713 Kennedy Street, NW
“Dear PoPville,
Cheesemonster studio formally announced today that they will be permanently closing their doors due to an untenable safety situation at their studio on Kennedy Street. As detailed by their public instagram post here.
One of their founders was sexually assaulted in broad daylight while attempting to do her job. Cheesemonster studio is owned by two women and is a true small business. It’s just the two of them.
Alice, their founder, has a child under 2 that she brings to work with her. They’ve hosted cheese tasting and education courses all throughout the pandemic that have been a real bright spot for so many people. As far as I know, they are one of the only cheesemongers in DC. Both Kara and Alice are friendly, buoyant people, who have always been so wonderful to interact with. It just sucks so much that they have essentially been pushed out of the community by violence after their best sales year on record, and I’m personally bummed b/c CHEESE!! They had an unreal cheese selection, and it was such a random gem to have in the greater Petworth area.
Kennedy street has experienced some serious challenges this year, and mostly I guess I’m wondering what the plan is to keep this from happening to other small businesses who are just trying to do good in the community? There are so many on that street. The status quo is clearly not acceptable, and we need a more robust violence interruption program that has investment from the neighborhood. Whatever we have right now (which I think is just like…aggressive policing with no attempt at getting to know the community as people) is not working.”