Retail

Capitol Hemp Opening Second Location in Chinatown

By Prince Of Petworth

We took a look at the Adams Morgan location here. From a press release:

When Adam Eidinger and Alan Amsterdam opened Capitol Hemp Clothing and Accessories on April 20, 2008, they never imagined it would be less than two years before they would open a second store at 519 H Street, NW. Now the DC duo are pleased to announce they will host a major event at the Rock N Roll Hotel!! On the evening of Tuesday, April 20, 2010. The event is expect to demonstrate the strong support in the DC community for Capitol Hemp which regularly showcases undiscovered artists and designers, gallery openings and special events.

The Anniversary concert will demonstrate Capitol Hemp’s deep committed to Washington, DC’s musicians, artists and activists. “We’ve assembled an all star line-up of some of DC’s most exciting musical artists,” says Adam Eidinger. Doors open at 8pm, the show begins at 9pm and its an all ages event. Tickets are only $10

Eight piece reggae band SEE-I is going to get the revellers dancing with their unique blend of soul, funk and 70’s dancehall grooves. Featuring 6 members of Thievery Corporation, SEE-I really is a “Homegrown” super band! Nationally touring act FORT KNOX FIVE is bringing their 5 piece live band with vocals by DC rapper ASHERU of Boondocks theme song fame. FORT KNOX FIVE is debuting this live show for the DC massive before they are off on the festival circuit for the summer. Rounding out the bill are DC’s rudeboys of funk NAPPY RIDDEM. The two Rastars themselves, REX RIDDEM & MUSTAFA AKBAR are brining their live show to the party. This is a concert not to miss, and a celebration to remember.

I’ve Never Seen This Before

By Prince Of Petworth

This is pretty wild. On the 2600 block of Connecticut Ave, NW a building is getting renovated. The building is home to two retail spaces – one vacant and one a dry cleaners. Well a trailer has been placed on the sidewalk out front where the drycleaners will operate out of until the renovations are completed. In all the time of been watching buildings get renovated I’ve never seen a solution like this.

Do you think this is a good temporary solution?

New Business, Well Built, Opening Apr. 1st at 14th and Q Streets, NW

By Prince Of Petworth

This is located at 1541 14th Street, NW, formerly the home of Candida’s World of Books. I can’t remember if we’ve spoken about this new business but can someone refresh my memory: What type of store will Well Built be? Or do you think it will be something like offices? I guess I’ll find out tomorrow… Stay tuned.

Dear PoP – Props for D’Carlo Upholstery

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

Just had to give a local business two thumbs up. I found them because of a recommendation one of your readers gave some time ago. D’Carlo Upholstery at 7327 Georgia Ave, NW just repaired some leather cushion covers for me and did a fantastic job at a reasonable price. The workmanship was impeccable and they literally left me with a better product than I had originally purchased. In addition, the owner, Carlo, was extremely amiable (as were the employees). He’s had the shop for 35 years as an immigrant from El Salvador.”

Great to hear. If anyone else has a local (preferably a bit beneath the radar) business that deserves some props, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.

Laundromutt in Adams Morgan For Sale. Will Close if not Sold by April 30th

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by evoque

Thanks to a reader for sharing this email from the current owners:

“The LaundroMutt needs new owners…or we will be closing our doors come April 30th, 2010.

We, the owners, have found ourselves too busy with our other business commitments and must sell the LaundroMutt. We would very much like to see this great business continue in the neighborhood and we have loads of ideas to increase revenue and bring additional, exciting services to the customers….but we simply do not have the time or resources to do this.

We are accepting all offers from interested buyers….but are looking to move quickly. It is a great, fun place to work with cool customers (2 and 4 legged). We will gladly share all ideas we have for expanding the business in order to increase revenue and best serve the loyal customers and supportive neighborhood.

Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] if you are interested.”

A reader sang their praises back in Oct. ’09. Laundromutt is located at 1722 Florida Ave., NW.

Friday Question of the Day

By Prince Of Petworth

Yesterday afternoon when I tweeted about how cool the Corehaus Design store is, it got me thinking about the best non restaurant/bar stores that have recently opened up in DC. It seems like every week we are talking about new restaurants and bars opening up in the city, which I think is great. But I also like to discover other cool new retail options. Personally, I think Corehaus is the coolest to open up in a long time. Kultura is pretty sweet as well.

So my question to you guys is – what’s the coolest non restaurant/bar to have recently opened up in the city? If none have opened recently – what are some cool retail shops that fall below the radar? Could be house stuff, a hardware store, clothing, other furniture, used books, comic books etc.?

Ed. Note: And on an unrelated note because the weather is going to be so nice this weekend I wanted to share a previous FQoTD where we discussed nice things to do around the city outside.

Corehaus Designs is Looking Amazing in Petworth

By Prince Of Petworth

When I first previewed Corehaus at 825 Upshur Street, NW I could tell it was gonna be cool. But having just checked it out again, it is no longer simply cool – it is freaking awesome! This retail spot has official become a must visit store, not just for those who live nearby, but for everyone. Again, photos can do a much better job than words in explaining this great store. If you haven’t checked them out yet, put them on the list.

Kultura Re-Opens at 1726 Connecticut Ave, NW

By Prince Of Petworth

Folks will remember that Kultura used to have a shop on Connecticut Ave a few years ago before the owners temporarily moved to California. Three weeks ago they reopened on Connecticut Ave. and back in Nov. they opened a shop at 4918 Wisconsin Ave., NW up in Tenleytown. I’m sure many folks would love to see them also up a shop on 11th Street, NW or on Georgia Ave. Their Web site says:

“KULTURAs books is a general secondhand, out of print and rare books store specializing in Art, Architecture, Photography, Film, Fine literature for all ages and modern 1st editions. We also carry a fairly deep selection of global area studies, inclusive of United States history, Political and Economic theory, as well as Poetry, Philosophy, Music, Science, Psychology, Travel, Cooking and Gardening books. We attempt to carry just about any foreign language to English dictionaries we can get our hands on and a boast a very, very good selection of books in French and Spanish.

We buy books for store trade at both the Dupont Circle and Tenleytown locations.

If you must donate books, then we must give you store trade, as we feel it is only fair, which amount of course you are free to use or not. But you could also assign it to a friend’s name, which we will keep on file, for him or her to use, thus a sort of gift certificate.”

These folks really are super cool. So let me know who wants to start the petition for a location of a third store if they decide to open another…

Couple more pictures of the jump. (more…)

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