Weed Shop Eyes East Capitol Site
by Larry Janezich
Posted June 8, 2025
The former Congress Market at 421 East Capitol SE.
Signage appeared Saturday, June 7, on the former Congress Market at 421 East Capitol SE, indicating it intends to open as a cannabis dispensary. Neighbors are up in arms at the prospect and a lot of them sent emails of protest to CM Charles Allen and ANC6B.
It didn’t take Allen long to respond, despite it being a weekend, let alone a Sunday.
As it turns out, it does not appear that the owners of the shop have begun the process of applying for a license to dispense medical marijuana. The expectation in the neighborhood has been that the former corner store would reopen as just that. The owners had applied and the ANC had supported the application to renew the store’s previous retail alcohol beverage license – but this has nothing to do with the sale or gifting of cannabis. Word spread that the renewal might come up tomorrow, June 9, at an Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) hearing, and neighbors felt blind-sided, feeling that they had lost an opportunity to protest and would have had they suspected the intent to open a dispensary.
Sunday morning Allen reached out to Fred Moosally the head of ABCA to apprise him of the issue and the illegal signage. Moosally, he said, will flag the property for inspection and alert the ABCA Board of the pending application for the alcohol license renewal. Allen told neighbors in an email, “I’ll work to get more information from (Moosally) this week and follow-up…. This feels like a bad actor trying to open up under false pretenses, not engaging with the community about what it needs and wants, and appears clearly to not be what the neighborhood needs.”
Here’s a link to the ABCA website for additional info: https://abca.dc.gov/#gsc.tab=0
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 
Our councilmanic and ANC sentinels having to work the weekend is part of the job.
The amusing element of this East Capitol drama is that anyone — the anyone is at this point curiously anonymous — who owns the building? — who is the new tenant? — would think for a even a brief moment that a weed shop on Capitol Hill’s premier residential avenue, a stone’s throw from a congressional day care facility, and a not much longer stone’s toss from Congress itself, would fly. What was Capitol Smokers smoking? (Sorry.)
A last-minute change of plans must have occurred. A month or two ago, a freshly painted Congress Market sign went up, signalling a reopening of the corner store. Not that we necessarily need one; there’s a corner store one block away. Maybe we suffered a bait-and-switch. Who knows.
A couple of recent real estate events offer a solution. The barber shop at 9th & East Capitol and the decades abandoned barber shop at 10th & Independence SE have recently been converted to residences. Think inside the box.
Thanks for flagging this Larry. I had seen the sign for Congress Market and thought it was a new sign, but apparently it was not. This is unfortunate and hopefully will go through the appropriate process.
I give it a year….
Editor’s Note: Capitol Hill Corner wishes to alert readers that this comment was received with no email contact and no personal names attached.
Clarification Statement from the Owners of the Shop at 421 East Capitol Street SE
I am the owner of the business located at 421 East Capitol Street SE, and I would like to respectfully clarify the following to the residents of the neighborhood and the appropriate regulatory authorities:
We appreciate the opportunity to be part of this neighborhood and look forward to being a positive and respectful presence here.
With respect,
Capitol Smokers Owners
Far outside my wheelhouse, so I had to consult an expert, Dr. Google. Glass pipes and grinders are cannabis accessories. “Related items,” well, that pretty much covers the waterfront. Papers? Baggies? Burn clutch? Stash box?
It’s hard to imagine a Capitol Hill business plan aimed at tobacco smokers. A chain-smoking dear friend moved away last year, which I think dropped the nicotine zonked population hereabouts by 50%.
If our anonymous correspondent really wanted to make a living, he’d op for Capitol Hill’s drug of choice, caffeine.
How much money could there possibly be in “legal smoking accessories, such as lighters, glass pipes, grinders, and related items” in any location whatsoever; let alone in one in which demand must surely be approaching zero? Why would there be any profit or demand for accessories in a location so distant from cannabis sales? Does there still exist anybody who rolls their own cigarettes or smokes tobacco in a pipe?
I was at first concerned about who would be responsible for informing this owner of the existence of laws pertaining to signage in the historic district, but now with this exhibit of hubris, I would rather watch and see whether they erect a new illegal sign so we can once again hear them “apologize for any confusion the signage may have caused and assure the community that this was not our intention.”
[PS–Thank you as always, Larry.]