Owner of Elwood Thompson’s, Rick Hood, Comments on Columbia Heights Store Status

Rick Hood, owner of Elwood Thompson’s, commented on our recent discussion of Elwood Thompson’s delay in coming to Columbia Heights. Based on the IP address I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of this comment:

“I’m the owner of ET’s and reading all these neighborhood comments. I want to confirm that we’re still in love w/ Columbia Hts and trying to work it out w/ DCUSA. In fact the developer has been to see us in Richmond and is really stretching. We love the diversity of CH and the desire of the community to have a gathering spot for those interested in health, social and environmental consciousnesss around food. Although DCUSA is full of national big boxes, we were attracted to the old facade and feel like we can be the catalyst to more local stores. I think that the education and income levels are growing and the small household size is ideal for us. And Mr T in DC is right, there’s more of our customer type here than Richmond or any other place we’ve studied. Our 15,000sf concept is full service w/ a focus on prepared foods, produce, cheese and meat/seafood. The plan was to include large mural paintings and a long community table that would feel very much like a food co-op -the DCUSA space is perfect. W/ the recession the projected sales have dropped impacting the rent that we can pay and our financing levels. I’m personally very motivated to be here – we really fairly close if we could get a little further help.”

So how do you think we as a community can help facilitate further help?