PoPville » Pangea Artisan Market & Cafe Abruptly Closes Downtown

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Pangea Artisan Market & Cafe Abruptly Closes Downtown

Pangea in March ’10

“Dear PoP,

I work right across the street from Pangea (I can see it right now) and it’s totally empty. Everything is totally moved out – they didn’t even have a going out of business sign – they were open on friday!! EVERYTHING is gone. and i mean EVERYTHING.”

Wild. We had just checked them out at 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW last March.

Their Web site is no longer active as well. It previously said,

“Pangea is Greek for “all lands”. Pangeamarket.com, supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), brings together traditional high quality handicrafts made by artisans in developing countries.”

It’s too bad it sounded like a cool spot benefitting a good cause. Anyone know what happened?

Pangea in Feb ’11

Category: coffee, Coming and Going, Downtown, Foggy Bottom

By: Prince Of Petworth | 02 February 2011 10:30 AM | 9 Comments

g

i went in here a few times when i went to gw. always kinda wondered how they stayed in business.

February 2, 2011 at 10:54 am
Ben

Not at all surprised. I went in their twice during weekday lunchtime, and both times there was hardly anyone there. I, too, wondered how they managed to stay in business for so long.

The concept was an interesting one, but seemed more suited to a Dupont/AdMo/Mount Pleasant than downtown.

February 2, 2011 at 11:02 am
john

IFC offices are moving into the space

February 2, 2011 at 11:23 am
steve

I’m pretty sure this was an IFC-run store, much like the World Bank “InfoShop”, so this doesn’t really surprise me. It was less of a developing-world-hippie-handicraft store and more of a look-at-the-good-we-do PR move by the organization. they were probably not profitable and may have realized that the only people shopping there are drinking the koolaid anyway.

February 2, 2011 at 11:47 am
Soup of the Day

Yet another voice echoing the ‘no surprises here’ thinking. While the place definitely had it’s charm, the combo of a fine international crafts boutique with an over-priced cafe was a bit strange. I also wondered how they managed to stay in business so long.

February 2, 2011 at 12:12 pm
- anon_
  
  over priced? no way. They had the cheapest coffee in the area. Sbux and other in the area are much more expensive.
  I think it was under 3dollars for a good cup of Illy
  
  February 2, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Richko

They’d been advertising a “Final Sale” for weeks in Express or CityPaper or both, so this is hardly a surprise. Except I took it to mean “the end of the only time this year we’ll ever put stuff on sale.”

February 2, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Tim

Shame to see this go. I got people some great Xmas gifts from here a couple years back.

February 2, 2011 at 1:18 pm
paul thomas

Pangea was poorly managed by two morons who where brothers, Deepak and Sunil Shrestha.
They didn’t know how to run a coffee shop.
they hired general managers to do all the job while taking seat in their office .
The first 9 months of business , the store had 6 general managers in a row.

February 16, 2011 at 12:40 am