Results tagged “closings”

The U.S. Postal Service today released yet another revised list of possible branch closures, and one D.C. office has been trimmed. The Northeast branch, located at 1563 Maryland Ave. NE, will stay. In Maryland, two other branches were also spared: the Friendship Heights branch, and the Silver Spring Center branch. The total list is now at only 241 post offices still under review nationwide, down from almost 3,300 at the beginning of the process.

Incredibly sad and surprising news for the LBGT media world, not to mention the local media scene: The Washington Blade has been shut down. The LGBT publication's twitter feed first alerted us to what was going on just a little while ago: "Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today. Thank you for your support. (Keep following us for developments.)" Sure enough, even the Blade's web site has been taken down.

At 11:30 a.m. this morning, the Black Rooster Pub will reopen its doors at 1919 L Street NW. The pub had been closed for several weeks after the building's landlord declined to renew its lease, but a combination of online petitions and intervention from local politicos ultimately helped save the business.

Swann Cleaners, the laundromat/dry cleaner located at the corner of 14th and Swann Streets NW, has closed its doors, 14th & You reports. This was one of the few remaining laundromats in the area, and the small dry cleaner inside it joins two other cleaners that have recently closed along the 14th Street corridor.

Capitol Hill Bikes sent out an email to its customers on Thursday announcing that the store has lost its lease and must liquidate its entire inventory while it searches for a new location. The cycling store has been located at 709 8th Street SE for about a decade.

Joe Englert's H Street NE bar The Argonaut was closed last night, thanks to a dispute with the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, as Frozen Tropics reported earlier this morning. Englert tried to explain his side of what happened in a statement to the neighborhood blog, outlining a process that started with being notified that three of his businesses owed tens of thousands of in back sales and use taxes. He said two of those accounts were quickly resolved, but The Argonaut's was more complicated, and "even though we kept in daily contact with the Department and even though we were told repeatedly that we were working in compliance, they came any way and shut us down," Englert wrote.

Potentially great news for Black Rooster Pub loyalists. The longtime downtown watering hole served what it thought would be its last drinks on October 16, after the bar's owner, Jody Taylor, learned at the end of September that his had landlord had declined to renew the Rooster's lease. Heartfelt farewell stories to the pub appeared in the media shortly thereafter, and we chalked the whole sad story up to accepting that nothing, not even a popular, 40-year-old Washington bar, lasts forever. But earlier today, the BlackRoosterPub twitter feed provided the first glimmer of hope:

Good news for the Black Rooster! We are making headway getting back to business.. Details soon. #rally4therooster

Dupont Circle's Blockbuster Video store, located at the corner of 17th and P Streets NW, will rent its last DVD on Sunday afternoon, as advertised on the dry erase board of the adjacent photo. Another one bites the dust for the chain of video rental stores that in its heyday put many mom and pop shops out of business, but is now falling victim to the competition of Netflix, cable and on demand programming, and of course, the Internet. The Adams Morgan and Eastern Market Blockbuster stores will remain open, however.

Admittedly, it's been quite a while since I was in the lower level of Union Station, but I was pretty surprised to read in this Washington Post story that the Union Station 9 movie theater only finally closed on Oct. 12. Weren't we talking about this place shutting down over a year ago? I honestly didn't realize it was still open up until this month, but like I said, I really haven't been down there in a while. I'm sure regular denizens of the downstairs food court will happily tell me all about it.

In case it wasn't obvious when you boarded the Metrorail system this morning, WMATA says it did indeed finish up that major rail interlocking replacement and bridge work that saw three Metro stations on the Green and Yellow lines closed for the entire three-day weekend. Also notable: Metro counted 64,228 people who took advantage of the free shuttle buses that were moving riders around the closures. That figure is just shy of the 68,000 or so who used the shuttles during the similar Labor Day weekend closures.

Sad news for workers in the 19th and L area: the old standby watering hole Black Rooster Pub will be forced to close its doors by Nov. 3, the Washington Business Journal is reporting. The bar, located at 1919 L Street NW, is being kicked out by the building's owner, who has decided to lease the space to the Peace Corps. instead. Since opening in 1970, Black Rooster has long been the sort of place that's no one's absolute favorite bar, but that anyone would feel comfortable going to. Regulars describe the Rooster's charm as having a lot to do with the diversity of the crowd – older folks, full-time drunks, young office workers, lawyers – everyone ended up at the Rooster at some point or another.

WMATA announced today it completed the work it intended to do during this past holiday weekend, work which forced the complete closure of three Metro stations, including National Airport, Pentagon City and Crystal City. Metro's track workers replaced four track switches at the Pentagon City station, along with 2,000 feet of rail and more than 735 ties. They also performed repairs along the National Airport station's aerial structure, conducted fire line maintenance and installed cable to upgrade cell phone service at those stations.

And another local business bites the dust. Big Monkey Comics on 14th Street announced Monday that it will close its doors for good at the end of the month, blaming the recession.

It wasn't Galactus, Lex Luthor, or Dr. Doom that defeated us, but simple dollars and cents. The economy has adversely affected so many people, and we are the latest casualty. Last year alone Virginia last [sic] 45% of its comic book shops due to the economic downturn and we are sad to say that we now join their number.

There's been a lot of hand-wringing on many a D.C. neighborhood blog this summer about the U.S. Postal Service's plans to shut down many of their branches in an effort to trim costs. Today the USPS announced that it has trimmed its list down to 413 retail offices nationwide, with nine of those located inside the District (that's down from 13 in the previous list of 677). These are the local post offices still in danger:

WMATA announced this afternoon that it intends to make the holiday weekend travel plans of people who will be flying in and out of National Airport a lot more difficult.

Metro is reminding customers today that it will close its sales office at the Western Bus Garage, located at 5230 Wisconsin Avenue NW, on Sunday, August 23. Three other bus garage sales offices, at Landover, Four Mile Run, and Royal Street in Alexandria, were also closed at the end of July. This is surely one of the things WMATA had in mind when it struck a deal with retailers like Giant and CVS to sell and refill SmarTrip cards at their stores. WMATA is encouraging customers who used these sales office locations to start purchasing their fare cards and SmarTrips at nearby commuter stores and retail locations.

Back in July, we reported that Capitol Hill mainstay Trover Books would be closing its doors for good this month. A call to the store today confirms that their last day of business is in fact tomorrow, Friday, August 14. The book shop will to continue to liquidate its stock through Friday at 7 p.m., with deep discounts still available. Items from the previously shuttered Trover Card Shop, which includes greeting cards and office supplies, are selling for 70 percent off, while most books are marked down 40 or 50 percent, and if you're a cigar smoker, stop by for deals on your favorite brands, which are 30 percent off. Regular customers may also want to make a special point of stopping by to wish the Shuman brothers well in their future endeavors.

We had been hearing about the imminent demise of Cleveland Park's 7-11, located at the corner of Connecticut Ave. and Porter St. NW., for a while, but after being reminded by City Desk that the convenience store did indeed shut its doors on Thursday, joining the Starbucks and the Magruder's Market on the growing list of neighborhood retailers who are giving up rather than face increasing rents amid a bleak economy, it's still hard to fathom. Who knew 7-11's, in all their ubiquity, could even go out of business? Granted, this location was at the top, rather than the middle, of Cleveland Park's commercial corridor, perhaps making it not quite convenient enough, but still. Are people really buying fewer Slurpees, packs of gum and nutritionally questionable taquitos? And wouldn't these Cleveland Park landlords trying to raise the rent prefer to have some kind of paying tenant, rather than no tenant at all?

One press release we got from WMATA today that wasn't dated 2003 was the announcement that the Takoma Metro station will be open all day, from 5 a.m. to midnight, on both Thursday and Friday. There will, however, still be fewer and slower-moving trains on the Red Line for the next two days. Metro stopped short of promising that the end of the Red Line related to the ongoing NTSB investigation is nearly here, noting that it's still "unclear what the NTSB’s needs may be after Friday." So expect another update before the weekend starts.

It was just a month ago that Carol Joynt, the owner of Georgetown institution Nathan's, sent out word that after months (years, really) of speculation, the restaurant had managed to secure a lease extension, and would, it seemed, therefore stay open. But in an email to patrons late today, Joynt announced that Nathan's will suddenly be closing its doors for good on July 12. Joynt writes:

Dear Friends,

Continue reading "Georgetown Restaurant Nathan's to Close After 40 Years"

U Street boutique moojoo ken is shutting its doors for good on July 12, and the store has been liquidating its stock since late May. DCist stopped by the other week and was able to score some designer duds for about 80 percent off the original retail price. The store is heavy on shoes and handbags that bear the logo of the in-house label, but they also have an array of scarves and jewelry and a small selection of women's clothing. Stop by before July 12 for clearance deals before the store disappears forever. 1512 U Street NW.

The Red Line may be running its entire route in both directions now, but the ongoing NTSB investigation continues to affect service near the crash site. Metro has announced that the Takoma Metro station will close at 10 p.m. tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday, and possibly more days later this week, to allow investigators access to the area. The station will reopen at 5 a.m. every morning, at its regular time. While the Takoma station is closed between 10 p.m. and midnight, the Red Line will run only from Glenmont to Silver Spring and then from Fort Totten to Shady Grove. Shuttle buses will take riders around the closed station.

GA Cleaners, also known as Georgia Avenue Cleaners and commonly referred to as Q Street Cleaners, located at the corner of 14th and Q Streets NW, will close for good this Saturday.

The Cleveland Park location of D.C.-area based Margruder's Market is closing its doors this weekend, according to Nbcwashington.com. Saturday will reportedly be the last day of business for the market, located at 3527 Connecticut Avenue NW, at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Porter Street NW. It's a bummer for the adjacent neighborhood, as Magruder's was a convenient spot to be able to pick up essentials. Magruder's locations in Gaithersburg, Rockville, Kemp Mill, Vienna, Falls Church, Alexandria and Chevy Chase will remain open. The rising cost of rent is cited as the reason for the closing.

The Examiner reports that the "Social" Safeway, located at 1855 Wisconsin Ave NW, will close on Sunday for extensive renovations. While residents in this toney Northwest D.C. neighborhood still have plenty of other grocery shopping options (there's a Whole Foods up the road in Glover Park, and a Giant a little north of there), Safeway is also offering folks who live in ZIP codes surrounding the store free delivery with online orders. There are also plans for a temporary pharmacy to open across from the construction site. DCmud has more on the renovations themselves, which include demolishing the existing store and replacing it with an entirely new facility that will more closely resemble the "Sexy" Safeway in the CityVista building near Mt. Vernon Square. The "Social" Safeway is slated for a reopening in March of 2010.

Very sad. Another independent bookstore bites the dust. In an email to customers (and a blog post) Friday afternoon, the owners of College Park's Vertigo Books announced they will shut down for good on April 24. The announcement was accompanied by several parting shots at online shopping behemoth Amazon.com, which the owners more or less explicitly blame for their shop's demise.

Among the stores to be shuttered are the Cleveland Park store on Connecticut Ave., the Georgetown location at 3301 M St. NW (already closed, as far as we know), both 11201 New Hampshire Ave. and 3850 International Drive in Silver Spring, and the store located in the Dulles Retail Plaza.

The Washington Post is reporting that four of the District's Boys & Girls Clubs are going to close as part of a major restructuring that will cut the organization's budget by more than 30 percent. The Georgetown, Capitol Hill, Alexandria and Hyattsville locations will close at the end of the school year, though Mayor Fenty's budget includes money to purchase the Jelleff Branch property in Georgetown.

Late Thursday afternoon, DJ Hut announced via Facebook that it will be shuttering its store in the upstairs portion of 2010 P Street NW. A little over a year ago, we heralded its return after a damaging fire, but the economic downturn coupled with the music industry's move further down the MP3 road appears to have ultimately made DJ Hut's physical location no longer viable. The notice, sent to DJ Hut's Facebook group, declared that the primarily vinyl institution will close at the end of April, with a 20 percent discount on most merchandise until then. The store will, however, continue to exist online for the foreseeable future.

Murky Coffee owner Nick "I'll punch you in your dick" Cho posted a letter on his web site today announcing that his Clarendon coffee shop is closing.

It's with great sadness that I announce that in a few weeks, murky coffee will be relocating from here in Clarendon to a new location in Washington DC.

Continue reading "Murky Coffee to Close, Owner Plans to Move Back to D.C."