September 11, 2007
Is a Gap Opening on Capitol Hill?
Many neighborhoods in the District tend to go through a rather predictable routine. They start as fringe areas, slowly attract residents and business owners looking for good deals on housing and commercial properties, see an influx of newcomers as word spreads, and soon become the city's next hot destination. And throughout the process the usual conflicts tend to emerge -- between old and new residents, between local and national businesses. Yesterday the rather tranquil Barracks Row area on Capitol Hill became the next scene for such conflicts.
The Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that one investment firm has been eying properties along the Eighth Street SE corridor for national chains such as The Gap, J. Crew, Ann Taylor and American Apparel -- and pushing out Alvear Studio Design & Imports, a local art, furniture and design store. That news did not sit will with Julie Olson, the local ANC commissioner. She fired off a letter that was posted on a neighborhood listserv, writing:
Speaking as an ANC Commissioner for the west side of 8th street, and as the current Chair of ANC 6B, and as a nearby resident to Barracks Row for over 13 years, I am astounded that anyone would want to make our lovely little neighborhood into a souless Georgetown with a Gap or J. Crew. This is EXACTLY what we DON'T want in this neighborhood...We need to keep the original and unique quality of our beloved Main Street, with unique shopping experiences, and not put in big box retailers, and I can guarantee you will find the neighborhood up in arms if that happens.
Of course, not the whole neighborhood agreed. One resident replied:
Have you lost your mind?! You don't speak for me or for any of my friends or neighbors. Please don't assume that any of us wish share your quixotic attempt to keep a growing area confined to niche shops.Another added:
You like the dollar store and that's fine, but don't pretend that you speak on behalf of the whole neighborhood when you are expressing your own personal opinion...I personally would like to be able to buy things I actually need in my own neighborhood. Very little on Barracks Row fits that description.But another resident jumped to Olson's defense, writing:
If you feel the need to shop at one of the everyone is like the other chain stores, it’s real easy to hop on the subway and go to Pentagon City.The area, which only years ago was to be avoided, has attracted businesses, bars and restaurants since the District spent $8.5 million to brick sidewalks, install new lighting and increase parking as part of the Great Streets Initiative. And as more and more businesses have started moving in -- Matchbox will soon open its second District location along the stretch -- the conflict became inevitable.
The area south of Pennsylvania Avenue down towards the Potomac Avenue Metro Station has started picking up as of recent, and with it have come more and more demands for better shopping and dining on the east end of the Hill. Of course, those demands create the same tensions that have been on display in other parts of the city. Should local businesses be preserved only because they are local, quality notwithstanding? Can chains serve to increase traffic while not having a negative impact on the area's feel? How do such business decisions affect residents, both new and old?
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Barf, the same damn chain stores for the city. The GAP is soo passe, who shops there anyways? Although I guess generic bland american style is in demand on the Hill. If American Apparel comes I want beaver shot ads like in LES of Manhattan! (see gothamist).
How about a fucking grocery store?
I should think a store like the GAP that is paying sales tax would be better than an closed store or abandoned building....
uhh, what closed store? They would be replacing a locally owned store that is already in business.
Appalling. The Great Streets website - http://greatstreetsdc.com/draftreports.asp -doesn't work well now so I can't tell where the federal portion of the funding (USDOT? Filtered through the Mainstreet USA program?), but GAP and other chain stores violate the first two "Great Streets Characteristics":
"Great Streets are representative of the place"
"Great Streets are memorable and interesting"
Maybe I missed the part that says ""Great Streets are exactly like suburban shopping malls, but with traffic and public funding."
The GAP in Old Town didn’t kill King Street’s character. Although much larger, I think King St is an example on how chains and small boutiques can coexist.
The GAP is soo passe, who shops there anyways?
The tourists who spend millions in DC, maybe?
Funny thing about tourists. They want to visit new places, but still crave the comforts of home. Hence the popularity of glamping among the rugged outdoors congnoscenti. It's why there's Ruby Tuesdays and McDonalds and Fuddruckers in Gallery Place, and it's why they're always full of people in Gap baseball caps and Planet Hollywood teeshirts. Have you ever been in a foreign country and stopped in a Mcdonalds for Big Mac fix? It's not because you like the slop, it's because it's a reminder of home when you're a stranger in a strange land. Can you grok on that?
Besides, this is the usual way an urban neighborhood gentrifys: crime gives way to affluence which gives way to disposable income and the inevitable chain stores that want it.
Or to paraphrase Tony Montana, "First you get de money, then you de the power, then you get de Gap."
COME TO H STREET!
Not if you're a biking-riding, tree-hugging hipster. Abandoned buildings add character to the neighborhood.
How about a fucking grocery store?
How about Harris Teeter? Or doesn't that count?
Yes, Gap is boring.
And Alvear Studios, the store they may or may not be replacing, is anything but boring. They've got some pretty interesting stuff.
But it's stunningly expensive. I can get a lot of the same stuff (Mexican-theme art) on ebay for about 1/4 the price.
A lot of stuff on Barracks Row is ridiculously expensive (ever try to get something framed at the frame shop on Barracks Row?).
My favorite silliness on Barracks Row is the pet store, Chateau Animaux. They answer the phone 'Bonjour'. Really nice guys, but I just can't imagine anything stupider.
At least Gap wouldn't charge me $250 for a mirror I could get on ebay for $60.
A Gap in their neighborhood?? What man would want you now, Barracks Row?
monkeyrotica
I stand corrected. Because, yes, HT does count - is the one on Kalorama open yet, BTW?
Yep, can't wait for Gap. I won't feel ok until this whole city is million dollar condos and chain stores.
Harris Teeter is block and plywood right now...it was supposed to open a year ago.
Dunno about the Kalorama HT, but it can't open soon enough. Between the noisy drunk clubgoers and those who chose to buy a condo behind clubs full of noisy drunks, and then complain about the clubs full of noisy drunks, I imagine there will be fisticuffs aplenty in the frozen burrito section.
HT in Adams Morgan isn't scheduled to open until March 2008 at the earliest. The construction management team was just at the ANC meeting last week.
ANCs.....fighting market forces at every turn. DC givernment is a fucking joke.
Good grief. Gap can open up wherever the hell it wants. It's a free country. Quite frankly if everyone hated the Gap so much they would have been put out of business years ago. Somebody other than tourists are obviously shopping there, I suspect some of those people may even live (gasp!) on capitol hill. Not to mention how comical it is that corporate giants dunkin donuts and starbucks on 8th street are overflowing with the well heeled residents of barracks row but god forbid corporate giant Gap tries to sell khakis on the same block.
Seriously, some numbnut has the nerve to complain about the GAP? Like that's not useful developmet. This reminds me of my friend who complained non-stop about a mystery starbucks that was supposed to open in Mt Pleasant. She went on and on about how chain coffee places are putting nonchains out of business and expensive their pastries were and how their sizes got smaller and I stopped her. I haven't bought coffee from starbucks since at least 2000. When did she last buy coffee from Starbucks?
"Everyone buys coffee from Starbucks, I go there a couple of times a week, but I don't LIKE going there, it's soulless."
"Isn't there a Caribou Coffee near you?"
"I'd have to walk like two blocks out of my way to get there, Starbucks is on my way."
yeah, ok, how about if I don't believe one word of these anti-Gappers, ok? Sorry guys, your protests lack any credibility.
You all should put up posters... like ANSWER does!!! :)
It's just about balance. (Almost) no one wants chain stores up and down the block, but there is nothing wrong with a Gap (except to hipper-than-thou urban blog commenters).
To be fair, I wouldn't be wild about seeing U Street (my 'hood) turn into Georgetown's M Street. And there is a natural and legitimate fear that when one chain shows up the rents are going to soon drive out the local businesses. I saw it happen to a once cool area in Boulder, Colorado.
So what's should the local gov't/neighborhood role be in promoting BALANCE? (a mix of local businesses with the national chain store here and there?)
I love it when ANC Commissioners tell me what I don't want in my neighborhood. Give me a break.
Personally, my disgust with the GAP is reflective of the overall retail situation in the city. The same bland stores: Ban Repub, Ann Taylor, Gap can afford the super high rent that the damn developers hold out to get, and thus the lack of fashionable-edgy options at low prices that are present in most global cities and severly lacking here in D.C.
The rents on Barracks Row and U Street and Dupont are "super high" partly because the taxes are super high. Until DC has a tax policy that favors small local businesses, national chains are the only ones who can afford the exhorbitant property taxes. But when your economic development policy consists of generating the maximum tax revenue per square foot, look forward to more overpriced boutique stores and bland chains and sterile office cubes with no ground floor retail. And the occasional last-minute tax reprieve for small business landmarks like Ben's Chili Bowl when their tax bill doubles or even triples.
#24
DC is not fashionable-edgy nor will it ever be, we are bland people and we like it.
Monkey: All true, but regardless of high or low taxes, it is also undeniably true that national chains have an economic advantage in that they can almost always pay more for a given space than a local business.
I live on Cap Hill and have shopped in the Gap more in the past week than I have shopped in any Cap Hill clothing stores over the past 8 years I've lived on Hill. Would Cap Hill residents be up in arms over an Apple store? How about DWR, Whole Foods or West Elm?
Plus, as a parent of a young child, I'll take Baby Gap over Dawn Price any day.
If there's not a small-business owned rail ouside to lock your bike onto, you don't want it in your city...pretentious hipster hypocrites. Take your bike and vegan dogs and go away!
re: guest 29
This isn't about being a "hipster" or liberal tree-hugger (seriously, dude, what's your problem?!) -- it's about ensuring the economic vitality of DC-resident owned small business. Sure, the GAP will also provide sorely needed sales tax to DC, but it doesn't encourage local residents to buy or start businesses, nor does it encourage people to move into the city to do so. The owners of GAP don't provide anything to DC other than sales tax and some minimum wage paying jobs. Local business owners do the same AND encourage the growth of local business independent of national trends and the federal government. It's great that tourists will want to spend money, but what about the people that live in this city (and actually change their driver's license and voter registration)?
And maybe GAP is cheaper than many of the boutiques that exist in DC (I buy GAP jeans btw), but if we can't create a setting where small local businesses can thrive we'll never have anything in DC except expensive high-end boutiques and big box stores. And, as Gawker points out ad nauseum, isn't that part of what makes DC so lame? More GAPs never made anyone move anywhere except a suburb.
Not that I take anything Gawker says with more than a grain of salt...but it should be noted, they hate hipsters too!
guest #29: Why must bikes get all wrapped up in this? What, are you worried someone might get there faster, cheaper, or have less trouble parking than you? Why must you self-identify against my preferred mode of urban transportation? I don't have any problem owning or using a car, or letting you use one as long as you respect my ability to use the road.
I'm a bike-rider who's more than willing to concede that having a Gap on Barracks Row won't be the end of civilization as we know it. In general, I'm inclined to agree with monkey's comments on tax policies, and I'm also inclined to point out that the height restriction is a key reason why commercial space is scarce. Still, the Gap is a pretty middle-class chain clothing store at this point; the fact that they've chosen to open up in the Eastern half of the city says to me that they're banking on the notion that the economic divide in this city might finally get a little less stark. As far as I can tell, that's progress.
Doesn't feel good to be stereotyped now does it, mr. bikerider? As a black resident in Barracks row, I'm happy to see The Gap taking interest in my neighborhood. Finally, I don't have to leave the hood to be able to buy some decent clothes for my family. That's why I'm raging out at you people who are boohooing about this "terrible chain store". Why don't you put yourself in somebody else's shoes for once? Guess that's too difficult for ya.
Re: 33
I have to say that though I think (and said) that it sucks DC keeps getting big box, it's not about me being some white elitist hating on affordable choices for my neighbors or picking "unique trendiness" over accessibility. I don't have much money either and like I said, I buy my jeans at the GAP or at Target. What I was trying to say is that I think the problem lies with the fact that though local residents can afford to shop at stores like the GAP, they often can't afford to own them. I agree with monkey that the city needs to reshape its policies and tax structure so that local places can thrive. I think it's great when neighborhoods get stores with affordable items, I just wish that local stores could price things the same and still afford their property taxes. I'm certainly not one of those people boo-hooing the Marshalls coming to Columbia Heights because I want a Banana Republic or an Anthropologie or a local high-end fashion boutique. I just wish could have some sort of a local and affordable alternative to those options. You know, where locally-owned is a viable choice both for me, the consumer, and my fellow DC-resident, the entrepreneur?
HT in Adams Morgan isn't scheduled to open until March 2008 at the earliest. The construction management team was just at the ANC meeting last week.
Bummer. I guess they pushed things back a bit. HT management told Jim Graham recently it would be open in February, with the Capitol Hill store following a month later.
Why should I care if the owner is someone living down the block or some CEO living 2000 miles away?
Does this impact me in any way?
Locally owned stores are are locally owned and not chains because they generally suck.
You think the owner cars?
At some point the GAP was a locally owned store in SF.
~Anonymous Douche
I live four blocks from Barracks Row and I rarely go there because most of the restaurants are subpar (Belga is the worst) and the only shop worth visiting is the bicycle store (even though I don't own a bike).
I would not welcome a Gap but Eastern Market desperately needs a men's clothing store, along with other types of commerce besides bars that happen to serve food. I thought the Marvelous Market would help but so far it's been a major disappointment.
If the growth path continues as it is, the area is going to turn into a poor man's Dupont Circle. I'd rather it look like Georgetown, as sad as that sounds. At least I can buy something in Georgetown.
I live near Barracks Row and the difference between pre and post 6pm is stark. The restaurants seem to be doing rather well, but the retail stores are yes, locally-owned, eclectic, and struggling. Part of the problem, as others have pointed out, is that they're expensive and/or narrowly focused (knitters, pet-owners). The row needs the equivalent of a department store anchor to attract foot traffic. I think the GAP is a flailing chain nationally; H&M would do better, although it already has two DC locations.
Hillman: I recall you made the same ebay comment about the oriental furniture in the Eastern Market flea market and I remember thinking that it must be true. I actually checked out two identical items -- they were both more expensive on ebay at minimum bid.
I think we're making a lot of assumptions about smaller stores.
First, a lot of small store owners don't live in DC. They live in MD or VA. As such, DC gets no more in taxes than they do from a large corporation.
In fact, the big retailers probably make a lot more $$ than the small outfit does. So from a strictly tax income view, the big retailers are probably better for the city.
And just what do we consider 'local'? Is Five Guys local? How about Cap City Brewery?
Another poster said height restrictions are one reason for high commercial property prices. I don't see how that would affect retail. Retail is almost always on the first floor so the inability to go up another ten floors isn't really relevant. A far more limiting factor is the fact that well over half the city is blighted, with high crime rates. Retailers get sick of being robbed out of existence.
Gap versus some weird African clothing store that sells a bunch of crazy crap that no one would actually ever buy.
And there are still some abandoned storefronts on 8th Street.
Upper Georgia Avenue is going through a similar battle. It seems that any chain with the exception of a godly Whole Foods is not accepted as a form of redevelopment.
What's wrong with Georgetown anyways?
#33: I'm assuming that was directed at me. Maybe you missed the content of my post, but I agreed with you. Every neighborhood in this city does not need to be the next iteration of Dupont Circle (or whatever it is that people perceive as the virtues of Dupont Circle). In fact, if there's anything that DC needs, it's more middle-class and working-class neighborhoods that are modest, safe, and affordable, but that retain some degree of local character.
I don't actually think that most residents in this city, black or white, hipster or not, really disagree on this point. Not that DC doesn't have its share of people who are completely out of touch with reality, and not that the obvious purchasing power of certain segments of the population don't make a difference, but I think you'll find that even most new residents of the city want more or less the same thing.
Personally, I think most of the disagreements between people that come up on these boards are difference in perspective on the same goal. Most of the newcomers to this city have lived all their lives in places that were relatively affordable and perfectly safe, but lacked any semblance of character. It's no surprise that those people are going to defend the preservation of whatever it is that they see as character; they left their bland suburban backgrounds in search of it. Similarly, longtime residents in many parts of DC have gone decades without neighborhoods that are safe from violent crime or that cater to their residents. The very dearth of these neighborhoods has pushed prices to skyrocket in the few neighborhoods that have these features, and has caused several neighborhoods to undergo rapid and jarring change. Why are we surprised that these folks are trying to ensure that neighborhoods cater to their residents and remain affordable?
The character that independent stores bring is an important thing, but the exi