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 apologize for the delay in providing an update on the Whole Foods situation. We regret even more that this latest update may be the least hopeful. The situation does not look good. And it looks even worse when you consider who the top contender for the space maybe now...you guessed it - Ross Dress For Less.
Our good neighborhood resident, Adam, already had a leg up on this story which he posted on our forum. Please read this thread, No Whole Foods, No Trader Joes. Our hearts sank when we read it. We immediately tried to contact Karen Riley, the Real Estate Coordinator at Whole Foods, to verify whether Whole Foods has indeed backed out of DC USA. Ms. Riley has become increasingly difficult to get a hold of. We finally got a hold of her last week.
Ms. Riley informed us that the negotiations with DC USA developers have stagnated. In fact, Ms. Riley said she hadn't spoken with a representative from DC USA for many months now. She stated the primary reason for the impasse was the lack of dedicated parking. We asked her to provide an official statement from Whole Foods regarding its decision and a detailed explanation for why it was made. Unfortunately we are yet to receive such a statement. We would like to publish such a statement to bring some finality to the hundreds of community residents who demonstrated such strong support for Whole Foods.
To date, we have been copied on 332 emails that were sent to Ms. Riley by residents expressing support for Whole Foods. We wish that everyone could be privy to these emails and not just us and Whole Foods. Then you would get a sense of just how powerful our campaign was. But we are bound to protect everyone's privacy and guard your identities from spammers, telemarketers, and the like. Nearly every email was extremely heartfelt. We were amazed by the insight and persuasiveness of so many of them. We don't know how any retailer could, in its right mind, back out with the kind of support that this community has demonstrated. It is with our deepest regret to have to inform you of such a disappointing outcome after the valiant effort put forth by so many community members.
If there is anyone who wouldn't mind having your emails published here, please let us know. We can strip out any personal information that you may have included. In the mean time, you can get some sense of what residents have been writing to Whole Foods by reading some of the petition entries. As a last ditch effort, we will compile all the emails and petition entries into a single document and send it Whole Foods Chairman, John Mackey.
We hate to be bearers of such bad news so we thought we could provide a positive update on what other retailers have expressed interest in the space left behind by Whole Foods. But as we mentioned above, the news doesn't get any better. Last week we spoke with Peter Mallios of Newmark Knight Frank, the leasing firm for DC USA. Despite being very difficult to get a hold of, Mr. Mallios was very informative when we finally reached him. He confirmed our fears of Whole Foods backing out. The retail space that had been allocated for Whole Foods is 50,000 square feet which is nearly equally divided on two levels. Mallios stated that the space can now be cut to whatever size required by a prospective tenant. The current plan is to set aside one level and a half to Ross Dress for Less, and the remaining space to a furniture retailer (maybe La-Z-Boy).
Mallios did mention that there had been some effort put forth to recruit Trader Joes but it was to no avail thus far. On a somewhat positive note, Mallios stated that nothing is written in stone a this point and directing community support to Trader Joes could help. He mentioned that the DC USA developers regard Trader Joes as a perfect complement to the existing Giant and would love to have it as a tenant. We are currently trying to gather as much information about this as we can. We have already spoken with four Trader Joes representatives and are close to getting to the bottom of this. We will post something shortly, once we get a definitive answer.
Aside from a specialty grocer, we still feel that one thing that this community would be lacking is a good bookstore, whether it be independent (Olsson's, Kramerbooks, etc) or national (Borders, Barnes and Nobles, Books-A-Million, etc). Perhaps we can explore this or any other suggestions you may have.
Comments
co-op? Written by bogfrog on 2007-04-11 12:54:34Is it perhaps time for our neighborhood to start laying the groundwork for our own food co-op, for the products that Giant can't be expected to carry? (various vegetables, whole grains, other crunchy and organic things). Something like the one in Takoma Park.
Written by Rach on 2007-04-11 17:21:02What about contacting Wegman's grocery to gauge their interest (wegmans.com)? TJ, WF, and now Harris Teeter (coming soon to Adams Morgan) already have a footprint in DC, but Wegman's is only in VA. That is definitely better than Ross!
Written by
on 2007-04-11 19:07:41Just what the area needs, a Ross Dress for Less... Perhaps people can take all those quality clothing to the many dry cleaners that are opening up, oh wait... Does Ross Dress for Less sell clothing worthy of dry cleaning!! Isn't Marshall's and Target clothing enough for the area. It's ridiculous that the Giant store is the only grocery store in the area, and when all the new apartment and condo units open up its just going to get busier. Is someone at Giant intervening here?
This development is turning into something that I fear will deter people from coming to the area, for shopping, dining or to live. I can't imagine that this is what people were envisioning when all this was being planned out. DC USA really need to pick up the pace on all of this and provide the people of Columbia Heights and DC what is appropriate.
Written by Vincent on 2007-04-12 10:58:29I HATE Giant, and I am SO UPSET that the WF deal fell through. ROSS is a HORRIBLE choice, and with its addition, the DC USA site is looking more like a ghetto discount center. Don't these developers know the kind of people who are moving to CH?? Giant really, really sucks...poor service, long lines, disgusting food options (all processed crap that's really bad for you), and every single time I do get in line, there's always a problem at the checkout counter. I am peeving mad that WF has backed out over a STUPID parking impasse. Come on! This is ridiculous. Get the ghetto discount stores out of DC USA, and get some class in.
Written by Jack - 13th & Monroe on 2007-04-12 11:11:12This is awful news. Is this site going to organize a revolt? If so, I want to be a part of it. We can't let another discount crappy cheap clothing outlet and lazyboy open in our neighborhood. Isn't Marshall's the same type of store as Ross?? Why do we need two? What can we do to convince Trader Joe's or Wegman's to come here? Can we apply more pressure to Whole Foods? We need to take action, because this news really sucks and I am very disappointed at the DC USA developers. I don't think they have a good feel for what the current and future residents of CH want.
Plead with CM Graham!! Written by Bill T on 2007-04-12 11:33:28Can someone contact Jim Graham and see if his office can help get us another grocer other than that damn Giant?
Written by jessica on 2007-04-12 12:48:56I would encourage Trader Joe's and a bookstore, especially to help serve all the students and families with young children in the area.
Written by
on 2007-04-12 13:55:12Some of the comments on this site are absolutely disgusting.
While I agree that a Ross doesn't appear to be the best option given that a Target and Marshall's are already set to open, it appears that many of you are more interested in what YOU want than what's best for the community of CH at large.
“The DC USA site is looking more like a ghetto discount center.”
Wow! Beyond the Marshall’s and now the Ross, exactly what business would you, RW, define as “ghetto”?
“Don’t these developers know the kind of people who are moving to CH?”
Apparently, they’re elitist a@*holes that CH would be better off without. What about the people that have lived in the area long before you that have needs and desires as well? I fail to see how a bunch of high-end stores are going to be the best options for many of the laborers and other “ghetto” folk, as you’d likely choose to call them. What’s so wrong with a mix that can meet the needs of as many as possible?
And while the Giant does have its shortcomings (the lines, which are a result of high demand – lots of customers - and low supply – one store), “disgusting food options (all processed crap that’s really bad for you)” is completely inaccurate. I deal with a wife who has Celiac disease (a condition that requires she not eat wheat, barley, oats, etc. and which also rules out most processed foods that typically include a lot of preservatives) and we have absolutely no problem with finding quality, healthy food at the Giant. Brand labels and Whole Foods’ effective overall marketing plan aside, there is very little difference between the food sold at either store (the meats aside). I’m certainly not saying another grocery store isn’t needed in CH. The lines at Giant clearly indicate demand is outpacing supply. But how about a grocery that is affordable for all, or at least isn’t just another notch on Whole Foods’ growing corporate belt? And if that doesn’t work for you, take your lazy ass down to P St., where you can satisfy both your need for overpriced goods and inflated sense of self worth at the Whole Foods there.
“Get the ghetto discount stores out of DC USA, and get some class in.”
I second your call for class, RW, but I direct it at you and our new “neighbors” like you.
All these calls for “action” to get Whole Foods into DC USA, including all the effort Jim Graham has put into it, is also disappointing. Does our community not have bigger fish to fry? It seems like the only thing a lot of you are willing to organize around is getting this damn Whole Foods in the neighborhood, which is a sad commentary on the priorities of our community.
I’m relatively new to CH myself (I’ve been in the neighborhood for about 3 years), and I’ve noticed a significant increase in elitism and a significant decrease in class since the allegedly “classy” folks have started moving in. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t have a say in shaping our community, but you’ve got to understand that you made a choice to move to CH and CH doesn’t have to change to suit your needs and your needs alone. Don’t like it? Move the f**k back out.. or try Clarendon. I hear the Cheesecake Factory is both classy and high end. nullnull
Written by Question on 2007-04-12 15:22:02What, exactly, is so appalling about the existing Giant that requires the readers of this site to rack their brains to find other grocery chains to come in now that the Whole Foods deal has fallen through? It's often crowded, yes. But you live in a dense, urban neighborhood. It doesn't have $20/lb. meat, no. But if you really need that, you can probably get yourself down to P Street to find it (you can take the 54 or the S2/S4 bus if you can't afford both a car and expensive meats). Their produce is pretty varied -- that Giant has far more tropical fruits, for instance, than the ones I've been to in the suburbs -- and for about half the year, there's a farmer's market at Mt. Pleasant and Lamont that sells fresh produce and free-range meats, anyway.
Besides, if it's ridiculous to have both a Ross and a Marshall's so close together, isn't it also ridiculous to have two grocery stores across the street from each other?
Raise your hand if you aren't afraid of Written by Jason on 2007-04-12 15:38:40... ah ah ah ... not so fast, Rach and RW.
Would you like Whole Foods Market to come to Columbia Heights? You can join our campaign to bring Whole Foods Market to the 
We apologize for the delay in providing an update on the 
Ms. Riley informed us that the negotiations with DC USA developers have stagnated. In fact, Ms. Riley said she hadn't spoken with a representative from DC USA for many months now. She stated the primary reason for the impasse was the lack of dedicated parking. We asked her to provide an official statement from Whole Foods regarding its decision and a detailed explanation for why it was made. Unfortunately we are yet to receive such a statement. We would like to publish such a statement to bring some finality to the hundreds of community residents who demonstrated such strong support for Whole Foods.
We hate to be bearers of such bad news so we thought we could provide a positive update on what other retailers have expressed interest in the space left behind by Whole Foods. But as we mentioned above, the news doesn't get any better. Last week we spoke with Peter Mallios of Newmark Knight Frank, the leasing firm for DC USA. Despite being very difficult to get a hold of, Mr. Mallios was very informative when we finally reached him. He confirmed our fears of Whole Foods backing out. The retail space that had been allocated for Whole Foods is 50,000 square feet which is nearly equally divided on two levels. Mallios stated that the space can now be cut to whatever size required by a prospective tenant. The current plan is to set aside one level and a half to Ross Dress for Less, and the remaining space to a furniture retailer (maybe La-Z-Boy).
