Elliot C. Williams
Six months after announcing that five of its regional shops would shutter, handmade gelato and coffee shop Dolcezza revealed Wednesday four of its locations will reopen “for good.” Additionally, once the Smithsonian welcomes back guests, Dolcezza will reopen its shop at the Hirshhorn Museum.
The Dupont, Bethesda Row, CityCenter, and Fairfax locations are reopened this week. The shop’s locations at The Wharf, Logan Circle, and factory at Union Market remain closed to the public.
Dolcezza owners Violeta Edelman and Robb Duncan announced in September that it would be closing five retail locations due to the financial pressures of the coronavirus pandemic. All of its shops closed in March 2020, when stay-at-home orders first kicked in, but reopened as those orders were lifted over the summer. On Instagram this morning, the owners said they worried they’d have to permanently say goodbye to many of their stores.
“The amazing resurrection of shops we thought we had to say goodbye to wouldn’t be possible without our hard working staff, wonderful landlords, the BEST CUSTOMERS EVER, and the always supportive D.C. community,” Edelman and Duncan wrote.
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On Friday, March 19, the shop is celebrating by giving away a free small gelato of its limited-edition flavor Chocotorta, inspired by the Argentinian cake of the same name. The scoops come with flavors of dulce de leche, cream cheese, chocolate cookies, and coffee. Dolcezza is dubbing the day “Survival Day.”
The news of Dolcezza’s reopening comes after a devastating year for restaurants forced to shutter by the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of businesses around the city have closed for good — dozens of those were local restaurants, bars, and cafes. Dolcezza’s closing of five retail shops in September made it one of the region’s largest chains to dramatically downsize as a result of the pandemic.
At least one Dolcezza location won’t ever be reopening: The Logan Circle gelato and coffee shop is set to house a new location of local smoothie chain South Block.
In a video welcoming back D.C. customers, Duncan said of the celebration: “I think it’s a little bit overdue.”
This post has been corrected to remove a link to a coupon that is no longer valid.
