Help Bring Whole Foods Market To Columbia Heights!
Would you like Whole Foods Market to come to Columbia Heights? You can join our campaign to bring Whole Foods Market to the DC USA retail complex! The best way for you to voice your support for Whole Foods is to email Karen Riley at karen.riley@wholefoods.com. Karen Riley is the real estate coordinator for Whole Foods Market. She can demonstrate the level of our support directly to the Whole Foods team working on the negotiations. Please be as descriptive as you can in your emails. Please also cc or bcc your emails to Ms. Riley to us at info@columbiaheightsnews.org. We need to keep a running tally of how many messages have been sent to Whole Foods Market so we can gage how much more work we need to do. The more people who can email Whole Foods Market the more powerful our collective voices will be! It looks like we are facing an uphill battle but as a community we can make a difference! Please spread the word!
We have not received any substantial updates on the efforts to bring Whole Foods Market to DC USA for the past several months. All we know is that negotiations continue. The same major sticking point remains - the inability to meet Whole Food's demand for dedicated parking. Drew Greenwald, President of Grid Properties, recently informed us that they have not given up on Whole Foods yet but they do have, "many other exciting retailers that are also looking at the site as well." Mr. Greenwald did not elaborate any further.
Many of you have already read last month's Washington Post article, Hungry for Whole Foods, where reporter Lyndsey Layton shed light on our efforts to bring Whole Foods to Columbia Heights. We spent quite some time corresponding with Ms. Layton before the article was published. Thanks to everyone who were willing to talk to Ms. Layton and share the emails that you wrote to Whole Foods. In her own investigations, Ms. Layton confirmed that Whole Foods Market has not been able to make a decision to commit to the DC USA site. We were pleased to hear that Karen Riley, the real estate coordinator at Whole Foods, has received 500 emails since we began our campaign in January. We just updated our own count for those emails that we have been copied on (nearly 300).
We have found it very difficult to reach Ms. Riley lately. The last time we heard from her was in late March when she explained to us that our emails were making a positive impact and that we should continue directing our emails of support to her. We are still waiting for an update from her.
We were able to reach Steve Combs of Newmark Knight Frank, the leasing agent for DC USA. They have been marketing the retail space designated for Whole Foods Market to other potential tenants. You can see their listing here under "3200 14 St." Mr. Combs indicated that in the event that Whole Foods decides to leave the table completely, they will still be targeting some other high-end specialty grocer to fill the space. So far they have been talking to Harris Teeter, Fresh Grocer, and Wild Oats with Harris Teeter showing the most interest.
We wish that a final decision could be made soon, one way or the other. On a positive note, it gives those of us who support Whole Foods Market more time to influence the decision. If you haven't already, please write the designated point of contact for our Whole Foods campaign, Karen Riley, at
. For those who have already written Ms. Riley, and would like to share more of your thoughts to her, please do so. To help us keep track of the volume of emails being sent to Ms. Riley, please let us know that you have emailed her or simply copy us on the email.
As always, you can continue to share your thoughts with others on our online petition. We have already compiled some of the responses on the petition and sent it to Whole Foods Market chairman, John Mackey, a few weeks ago. We will keep you posted on any more updates that we receive.
Comments
Written by
on 2006-10-29 21:10:47Trader Joe's is a great idea. A nice complement to Giant. In fact, I think I would go there more than to Whole Foods. As for the "character" of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I see CH going the way of Penn Quarter -- though it'll still have it's grunge factor (in a good way) for a couple more years at least.
Written by real Columbia Height resident on 2006-11-16 00:36:29As a college student who was born and raised in the neighborhood I am appalled by the efforts to change MY neighborhood so much. Not only is whole food market a horrible idea but the company Whole Foods is not unionized and has some horrible work ethics when it comes to its employees but i mean as long as you get your organic milk you don't care about the workers, right? deal with it.. you have everything else. drop whole foods for gods sake... you have starbucks, caribou so that if one is to full you can run and get a skim latte at the the other one.
Sensitive Issues Written by Mr.D on 2006-11-16 11:34:27Just a comment on a point that last posting brings up. Neighborhoods don't often change as quickly and as radically as Columbia Heights. Frankly, I've never seen anything like this explosion following about 50 years of virtually total neglect. Whether Whole Foods comes to the neighborhood or not (we're still getting another grocery store or two down 14th to take some of the pressurs off Giant), it's important for us new residents to remember that it's something of a symbol for the change that's taking place. We're all adding a lot to CH by choosing to make our homes here. But we're also taking something away... that is the character the place used to have. It couldn't hurt to remember to be sensitive to that.
Written by GforGood on 2006-11-16 12:30:38Agree. And I hope the old residents are as sensitive as well to the new comers. ;-)
Neighborhood. Written by Willie on 2006-11-17 12:51:25Neighborhoods aren't owned. You shouldn't refer to it as yours --we are all a part of it. And YES it's changing.
Whole Foods Good. Written by Willie on 2006-11-17 12:52:41Whole Foods pays its workers a solid living wage—its lowest earners average $13.15 an hour—with excellent benefits and health care. No executive makes more than 14 times the employee average. (Mackey's salary last year was $342,000.) In January, Whole Foods announced that it had committed to buy a year's supply of power from a wind-power utility in Wyoming.
Plus the produce sucks at Giant.
trash first Written by RHS on 2007-02-12 12:18:59Whole Foods would be a great addition or a Harris Teeter as long as they employ people from the community. First, let's try getting the neigborhood cleaned up. As soon as spring arrives I would like to organize a community clean up and try to get everyone involved. Mayor Fenty promised to provide all the necessary equipment to accomplish this. I just hope people will get involved.
Written by anony on 2007-02-12 14:17:45WF isnt coming. Neither is TJs. Check the message boards - both backed out. TJs is going down near U St; no WF in the area at all.
Clean ups are great, and I would help out. But it is disheartening when people throw trash on the ground constantly in the neighborhood - complete disregard for the place in which they live. Until attitudes are changed, cleaning up will be useless, because the trash will just come back.
Written by Mr. D on 2007-02-12 14:52:57Aw, c'mon. That's like saying it's useless to wash dishes because you'll just get them dirty again. There are some tasks that you just have to commit to as a neighborhood, litterbugs or not.
Giant Hell Written by
on 2007-03-28 21:27:09Is it me, or has anyone else noticed the staggering lines at Giant this spring? It's driving me f-ing crazy!! I've been in the neighborhood for almost a couple years now and I haven't seen anything like it. The neighborhood is ripe for some alternative and it's sad that we won't have other options. In regard to other posts, I find Giant's prices to be inflated and many of their options like the bakery and deli are horrid and quite unhealthy. I only shop there because there are no other choices. Does anyone know if there Giant workers are unionized? Compared to the service at Whole Foods, you'd think the employees at Giant were being tortured intermittently during their shift. I highly doubt their working conditions and wages are admirable.
Would you like Whole Foods Market to come to Columbia Heights? You can join our campaign to bring Whole Foods Market to the 
We have not received any substantial updates on the efforts to bring Whole Foods Market to DC USA for the past several months. All we know is that negotiations continue. The same major sticking point remains - the inability to meet Whole Food's demand for dedicated parking. Drew Greenwald, President of Grid Properties, recently informed us that they have not given up on Whole Foods yet but they do have, "many other exciting retailers that are also looking at the site as well." Mr. Greenwald did not elaborate any further.
