To avoid the mad Black Friday rush (or perhaps extend it), some large retailers have come up with a brilliant solution: just open at midnight on Thanksgiving Thursday and let people start shopping then! more ›

Via Young and Hungry, it looks like Target is giving away free groceries at Union Station today. The big box retailer, who will be opening a much-anticipated fresh grocery section inside its Columbia Heights store on Sunday (and, hopefully, retrofitting its beer aisle to something wider than two feet), is giving away out tote bags in front of the West Hall of Union Station until 5:30 p.m. If anyone reading this works near Union Station and goes to pick up one of the bags, we'd love to hear all about your haul. more ›

In an email to the Columbia Heights listserv, Jim Graham buried this little trinket: "Target is opening a full grocery store in July and extra staff is required." Don't bury the lede, Councilmember! Housing Complex confirms: an upcoming renovation at the Target inside DCUSA will allow the big box retailer to be a legitimate grocery option for D.C. residents. Work should begin shortly and the store expects to be finished in October (not July, as Graham said). With Ellwood Thompson's on its way into the same complex and the Giant right around the corner, getting a produce section and increasing dry goods inventory is kind of a no-brainer for Target. For those who shop frequently at the Columbia Heights Giant and now will have a competitor to thin that store's often unbearable lines: it's okay, let out those tears of joy. more ›

Some time ago I asked the DCist writing staff to avoid using the term "hipster" whenever possible. It's a word we all hear and say plenty, but I'm never quite sure what different people really mean by it. Is it just someone who wears skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors? Is it people who compost and keep chickens in their urban gardens? Is any man under 35 who has unusual facial hair a hipster? What's the difference between a scenester and hipster? Are you talking about these people? Or these people? Until I figure out some satisfactory answers, I prefer our writers be more specific about what they really mean. Using "hipster" just seems lazy and vague. more ›

Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham sent the following email out to the Columbia Heights email list just before 1 p.m.: more ›

Just when people thought the Target in Columbia Heights had everything, there's talk of it getting even more. more ›

There's been a lot of news and even more speculation about how dangerous the blocks surrounding the new Target, across the street from the Columbia Heights Metro, have become since the store opened last week. We posted about a series of muggings that occurred in the general vicinity, especially at the Metro entrance, within days of the grand opening. Good news: WTOP has since reported that a 16 year-old has been arrested in connection with at least 12 armed robberies in the area, which appear to be the same ones we had heard about. more ›

We're as excited about the convenience of the new Columbia Heights Target as anyone, but we've also been interested to read some of the blowback to Washington Post reporter Paul Schwartzman's gushing piece from Tuesday about the shiny new DCUSA retail development and how it's leading to a renaissance in the neighborhood. The Washington City Paper sees Schwartzman as wearing rose-colored glasses and painting every new project he comes across as another "renaissance" for a given neighborhood. Campus Progress also chimed in with a more in-depth reaction that calls out the reporter for falling prey to the breathless language of real estate developers and largely ignoring the other outcomes of gentrification in Columbia Heights. more ›

And, yeah, it pretty much looks exactly like a Target, although it's definitely big -- two full stories of bulk purchasing opportunities. We snapped these photos this morning at the brand new Columbia Heights store, which opened for business at 8 a.m. more ›

The developers of the new DC USA shopping center in Columbia Heights are still looking for more high end retail, according to a Washington Business Journal article. DC USA, located at 14th and Irving NW, still has about 80,000 square feet of space to fill, which developers hope to fill partially with fancier fare than the Target, Marshalls and Best Buy already planned for the space. more ›

The Adams Morgan Harris Teeter isn't the only new store soon to open in D.C. that's begun recruiting a large new staff: over the weekend the future Columbia Heights Target held its own job fair, with interviews for the 320 job openings at the huge retailer to be held throughout the end of this week. The Post went down to the job fair and chatted with some of the applicants. more ›