When, oh when, the Growler asks, will our neighborhood get the retail and service businesses it needs and deserves?The Parker-Gray District is beginning to resemble a small scale version of Prince George's County, where there is also a large pool of individuals with substantial incomes but few local businesses where they might want to spend their dollars.
Here's just few of the types of businesses the Growler would like to see around here:
1. Full-service grocery with fresh produce, dairy and meat. This may come off the list if we get the Harris Teeter at the Madison. (The Growler likes Whole Foods but it's expensive and lacks staples. We need an everyday alternative.)
2. Pharmacy (CVS, RiteAid, Walgreens, etc.) for over the counter and prescribed medications. Could be bundled with #1.
3. Bakery (we miss you, Firehook!) and coffee shops. The Growler never imagined pining for a Starbucks before, but would welcome the green and white logo swaying on a sign in Parker-Gray.
4. Gourmet wine and cheese shop. You have to go to Mt. Vernon Avenue, Bashford Lane, Whole Foods or King Street to fulfil your jones for Syrah or goat cheese. Why not get the fix here?
5. Ice cream and sweets shop. This is a fervent plea to Del Ray's Dairy Godmother to branch out and start an outpost of the Dreamery over here.
6. Ethnic or specialty restaurants (Mexican, Afghan, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Greek, Malaysian or anything cheap, delicious and chic).
7. Full service day spa (not to be confused with the current "Spa Court")
As for the rest, the Growler has mixed opinions. More dry cleaners? Maybe, but only if strategically placed. Boutique fashion stores? Nah, Pentagon City is too close and convenient.
The Growler's worst retail nightmare for Parker-Gray: a proliferation of check cashing stores. Yes, they might serve a need but only at an exploitative level.
Surveying the district, we have economy food already available, like the Blue and White, Goody's, and McDonald's for carry-out and one restaurant for sit-down service(Sarge's). There's several nail and hair salons and barber shops, but some don't seem to be thriving as well as they did, even as recently as last year.
There's some corner groceries, holdovers from the old days when people did their marketing locally. Now those business mostly supply junk food, sodas, cigarettes, wine and beer. Their numbers have dwindled drastically over the quarter century the Growler has been on the scene.
But where's the quality? Where are the businesses that meet the needs of the new homeowners who have spent $500,000 and up for their homes? Where is the retail activity that lures homebuyers here and shores up house prices, which are already dropping dramatically in Parker-Gray?
This neighborhood has the potential to have the diversity, variety and vitality of D.C.'s U Street corridor or even H Street, NE. Why hasn't that happened?
Residents here (particularly two income families) are pulling in five- and six-figure salaries. But they aren't spending those dollars in the neighborhood. We're yearning for smart businessmen who are ready to capitalize on this pent-up demand.
So what would you like to see around here?
17 comments:
CVS, a coffee shop and a bagel place are coming to The Monarch, in the 500 block of N. Fayette. So you can cross of *some* of your wishlist right away!
We new mothers enjoy children's stores. King Street's A Likely Story is our current favorite. We also walk the dog when strolling so maybe a pet store? Like you I miss Firehook, especially the outdoor tables.
A salad bar within healthy walking distance with a hitching post for my pooch. I like doing two things at once.
There's nowhere near the foot traffic anywhere in the area to compete with U street, or even Mt Vernon ave. Route 1 is very pedestrian unfriendly (especially with a stroller) because of the driveways and narrow sidewalks, with tree boxes in the way.
CVS and a bagel store sound like great news -- there hasn't been decent bagels in the area since the Chipotle on King street replaced the store there. I'd also vote for ice cream.
I have heard this screaming for a grocery store a lot recently and I honestly don't understand. There are 2 Giants, a Safeway, and Whole Foods, all within a 5 minute drive from my house. Frankly we should be trying to attract more independent small corner stores, that carry more than junk food and cigarettes. I would rather not see chain stores take over our part of the city. Also, where do you think that these retail stores should be? It seems that you are usually against dense development. Usually the "parking problem" dominates all discussions like this.
CVS ... good!
Bagel place ... good!
Asian ... Maybe
Boozery ... No
Food carryout ... Hell no!
Don't Braddock Place, The Monarch and The Madison projects all offer retail space? So what is your definition of "an independent small corner store?" Many such stores have been blights on the neighborhood.
A hardware store!! Please!!!!!!!
An outpost of Misha's
An outpost of Cheesetique
A permanent farmers market venue - like they have in Portland, Maine and in Seattle
A REAL grocery store - not like our Giant that sells dried up produce
How about a Hair Cuttery or similar place where a gal doesn't have to drop $65 for a haircut
A Sur La Table store
A decent gym to give Sport and Health some much needed competition
A corner garden center, like they have on 14th Street
Some casual, neighborhood restaurants - a la Rustico's
And speak for yourself, Growler - I'll definitely take some boutiques!!
Blue and White is a reasonable example of "economy" food - the hours are reasonable - but most corner carryouts are more trouble than they are worth. Nor do I like that portable food trucks block traffic when serving construction workers. A hardware store is good.
Has there been any discussion about what can be done on the other side of the tracks? Specifically the 7-11/Subway/etc? It's a small piece of land but it'd be nice to tear that up and building a condo building with the 7-11/Subway/more back on the ground floor (knowing that you cannot just take away a 7-11 without a lot of public outcry). But doing this would spruce it up a bit and make it more upscale. I'm guessing the homeowners backing the 7-11 would complain about the shadow such a building would cast on their homes however.
News about the CVS, coffee, and bagel shops is GREAT! I have been wondering what would fill the large retail spaces there. Any word on when these will be open?
It'd be nice to have a nice, sit-down restaurant/bar. Maybe a lounge-type place like Evening Star. Just some place to have a beer on a weeknight when I didn't feel like wandering down to King St or into Del Ray.
Growler, I know you won't like this but I am going to say "someplace that sells good beer." I can get pretty much everything I need within walking/biking distance, but I have to get in my car to find good beer.
How come a Lofts resident can tell us the Monarch's retail mix and the ICCA cannot? I mostly attend their civic meetings and CVS is new news, good news.
Maybe the Growler should introduce trf to the owner of the Queen and Payne Street Market so trf can tell him what to stock.
Talk to the Monarch condo sales folks (McWilliams/Ballard). If you're nice and get them chatting, they'll tell a lot. It's also a good opportunity to tell them what YOU'D like to see in the Monarch retail space.
TRF -- are you not within walking distance of Rustico? Or did you mean beer to bring home and drink? If it's the latter, I have to agree ... a specialty beer/wine store is needed in this area. I don't think it would attract the unwanted attention/customers that some people in the neighborhood seem to think would happen. It's all about being strategic in how a store like that would set up and manage its storefront.
In all the talk of grocery stores and food availability in the neighborhood, or near neighborhood, I can't help but notice that Trader Joe's is markedly absent from most missives? What gives? Why is the johnny come lately Whole Foods most often mentioned as having brought wholesome foods into the 'hood? TJ's offers most of the same basics at a much better value and with great customer service. That entire retail space offers a great, currently available, example of what we in Parker Gray should be hoping to attract more of into the neighborhood--substituting of course Anybucks for a locally owned artsy with comfortable chairs and kid friendly drinking space coffee/tee/ice cream house-- a girl can dream right?
I will admit that living along the northeast border of PG I don't frequent businesses along the Queen/Cameron/Fayette/Payne corridor, most simply because the neighborhood isn't that walkable from East to West, what with Henry/Patrick and all the Monarch construction along the way. It is far easier to walk the 3 blocks to TJ's, Starbucks, the nail place, blockbuster, etc., or even to King street, for godforbid, a bit to eat at a local neighborhood bar/restuarant. Having lived both in the the U street cooridor--T-streeters forever--I know from experience that in addition to a thriving night crowd that comes in during the weekend and goes home after that, the local business that trive RELY heavily on neighbors to frequent there businesses during all the other hours. I've never even walked into Sarge's but he must be doing something right if he has managed to survive all these years at that same location.
Will that however still be true after all the new developments? Don't know, but its clear from all the discussions I have heard here and at ICCA meetings that the neighborhood is clearly divided about what is to be done.
I would hope that collectively we could come together to develop a cohesive neighborhood plan for all the allowable retail space in Parker Gray, the current projects, from my recent months of sitting through a few ICCA meetings and a few planning commission meetings tells me instinctively that "cohesive and collective" aren't really on the top of anybody's list. We clearly need some leadership from ICCA and an actual ELECTED leader or two in city government wouldn't hurt either. At this point the developers seem to be calling most if not all the shots.
I would love to see more businesses in the neighborhood that I could easily frequent, but livability and walkabilty have to be addressed in order for that to happen, otherwise its just as easy to drive or walk farther to get what we need. At this point the walk to King street or the drive to the big safeway if much easier than traversing Patrick, Henry and the Monarch construction zone to get to anything the queen/payne corridor could offer.
It might be absent due to the difficult walk, which is not only difficult logistically but difficult because thats not a very safe area to walk through at night.
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