Neighborhoods

2001 S Street, NW

Thanks to all who passed on from Glen’s:

“I wanted to reach out to share some news that impacts our relationship. Do not fret, my friends, you’re not going to lose your neighborhood grocery store (the team made it through the pandemic safe and sound), things are just about to change a bit around here — for the better, ultimately. I’ll be leaving the company (in excellent hands) this summer.

As you know, I opened Glen’s Garden Market on Earth Day of 2013, because I’d given up on Congress and knew we could make more climate progress together than they would in the meantime. And over the course of nearly a decade, we’ve made a whole lot of progress — one bite at a time. We put the environment first in our decisions, from the products we supported together to our careful waste streaming practices and our joint efforts to eliminate food waste. We launched almost 100 local, sustainable food companies of which over 60 were founded by women and more than 20 are owned by people of color. Our space often felt more like an activated community center than a grocery store. In short, we did what we set out to do.

As I began reflecting on what it meant to step into the last year of our first decade (which we did on Earth Day), three realizations set in: (1) we still have a lot of work left to do, (2) I needed to do everything in my power to hold my team together, and (3) I needed to position the store to thrive indefinitely — for our producers and for you, our community. However, our lease expires next summer, and for a series of reasons, I wasn’t going to be able to renew it.

And so, last month, I sold Glen’s to a long-time independent, specialty grocer with one other store in the area, who sees the world the way I do. (more…)