Tag Archives: Restaurant Retail Mix

Some residents fear that homogeneity will accompany Potbelly’s arrival on Barracks Row.  The restaurant is scheduled to move into the space formerly occupied by Tandoor Grill.  Plans for the Indian restaurant to re-open on the newly constructed second floor have been shelved in favor of office space.

Residents want more retail like Danna Oweida’s recently opened Pinktini Fashion Boutique, 705 North Carolina Avenue, in the former home of The Village Gallery, adjacent to Port City Java.

Inside Pinktini Fashion Boutique

…and more like the deceptively named “Homebody” at 715 8th Street, SE, one of the coolest retail outlets on Barrack’s Row. Homebody, co-owned by Henriette Fourcade and Erin Mara is in its ninth year on 8th Street.

Mara interacts with customers outside the store on Saturday.

On the Eve of Potbelly’s Arrival on Barracks Row,​ Is Capitol Hill Losing It’s Character?

by Larry Janezich

On April 8, a City Paper reporter said of the closing of Remington’s: ​ “As reported by PoPville, the building, located at 639 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, was sold a year ago and will be renovated.  If a Potbelly moves in, I’m moving out.”

Well, it’s a good bet that in the coming months Potbelly will move into the space now occupied by Tandoor Grille, and “& Pizza” will replace OXXO Cleaner’s on the same block.  A series of recent changes in Capitol Hill business fixtures point to the state of flux in the neighborhood’s​ commercial corridors.  The continuing trend toward food and drink venues – including fast food – worries residents.

Gone:  The old Hawk ‘n’ Dove, the 18th Amendment, Li’​l Pub, Remington’s, Fusion Grill, Hello Cupcake, Monkey’s Uncle,  Capitol Hill Fitness, the Dollar Store, China Wall.

On the way out:  Tandoor Grill, OXXO, Capitol Hill Sporting Goods, Kraze Burgers.

On the way in:  Potbelly, &Pizza, Capitol Teas, District Doughnuts, Sprint. (The owners of the former Remington’s are reportedly looking for a way to open a food venue in the half of the building not occupied by Sprint.)

Recently arrived:  Pinktini Fashion Boutique, Capitol Frames, Pure Barre. Barrel, Sona, Rose’s Luxury, Chiptole, District Taco, Medium Rare, Kimchii Cafe.

Status uncertain:  Nine restaurants formerly owned by Xavier Cervera.  (A recent rumor that Mr. Henry’s was going on the block was knocked down by owner Alvin Ross, who told CHC “Larry Quillian will never sell the building and I’m here ‘til I die.”)

The list above reflects changes in community demographics,​ ​as ​family​-​oriented businesses replace the edgier – and to some, more interesting – food and drink venues.  As the edgier places turn over,​ landlords look to increase revenues by renting to food and drink providers.  City agencies seem disposed to businesses which provide the most tax revenue.  Rodney Smith of Capitol Hill Sporting Goods, who has until January before his lease is up, says the building’s owner has been approached by a sushi bar operator.

One factor that contributes to high rent (and the bias in favor of chains that can afford them) is the major transportation hub at Eastern Market Metro.  A high volume of foot traffic provides fertile ground for fast food outlets.  Rents in the 400 block of 8th are reported to be $80 – $100 per square foot compared with $40 – $50 in the 700 block of 8^th Street.

Residents and Barracks Row Main Street would like to see the street become home to more retail.  Five of the more successful Capitol Hill retail outlets are Homebody, Labyrinth Games and Puzzles, Hill’s Kitchen, Metro Mutts, and Biker Barre.  It’s noteworthy that owners of all five businesses live on Capitol Hill.  Erin Mara, co-owner of Homebody,​ says that it helps to have a good landlord and says “sometimes, we don’t pay ourselves.”  The Labyrinth Games & Puzzles and Howl to the Chief were recently listed as two of the 24 coolest small businesses in DC by Business Insider.  http://read.bi/1ntYv7G   Owner Kathleen Donahue of Labyrinth points to customer service and making your store a destination as the keys to retail success on Capitol Hill.   Leah Daniels of Hill’s Kitchen says that engaging the community beyond the store by participating in community events, embracing the “unbelievable amount of work,” and framing your selection around customer interests and listening to their feedback is key to her store’s success.

With the current legal trouble of Kraze Burger and Cervera​’s former empire, the recent anonymous comment on a recent posting on CHC: “the monoculture of food establishments on 8th is taking a beating. Maybe 8th St. needs some evolutionary diversity to survive as a commercial corridor,​” ​seems​ all the more relevant.​

So too do policies favoring restaurants over retail – like those which allow restaurants to pay far below minimum wage and allow tips to compensate (and exceed) the difference.  Visitors from Europe and Asia – including South Korea – must be surprised at the expectation of tips in American restaurants.  It’s worth remembering that customers subsidize artificially low labor costs for restaurants and bars, which depend upon greater numbers of workers to function, but which can also rely on a high mark-up for alcohol to produce a higher net profit.

And then there is the question of quality, and local versus chain.  Some of the people who would pass by a Potbelly’s will try an affordable yet more interesting spot like H Street’s Toki Underground, Chupacabra, or Taste of Jamaica.  Yet it is hard to design a policy tool that will facilitate one type of business over another.  Likewise, the success of the locally owned Biker Barre exercise and fitness business on 7th Street probably factored in to the Pure Barre fitness chain’s decision to open an outlet over Metro Mutts on Barracks Row.  It is difficult to see any threat to Biker Barre’s popularity as a result, especially since the fitness studio keeps its prices competitive.

In light of the city’s hunger for revenue at the expense of integrity of the community, it’s up to residents to hold ANC6B and city agencies accountable to preserve the commercial diversity and unique character of our neighborhood.  And in the end, it will be up to the neighbors to vote with their credit cards – in either direction.

Wall Street Journal Reports Hawk ‘n’ Dove Files for Bankruptcy

by Larry Janezich

The Wall Street Journal reported tonight about 7:30pm, that Barrack’s Row Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.  The action also apparently protects Boxcar Tavern, The Chesapeake Room, Lola’s Barracks Bar & Grill, Molly Malone’s, Pacifico, Senart’s Oyster & Chop House, Park Tavern in Canal Park, and the soon to open Willie’s Brew and Que, on the Southeast Waterfront.  According to the WSJ, Manager Richard Cervera signed the bankruptcy petition.

Capitol Hill Corner reached original co-owner Xavier Cervera, who sold the restaurants to Boston Equity Firm in 2013  (Richard is Xavier’s brother, and part of the group which purchased the restaurants.)    Xavier Cervera said, “Not really sure what’s going on. My business partner and I sold the company in December of 2012. We did finance a large part of the sale so I guess our attorneys will be very busy next week trying to establish what difficulties they are having .”   (Update:  CHC erroneously reported Xavier  has a contract with the new owners   to manage the day to day operations of the nine restaurants.   He has no such contract.   Xavier does not and has not since the sale managed the restaurants.  He has a contract to work as a consultant.   CHC regrets the error.)

See the WSJ Story here:  http://on.wsj.com/1pljTNL

For CHC posting on the sale of the restaurant group to Boston Equity Firm in April of 2013, see here:  http://bit.ly/1dVMFgU

Martin Smith, Executive Director of BRMS, recaps the group’s 2013 accomplishments

Barracks Row Main Street Celebrates Success in Attracting New Businesses

CSX Continues Major Financial Support of BRMS

by Larry Janezich

Last Wednesday, Barracks Row Main Street (BRMS) held its annual meeting celebration to highlight the 13 new businesses on 8^th Street in 2013 and four new arrivals so far in 2014.  One of those new 2014 arrivals, the soon to open Capital Teas, at 731 8^th Street, hosted the event.

The majority of businesses which opened on Barracks Row in 2013 were food and beverage and service providers, including the restaurants Ambar, Kraze Burger, Nooshi, Tash, and Rose’s Luxury.  Service providers included Capitol Hill Fitness (now defunct), Metropolitan Wellness Medical Marijuana Dispensary, Momentum Dance & Fitness, The Nails Spa, Optimus Website Design, and End to End Strategies.  The oil industry environmental advocacy group, Oil Change International also set up shop on Barracks Row last year, as did the lone retail operation, DCanter, purveyor of artisan wines and craft beers from around the world.

Martin Smith, Executive Director of BRMS also touted four early-2014 new business arrivals, including the prix fixe steak house Medium Rare and the vintage donut shop, District Donuts (opening soon in the former Sneed’s Barber Shop), Capitol Frame (formerly Capitol Hill Fitness), and lastly, Capitol Teas.

A Spot of Tea

Capital Teas is especially welcome as a of one-of-a-kind retail outlet which brings a different product line to the corridor.  The company is headquartered in Annapolis, and has an outlet there as well as Bethesda Row, Dupont Circle, Bethesda Wildwood, Fairfax, and National Harbor.  In addition to Capitol Hill, the company will open up in Charlottesville this year. The company is family-owned and operated by fifth generation tea merchants and traces its tea heritage to co- founder Manellle Martino’s great-great grandfather, Francis Van Reyk.  See: http://www.capitalteas.com

Manelle Martino, co-founder of Capital Teas. BRMS Martin Smith (center) confers with BRMS President David Perry in background.

The BRMS board of directors is made up of representatives of business interests in the broader Capitol Hill retail corridors.  According to Martin Smith, the board recently broadened its membership to bring in more retailers and property owners.  BRMS oversees efforts to recruit and retain small businesses, enhancement projects for public spaces, the Barracks Row façade improvement program, and a series of annual Barracks Row events.

Day to day operations of BRMS depend upon contributions and support from the corporations, DC Government agencies, foundations, businesses interests, and the broader Capitol Hill community.  For the second year in a row, the major cash and in kind donors contributing $10,000 or more included CSX Transportation, DC Department of Housing and Community Development, DC Department of Small & Local Business Development, and the National Capital Bank Foundation.

Rodney Smith, proprietor of Capitol Hill Sports Goods and Apparel, reflected on the past 11 years on Barracks Row

Capitol Hill Sporting Goods and Apparel Looks for a Way Out

Flight of Retail from Barracks Row Continues

by Larry Janezich

Rodney Smith, proprietor of Capitol Hill Sporting Goods and Apparel at 737 8^th Street, SE, has a “Liquidation Sale” sign in his window.  After 11 years in business he is looking to get out of his lease which runs until 2017 and close up shop.  He says he is overstocked and business is not good.  He’s asking his landlord to give him a year to liquidate and then get out of his lease so “I can leave with clean hands.”

“It’s a landlord’s market,” he said, adding “nobody comes up to shop – they come up to eat.  And a lot of the restaurants aren’t doing that well because there are so many.”  He also blames the city for not being friendly to small business, “any time you bring in five Walmarts into an area this small, we can’t compete.”

Smith was born and raised in the neighborhood and attended J.R. Giddings school, now the site of Results Gym.  He played semi-pro basketball until an injury forced his retirement.  He has had other businesses before this sports shop, including a NE carry-out.

If he can get his landlord to agree, he says he’ll be gone by this time next year.  He hopes to avoid calling in a liquidator who will give him cents on the dollar, preferring to let the community in on a good deal.  But, he says, “it’s up to him” meaning the landlord.  “If I don’t get out of the lease, I don’t know how I’m going to make it.  It will cost me $200,000 if I stay until 2017 – we don’t want to, we can’t survive.”

He said when he first opened there was a lot of retail on Barracks Row.  Now, he points to Homebody and Capitol Hill Bikes as the only two retailers left on the block.   He remembered the stationery store, the toy store in the 500 block which was succeeded by a jewelry shop, and the art outlet – Attitude Exact.  Regarding the latter, he said, “When the lease came up, the landlord raised the rent to $7500 a month wanting to lease it to a restaurant.  They eventually lowered the rent – there’s a nail shop there now.”

In February, 2011, Capitol Hill Corner reported that the ANC was gearing up to fight the application of the building’s owners for a CT (tavern) license to open the 8^th Street Bar and Grill in place of Capitol Hill Sporting Goods.  At its November 9, 2010, meeting, ANC 6b voted 10-0 to protest the application for the new tavern license.  ANC6B and neighbors mounted a success campaign to prevent ABRA from granting the license.  See that story here: http://bit.ly/1k06PND

NY Entrepreneur Looks to Open Upscale Pizza Outlet on Barracks Row – Seeks Exception To Ban on Fast Food Restaurants

by Larry Janezich

Steve Salis, a New York-based entrepreneur with four years of experience in hospitality management, consulting, and event production, announced at last night’s ANC6B meeting that he has begun the process of seeking an exception to the establishment of a fast food restaurant on Barracks Row.  He termed the restaurant – which would be at 415 8^th Street in the space formerly occupied by China Wall – “a quick-casual pizza concept featuring made to order personal pizzas.”  The concept is similar to that of Chipotle Mexican Grill, which would be next door.  This is the first restaurant in what Salis hopes will be a fast-casual pizza chain.

Subsequently, Salis said, “[w]e are a fast-casual pizza concept; focused on creating customizable made to order personal gourmet pizzas, using top quality fresh ingredients. We are not in the slice game or in the take-out/delivery business. Our goal is to bring a high quality product to the customer in a timely manner.”  He estimates that ten percent of the business will be carryout.

Salis won’t reveal the name of the new establishment since it is undergoing the trademarking process.  He said he would like to serve beer and wine but understands the sensitivities in the neighborhood, “so there are some things what would have to be worked out.”  If everything goes according to plan, the restaurant could open in spring of 2012.

Mr. Salis worked for top hospitality clients before starting his own hospitality and marketing company in 2006, serving as a consultant to such organizations as China Grill Management, Riese Restaurant Corporation, and Food Scope.  He is currently a managing partner in a successful West Village boutique bar called Su Casa, where he personally handles the operations, marketing, and promotion of the business. He is also a partner and executive producer of This Is Burlesque, a riotous and racy supper club show, proclaimed “The best of Burlesque” (AM NY).