June 17, 2008
Olsson's Penn Quarter Closing Down
Sad news for lovers of locally-owned bookstores: the Olsson's location in the Lansburgh building in Penn Quarter is shutting down. We had heard rumors this was in the works for a couple of weeks, especially after so many author events appeared to be moving to the Dupont Circle location. The email below was sent out to the Olsson's list on Monday.
Dear Friends,Everything at the Penn Quarter location is being advertised at 50-75 percent off between now and June 27, so stop by soon to grab up some great deals. Anyone have any suggestions for where Olsson's should relocate the store? I was thinking U Street could really use a full service book store -- it'll be a while before that retail development on the northeast corner of 14th and U will be finished, but perhaps Olsson's could find a home there?After 15 years in The Lansburgh building on 7th Street NW, the Penn Quarter branch of Olsson's will close on Friday, June 27, 2008. The landlord has other plans for the space. We would like to thank the many loyal customers who have shopped with us throughout the years. It has been a wonderful experience to serve this community, and we look forward to continuing the relationship with you at our five other locations.
Olsson's was a pioneer in the Penn Quarter, with a number of other local independent businesses, years before it became the thriving downtown we have now. We have enjoyed being a part of this evolving neighborhood. We are proud of the staff at Olsson's, Footnotes Cafe and our many customers, including the Shakespeare Theatre patrons, who have supported us. The store endeavored to offer a unique selection of merchandise, staff recommendations and a prestigious nationally known reading series, which featured such authors as Tom Clancy, Al Gore, General Wesley Clark, Jamie Lee Curtis, Goldie Hawn, Nick Hornby, Dinaw Mengestu, Anne Rice, Alexander McCall Smith, Cornell West, and Tom Wolfe, to name just a few.
Olsson's staff remains dedicated to selling books, and we remain firmly committed to the special ambiance that independent, neighborhood stores can provide. We understand the store will be missed and we are actively pursuing a new location, so if there are any interested or knowledgable parties out there reading this, please send us your suggestions. It will, however, take a special person or situation in this market to step forward to support the diversity and value that a bookstore can offer.
You, as loyal customers, are the key to the future success of our stores. We ask you to support us at this location one final time. Please shop our Sale. In so doing, you will be investing in the future of an independent bookstore, and give us the chance to thank you again for your support.
Thank you,
Olsson's
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oh no! bad news. i don't know what the landlord's thinking. the gallery place area seems pretty saturated in all other forms of entertainment and chain restaurants.
how does busboys and poets rank on the full service bookstore scale for u street? i know they have lots of readings.
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Ugh. No more lunch-hour book shopping for me.
How much do you want to bet that the "other plans" include (more) condos I can't afford to live in and (more) restaurants I can't afford to eat in?
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I doubt Olssens would survive at 14th and U given the price of real estate. How many copies Foucault would they have to sell to pay the rent? They'd have a better chance of surviving on Georgia Avenue, somewhere near Howard or the Metro stop.
And speaking of Penn Quarter, Platinum is closing. My money's on yet another small plate restaurant or wine bar. Can't get enough of those. I remember back in the day, loitering around the old 930 Club across the street, waiting for the Slickee Boys to come on and watching the skanks in hooker heels and miniskirts waiting to get into Platinum. Back then, it was called The Bank. Perfect place for young ladies to spend a loud evening cockblocking over cocktails.
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I personally think that they should relocate that one to Columbia Heights. After all those stupid massive chains moving in, it would be nice to have a touch of something local.
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columbia heights, for the love of pete. we need a bookstore like whoa.
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I can't say I'm surprised.
I try to support local businesses, but I'm only willing to offer so many second-chances.
Many many many times I went to Olsen's for books or music, and they didn't have what I was looking for- and what I was looking for was not all that rare or obscure. I kept going back, but after a while it was a waste of time, so I just stopped going.
I'm not referring to a specific store, we're talking 3 different ones, and a span of about 10 years before I finally just gave them up.
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@goat boy: It looks like some space got freed up on 13th St last night. Parking might be a problem though.
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Either way, they need to ditch the music section. Who pays $17.99 for a CD?
They need to get a liquor license, have free WiFi, and hire some slutty librarian types with glasses and booty shorts and their hair pulled back as if they hate it. And on Friday nights, they wrestle in an inflatable pool full of remainedered copies of Laura Lippman's latest tired, poop-ed out piece of nonsense.
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Yea, that Olsson's was nice to have, but it had a pretty pitiful amount of selection, and not a great space for a relevant bookstore in that location. U street needs a large bookstore and could support one, but it would probably have to be a Busboys/Kramerbooks type store so it could make enough money on food and drinks. The Busboys bookstore is not a bookstore so much as a dumping ground for hippie propaganda. There's virtually nothing there worth reading, and not nearly enough space to satisfy anyway.
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14th and U would be great if they could afford it, but I'm wondering if that's possible. Actually, I'm more wondering if *I* could afford them moving there, considering how much money I'd drop having them so close to home.
As for spookiness' comment: did you ask anyone at Olsson's if they could order what you were looking for or have it sent from another store? Many, many times in the 15+ years I've been shopping there they've been out of what I was looking for, but had one sent over from another location, or ordered it and had it arrive within a few days. If instant gratification is your bag, then I guess there's always Amazon and overnight shipping.
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Jim D,
I get your point, but I could just order from Amazon. If I go to a brick-and-mortor store, it's because I want to touch it and feel it first.
Why waste my time going to the store to have them order it, when I can just order it myself and get it just as fast- delivered right to door?
Different people have different tastes, but I HATE to shop, and when I summon up enough energy to go out and do it, I don't want a lot of run-around. A store that repeatedly can't deliver becomes a waste of my time, so I won't be going back.
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Why not look at 9th st, by the Conv. Center. Oh that's right none of the local wildlife in Shaw can read. Crack will do that to you...
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I hope it's another Subway. I'd rather have a sub than a book right about now anyway.
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I gave up on bookstores, new and used, since I discovered abebooks.com. Any book from any store anywhere on the planet. No clueless help. No abstract jazz on the radio. No cats. And no hiptard gothy employee looking down her nose at my purchase of rare amputee panda woodblock hentai and Hokusai tentacle porn.
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As a Shaw resident, I would selfishly love for it to move somewhere along 7th or 9th street by the Convention Center, or up by Florida Avenue/U Street.
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Olsson's is being replaced by UK-based Wagamama noodle restaurant (another link).
Hooray for the weak dollar. International companies can afford rents that are double what domestic companies can pay.
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So Olsson’s Penn Quarter is closing their books, eh? I suppose they are ready to turn the page. Maybe I should book it down there to take advantage of the discounted merchandise.
--
I’m sorry.
I. can’t. stop.
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Cool. Looks like DC's getting a Pret a Manger, too. Maybe they can take over the Penn Quarter Mcdonalds and the teen thugs will move elsewhere. Or they could just stay and feast on organic, cruelty-free fastfood and become superhealthy thugs.
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The Logan Circle area could use some reading material.
14th & Q has some retail space available.
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Just got back... they're already pretty picked over and the line was long (but fast).
I suspect the best stuff just got moved to other stores.
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holy shit, i actually clicked on your tentacle porn link, monkey. should have know that there's not false advertising when it comes to what you're sellin'
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"It's not porn, officer. It's empowerment!" said the octopus to the vice cop.
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Ack. That Olsson's saved me during me my jury service breaks last fall. Thanks JoanArkham for saving me the trip down there.
Wagamama is just okay. I like Teasim better. What I wouldn't do for a Mosburger! and how..
Boondoggle- love the punny stuff.
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columbia heights would be nice.
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Bye bye to browsing the sale bin during my lunch hour. Another foodie place? They need some more entertainment in the area than museums and art galleries that close by 5 or 7pm. I went to some good author signings there.
What's with DC closing its bookstores? There was a bookstore right by Metro Center (I think it was an Olsson's too), Candida's books on 14th, and Kultura in Dupont.
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This isn't by any means a positive development, and I happen to like Wagamama's. Penn Quarter is essentially becoming a neighborhood known for three things: absurdly overpriced condos, small plate/fusion restaurants, and expensive museums.
I work on 7th St., and it pains me to see one of the few establishments I could actually duck into on my lunch break going away for yet another Asian/noodle restaurant. Diversification is the key to a happy neighborhood, and right now PQ is beginning to look like someone just went down the block hitting CTRL-C, CTRL-V.
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or apple-c, apple-v, as it were :)
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spookiness: I feel ya, but I'd rather make two trips (to KramerBooks, in my case)and have my money stay local.
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There's lost of space on H St NE, and decent demographics for a book store.
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IMGoph--of course. As you know we're, like, MAC converts now. The one thing I can't remember is the Mac equivalent of CTRL-ALT-DLT.
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14thandyou: it's apple-option-escape
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Looking past the ususal number of peopel who respond but have no real interest in the topic I see two catagories of responses,
1-People that say they dont mind more resturants and shop the internet for specific items.
2-People that say they like to shop bookstores and dont mind ordering specific items from a store they frequent.
The consumer pyschology is interesting. The economics are formidable. Diversity,value and community are nice goals but how do you achieve them in this market? Theatres, art galleries, museums are cherished but are nonprofit. Bookstores have similar value and may desrve a break. That break must come from an individual landlord. Forget corporations and the government. Have you seen the Penn Quarter BID emails? There are examples across America where communities have found a place for bookstores. Politics and Prose in DC has a place. I would like to see Olsson's reappear in the Penn Quarter, NoMa or somewhere in DC.
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>I personally think that they should relocate that one to Columbia Heights.
Are you joking? I think you must be joking. You can't really believe that the crowd up there in Columbia Frights reads anything but the label on their bottle of Colt 45?