D.C. could be the home of another Amazon brick-and-mortar retail spot soon.
Amazon signed a lease that will bring one of its retail concepts to an 8,000 square feet space right at 14th and Riggs streets NW, Washington Business Journal reported.
The retail space on the 14th Street Corridor would add to the list of other Amazon shops in the D.C. area, including bookstores in Georgetown and Bethesda and the Amazon Hub near the University of Maryland.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
This news comes at a time of major transition for the 14th Street Corridor, an area that has seen intense development over the course of the past 20 years. This year alone, many homegrown mainstays of the street have closed, including the downstairs space of Black Cat, home goods store Home Rule, and such restaurants as Masa 14, Policy Lounge, and Drafting Table, many of which are being replaced by out-of-town chains. (Not all of the out-of-town chains are hacking it there, either.) In a switch emblematic of the changes in the neighborhood, local furniture store Urban Essentials closed, making way for a JP Morgan Chase branch to open in its place.
The new Amazon store would be surrounded by other new retail tenants at Liz, a mixed-use development project with shops like the newly-opened Sephora, Bluestone Lane, and Parachute Home, per WBJ. It’s also not too far away from the Whole Foods on P Street, which is also owned by Amazon.
There’s a chance the 14th Street space will house the company’s Amazon Go concept, a source with knowledge of the talks told WBJ. Those stores let customers purchase items through an app rather than wait in line for a cashier. There are currently 16 Amazon Go stores across the country, with two new locations set to open in Chicago.
A permit issued by D.C. in January 2020 provides some more insight into what may be coming to 14th Street, Washington Business Journal reported. WBJ notes some indications that the establishment will be a “small grocer,” because the site plan includes areas for produce, alcohol, and prepackaged food. Per the outlet, the size of the store is in between the typical square footage for an Amazon Go and the tech company’s grocery store concept.
These plans are taking shape as Amazon sets up its second headquarters in Northern Virginia.
This post has been updated with information from a January 2020 permit, as reported by Washington Business Journal.
