With Wegmans Coming, Here's How 5 Other Popular Grocers Entered The D.C. Market
Wegmans announced this week it would open its first D.C. grocery store at Roadside Development's Fannie Mae HQ project on Wisconsin Avenue in Upper Northwest. With the popular Rochester, New York-based chain's long-awaited entrance into the D.C. market official, we took a look back at how other popular grocers made their entrance into the District.
Whole Foods
- Year: 2000
- Location: 1440 P St. NW
- Current D.C. Presence: Five locations
Whole Foods opened its first D.C. store in 2000 at 1440 P St. NW near Logan Circle, a move some have credited for the revival of the surrounding neighborhood. The store's opening helped transform the Logan Circle area from one with vacant row houses riddled with crime to a neighborhood with skyrocketing property values and booming multifamily development. Since opening its first D.C. location, Whole Foods has expanded its presence with stores in Tenleytown, Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, and most recently H Street NE. It will open another store later this year in WC Smith's 336-unit Agora building in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood.
Harris Teeter
- Year: 2008
- Location: 1635 Kalorama Road NW
- Current D.C. Presence: Four locations
After establishing a presence in Northern Virginia, Harris Teeter opened its first D.C. location in 2008 in Adams Morgan. The 37K SF grocery store opened in the historic Citadel Building, which once housed a roller skating rink but had been vacant for years. It has since opened locations in NoMa, Capitol Riverfront and Hill East. It has also signed on to anchor the McMillan Sand Filtration Site development and Douglas Development's Shepherd Park mixed-use project. The chain's D.C. expansion was spearheaded by KLNB's Cary Judd, who passed away last year.
Trader Joe's
- Year: 2006
- Location: 1101 25th St. NW
- Current D.C. Presence: Two locations
Trader Joe's entered the D.C. market just over a decade ago in Foggy Bottom. The store anchors Shops at The Columbia, a retail complex Regency Centers acquired in 2007 that sits below a luxury condo building. The chain then waited until 2014 before opening its second location on 14th Street, anchoring the Louis at 14th apartment complex. Trader Joe's is set to double its D.C. presence with two more openings this year, at LCOR's The Edison apartment building near Union Market and at the Hine School redevelopment on Capitol Hill.
Mom's Organic Market
- Year: 2014
- Location: 1501 New York Ave. NE
- Current D.C. Presence: One location
Mom's Organic Market helped usher in the renaissance of Ivy City when it opened in 2014. The grocery store sits across the street from Douglas Development's Hecht Building development, which opened in November 2015. The store has yet to announce its second D.C. location, but it has five in NoVa and three in suburban Maryland.
Yes! Organic Market
- Year: 1970
- Location: Georgetown
- Current D.C. Presence: Six locations
The only D.C.-born chain on this list, Yes! Organic Market opened its first store in Georgetown in 1970. That store then moved to Cleveland Park in 1988 before beginning its expansion in 1992. The grocery store has since opened five more D.C. locations in Adams Morgan, Petworth, Brookland, Capitol Hill and 14th Street, plus one in Hyattsville.
CORRECTION, MAY 30, 2:35 P.M. EST: While the Logan Circle Whole Foods was the chain's first store to open in a new building and have a major effect on its neighborhood, DC's first Whole Foods technically opened in 1996 when Georgetown's Bread & Circus changed its name to Whole Foods Market following Whole Foods' acquisition of Fresh Fields Markets, which owns the Bread & Circus brand.
