legislation which gave stand alone full service supermarkets ten years of property tax and sales tax incentives for operating in DC. The new legislation broadens the scope to include supermarkets which open as a part of a larger development. Ellwood Thompson's will occupy 15,000 square feet on the first floor of DC USA, a 500,000+ square foot development at the corner of 14th and Irving Streets NW. The face of the store will be on the Irving Street side under Best Buy.

Ellwood Thomposn's joins YES! Organic Market stores in Adams Morgan and U Street, Whole Foods on P Street, and Everlasting Life at Howard as another health food store option for mid city residents. They will to employ about 100 staff members and offer credits to customers who bike/walk/mass transit to the store and for those who use their own bags. Ellwood's was one of the first, if not the first grocery in Richmond to give a bag credit (5¢) to its customers. Also, mimicking the policy of the Richmond store, Ellwood's will buy local produce and other products from within a 100 mile radius. Luckily it looks to be a vegan/vegetarian paradise with the choice of vegan cookbook author and chef Jannequin Bennett to head the prepared foods section. The store should open late 2009 or early 2010.

Former Employer Won't Leave Me Alone

Ellwood Thompson's, the Richmond VA natural grocer is coming to DC. I was gainfully employed at Ellwood's many years ago before I left Richmond. It is named after the intersection where it sits, Ellwood Avenue at Thompson Street. This will be the third location, although the second location opened and closed in the early 2000s. Richmond was not ready for two organic, vegan friendly markets. We are though!

Most of my paychecks went to buying groceries from ET and the pennies which remained went towards my college tuition. At the time ET was really the only game in town for organic, vegan and enviro-friendly alternative grocery shopping. Richmond was dominated by Hannafords (now Kroger) and another homegrown chain, Ukrop's. Whole Foods didn't arrive in the Richmond market until summer of this year.

Ellwood's was right on the edge of the downtown/uptown boundary. It was close enough for the suburban and uptown shoppers to get to without driving too far into the city and close enough for bike-bound college kids and cool kids (me) to get there easily as well. Like all the workers I was employed in about 10 different roles. It was a small operation and very friendly. Once, we had the year end holiday party at the owners house. I secretly thumbed through his CD collection in the "music room;" there were over 5,000 CDs! The atmosphere at ET is nothing at all like P Street Whole Foods or even Yes! Market. Much more homey and friendlier. I hope the new location is the same. Maybe the economy will force me to take a second job.... I wonder if they still have my stellar employee record on file.

Ellwood Thompson's will occupy the old Columbia Heights Post Office space in DCUSA, on Irving Street, below Best Buy. The store maintains an opening date of sometime during the winter of 2009-2010.