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!

The Post’s Danielle Douglas provides an update on the leasing activity at DCUSA, and finds that space in and around it, like so many ripe bananas at the building’s anchor Target, is going fast. Or at least it is when it comes to national food retailers.

Ellwood Thompson’s, the organic grocer who, over the last three years, was rumored to be coming to Columbia Heights, then signed a lease at DCUSA, then delayed its plans indefinitely, then started some construction work, then reportedly bailed on the space and pissed off Jim Graham, then claimed they were working with their landlord to “to make this happen” — has now admitted that they will not be opening a store in the retail complex along Irving Street NW.

Well, this is certainly interesting: Ellwood Thompson’s owner Richard Hood told TBD this afternoon that the grocer’s plans to expand into Columbia Heights are not dead, as previously reported. “We are not in default. We continue to work with the landlord to make this happen,” Hood told TBD, admitting to some confusion about why Councilmember Jim Graham said that the grocery wasn’t coming to the DCUSA complex. Graham had told the Washington City Paper earlier…

UPDATE: Now the owner of Ellwood Thompson’s has refuted Graham, stating that the grocer is still working on plans to open at DCUSA.

The long-awaited IHOP, located inside the DCUSA development in Columbia Heights, has officially opened for business. (And yes, we do believe that the easy availability of pancakes at any hour is one of the few acceptable reasons to use all caps in a tweet.)

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…

Photo by IntangibleArts Heads up, Columbia Heights. You know that massive, $42 million publicly funded parking lot that’s been sitting largely unused underneath the DCUSA shopping center? It could soon be filling up with commuters from Maryland, thanks to a new program being offered by the District government. As the Washington Business Journal notes, starting this week, 350 spaces in the garage are being made available for daily and monthly parking contracts. Spaces in…

Our attempt to diagram out the logic behind choosing to live in Columbia Heights, according to the Washington Post’s Monica Hesse. (Illustration by Amanda Mattos) 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?…

International House of Pancakes is in talks to open a restaurant in the DCUSA development in Columbia Heights, according to the Washington Business Journal. We’ve witnessed a lot of debate and handwringing in the past about the relative classiness of businesses going in to DCUSA, but surely everyone can agree on Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity….