When Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine purchased Politics & Prose Bookstore in 2011, they immediately began receiving requests from realtors, developers, and community groups to expand across the city.
“We’ve been saying ‘not now’ for much of the last six years,” Graham told DCist. That’s until they were approached by developers at The Wharf—a $2 billion development along the Southwest waterfront, which kicked off a four-day grand opening celebration on Thursday.
Part of those festivities includes the opening of Politics & Prose’s second location.
Though Graham and wife Muscatine announced that they’re opening another location in Union Market months before revealing the Southwest deal, The Wharf location is opening first to coincide with the 24-acre site’s grand opening.
The store’s high ceilings and freshly-painted white walls offer a more modern look than the two-story, 33-year-old flagship location on Connective Avenue NW—part of which Graham said got a “serious facelift” last year.
“It’s a totally different feel, but that’s okay,” Graham said of the 2,300 square-foot space in SW. “It’s fun for us because it presents a new aesthetic that we could work with. We’re still exploring it and trying to figure out how to create a bookstore out of this very different kind of space.”
But since getting the keys to the building about three weeks ago, Graham said most of his staff’s energy has been focused on stocking shelves with diverse reads and other book-oriented merchandise in time for the opening. They also put together a jam-packed calendar of author events through the end of the year.
Graham said he and Muscatine decided to open up shop across town because “we were very intrigued by [the developers’] vision, what they wanted to do here, and what was happening in Southwest D.C.”
During the four-day opening celebration alone, city officials estimate that 20,000 people will visit The Wharf, which includes more than a dozen restaurants from local food groups (many of which aren’t yet ready to open), retail offerings, and music venues. Muscatine said she’s excited to reach “a much broader community,” while also filling a void of bookstores in the neighborhood. It’s part of a larger boom of independent bookstores in D.C.
“We’re going to try really, really hard to make sure the store very is much a part of this community and this area, but our constants will never change,” Muscatine said.
For the grand opening, Southwest residents will get six months of membership for free, which includes multiple discounts, first notification and deals for events and classes, a free tote bag, and more. Plus, Muscatine said they want to partner with nearby schools for events.
Additionally, the store is introducing vinyl albums to its offerings, specifically from acts playing nearby at The Anthem music venue.
It will also maintain its reputation of “tremendous curation of books… and the best author events,” she said. Among other upcoming speakers, the chefs behind Rasika will dish about their new cookbook of Indian cuisine and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews presents his new book about Bobby Kennedy’s legacy.
The excitement for the store’s opening has been building for staffers and Politics & Prose fans alike. “As we were setting up, we had people look through the window, see our logo, and start clapping,” said store manager Justin Bethel, who previously managed the store’s operations of book sections at some Busboys and Poets locations—a partnership that ended earlier this year.
“We had a woman come by yesterday who’s a longtime patron of our Connecticut Avenue store and she’s always worked in this [Southwest] neighborhood—just seeing the gratitude that she expressed that we’re opening our first standalone location here excited me,” Bethel said. “I was really tickled to meet her.”
The new Politics & Prose Bookstore is located at 70 District Square SW.
