Photo by Ian Buckwalter

The Dorchester Market, the once well-stocked bodega in the basement of the Dorchester House apartments at 2480 16th Street NW in Adams Morgan, will be no more come week’s end. Residents of the building and the local area who frequent the shop may have noticed the recent precipitous drop in the restocking of goods: the gradually emptying freezer case, the large blank spots on the shelves, and finally, a couple of weeks ago, the disappearance of every magazine & newspaper from the counter newsstand. Those who guessed it couldn’t bode well were right: last week, two-for-one specials started popping up, and then a simple, “Going out of business. Everything must go,” sign on the doors indicated that the end was indeed nigh.

Though somewhat hidden from the street, the market had become a neighborhood institution of sorts, largely due to its location in a massive apartment complex where, as the Not For Tourist guide said in its writeup of the shop, “every DC resident has spent the night…at least once.” Residents and visitors were used to being able to run downstairs for a six pack of beer to enjoy on the roof on a warm summer night, last minute cooking supplies while dinner was already on the stove, or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s at 10:55 p.m. without even changing out of their pajamas. More importantly, it was a great convenience for the building’s elderly residents to not have to go out in harsh conditions for basic necessities.

Despite the opening of the new Harris Teeter mere yards from the Dorchester’s door, locals were hopeful for the store’s survival; many still used the market for the same purposes they always had, and only went to Harris Teeter for items they’d previously reluctantly gotten at the Safeway on Columbia Rd. Even so, the market had taken a hit with HT’s opening and had been in a state of flux for much of the last year, with a number of layout changes over the course of last summer and fall. Store owner Yeheyis Getachew, who took over the store in 1995, told the Washington Times last June that his business had plummeted 30 percent since HT’s opening.

So It might come as a surprise that the Harris Teeter factor isn’t what’s forcing the Market’s doors to shut permanently.