Res­i­dents call for lower-cost shops, eateries

by Ariel Feld­man | GW Hatchet Reporter

Foggy Bot­tom res­i­dents are hun­gry — for a place to buy gro­ceries. Com­mu­nity mem­bers expressed their desire for a new super­mar­ket and other retail options, like casual restau­rants and nail salons, as part of a com­mu­nity poll held online over the sum­mer. The results of the consumer-retail sur­vey were explained at a com­mu­nity meet­ing Tuesday.

“Our mis­sion is to cre­ate a long-term retail­ing devel­op­ment plan as well as mar­ket area retail­ers effec­tively within the neigh­bor­hood”, said Greg Sny­der (shown above left), chair­man of the Com­mit­tee for Foggy Bot­tom and West End Neigh­bor­hood Retail.

The Foggy Bot­tom Asso­ci­a­tion char­tered the com­mit­tee ear­lier this year to gather input from the com­mu­nity on its pref­er­ences for the future devel­op­ment of retail goods and ser­vice offer­ings in the area, accord­ing to a news release about the meeting.

The sur­vey comes as the retail fates of sev­eral devel­op­ment projects, includ­ing the Stevens School site, the West End Library and Square 54 are in var­i­ous stages of development.

The most pop­u­lar request put forth by the sur­vey was the addi­tion of a con­ve­niently located gro­cery store. A total of 122 peo­ple out of the 233 sur­veyed men­tioned the need for another gro­cer besides Trader Joe’s in Foggy Bot­tom. Atten­dees also expressed enthu­si­asm about the prospect of a gro­cery store to be included in the upcom­ing Square 54.

The second-largest con­cern among the sur­veyed Foggy Bot­tom and West End res­i­dents was over the lack of mid-priced casual eater­ies. Also dis­cussed was the need for addi­tional ser­vice retail­ers such as nail salons, yoga stu­dios and pet care/supply shops.

A few res­i­dents voiced their desire for a “nice hair salon” in Foggy Bot­tom, but many sought other mid to low-level priced ser­vices, includ­ing a Curves health stu­dio and “afford­able yoga classes.”

The com­mit­tee plans to final­ize the sur­vey results — which will remain avail­able online until Fri­day — by early Jan­u­ary, and com­pile the data and present it to var­i­ous orga­ni­za­tions includ­ing the Wash­ing­ton D.C. Eco­nomic Part­ner­ship, the Foggy Bot­tom Asso­ci­a­tion, the Advi­sory Neigh­bor­hood Com­mis­sion, and the D.C. Mayor’s office.

The com­mit­tee hopes to part­ner with var­i­ous local orga­ni­za­tions to improve the retail atmos­phere of Foggy Bot­tom and West End, and to bet­ter mar­ket and pro­mote already exist­ing retail­ers in the area to increase consumerism.

In response to com­ments about the state of the econ­omy and the dif­fi­culty of adding new retail at a time when retail areas, includ­ing The Shops at 2000 Penn, have vacan­cies, Greg Sny­der said, “We’re just try­ing to be proac­tive here.”