West Elm Planning To Close On March 31? (1020 G St NW) *Updated*

This seems like a really bad sign for efforts to revive downtown DC retail. If I’m not mistaken, the city lured West Elm with a number of incentives three years ago. Such a shame, especially because the store was beautifully done, though I never saw many people when I stepped inside. I’d like to believe another tenant is lined up, but have my doubts. Then again, didn’t Forever 21 announce plans a year ago for a store in the old Woodies building? Whatever happened with that?

Any going out of business sale going to happen?

Judging solely by store traffic whenever I walk by, I’d say that Mia Gemma, Alden’s, and Peruvian Connection aren’t long for the neighborhood either.

I love West Elm and the neighborhood, but the two never seemed to mesh. Sad to see them go.

NOOOOO!!!!!

I received an e-mail this morning advertising a going out of business sale for West Elm Washington. Looks like they’re taking an additional 15% off “Everything*” in stock (note the asterisk).

And you also have Posh closing as well as eventually the Borders store at 14th and F–but apparently not until they have someone to assume their lease.

retail whether it’s restaurants or furniture or clothes have been scaled back because we aren’t buying as much stuff. fewer jobs = less confidence = less credit = less consumer purchases. the US has been over-retail stored for years and this reflects an adjustment.

I think West Elm received a TIF incentive to do their buildout…very unfortunate that they’re closing. I hope Jack Evans, the City’s Econ Development office & Mayor Fenty are keeping up with these economic trends and getting out ahead of them.

This news ruined my day. I love West Elm generally and this beautiful flagship store specifically. Having it downtown has been great — I’ve bought a lot of stuff there (a rug this past weekend, incidentally), and enjoy making casual trips there when in the area. I doubt I’ll make the treck out to the Tyson’s store.

That is too bad. I was really hoping this store would be part of a revival of retail in DT DC. The economy certainly hasn’t helped matters, but the basic fact remains: the underlying factors aren’t there to support DT retail.

1) The central city’s population is too small to support DT-style retail.
2) Established retail zones in Pentagon City and Georgetown siphon off whatever demand exists.
3) DC’s sky high office rents crowd out retail.

That means we are basically dependent on bringing in suburbanites to shop downtown ( like in Bos, Sea, SF, etc.)

But, we are stuck in a classic chicken and the egg scenario:
4) There is not the critical mass of retailers to draw people DT to shop
5) Since there isn’t that critical mass of shoppers, retailers stay away.

No amount of regulation or TIF program is going to change that.

The only way to create “destination retail” is either:
1) Dramatically increase the core city’s population.
2) Massively subsidize a DT shopping center to create the critical mass from scratch.

Just bought a new bed there two weeks ago and love it! I hate to see them close their doors. This along with all of the empty storefronts on F St are bad for downtown. Rents are way too high for anyone to stick around…

OK, I’m no economist, but I don’t understand how the problem is BOTH that rents are too high and the downtown shopping/living core population is too low. If we have all these empty storefronts, and allegedly so few people are shopping downtown, why are rents still so high?!?

The WBJ is reporting that Forever 21 is taking ALL the West Elm space, plus the 25,000 sq. ft. they originally planned to take in the building, for a whopping 65,000 sq. ft. super store. Retail downtown is far from dead!!!

WBJ is reporting that Forever 21 is taking over the West Elm space

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/02/22/daily20.html

I think a different store would do better. Although I have bought virtually all of my furniture in DC, I never bought anything at West Elm. The products remind me of the CB2 store (where I also never bought anything). I end up driving to 14th St, G’town and the Crate & Barrel way up Mass Ave. I’m sure there are Crate & Barrel haters reading, but that store would have had far more foot traffic, and sales.

I hope Forever 21 leaves room in that space for another cupcake shop.

I am guessing to some extent the conundrum of high rents AND high vacancies is the product of:

1) No retail is better than bad retail. DT developers are selling prestige. If they want to charge a law firm top dollar for office space, they probably don’t want a souvenir stand/t-shirt shop at ground level.

2) There is also the question of tenet equity. If the owners are giving retail space away on the cheap, the “cash cows” upstairs will get upset at subsidizing the ground floor retail.

3) To some extent it is a probability game. Developers have decided it is better to hold out for the 40% chance a retailer will pay top dollar vs. the 70% chance they will rent for bottom dollar. If it doesn’t make financial sense over time this will eventually fall away.

4) Retail has to compete with restaurants/bars/banks etc.
Although retail isn’t booming, eating/services is. Many may be holding out for them as well. (Benetton to AT&T, clothing to Hill Country, Zenith to Gelato.

5) Although the fundamentals aren’t great now, they have been moving in the right direction. There is probably a hope that the future will be better for occupany. Maybe DT can steal some business from G-town. Developers don’t want to get locked into a long-term contract and miss the boat. It remains to be seen whether this bet will pay off. Like housing in 2007, sometimes future expectations make no sense.

Good news on the Forever 21, at least this turns into a net wash. I am guessing clothing will do better than furniture, especially with the key tourist and commuter crowd.

Trover card store on F Street (between 12th and 13th) has a going out of business sale sign in the window.

I’m sad to see West Elm go. They did a great job adapting their store to the historic space and provided a nice retail anchor for the area. I also enjoyed getting some furniture items there, although did most of my shopping elsewhere due to the high price. But I’m not terribly shocked that they’re closing; in fact, I suspected their days were numbered. There never seemed to be many customers there and the rent for that amount of space in downtown must have been enormous. The fact is that the market fundamentals in Downtown can’t support a giant, high-end (or at least expensive) furniture store. Whereas clothing stores and restaurants/bars have thrived in that area due to its proximity to large numbers of residents, daily office workers, and tourists, a furniture store really only appeals to local residents. Given that there are only about 10K downtown, it’s probably not enough to support such a large and expensive store (especially in this economy). I wonder if West Elm will consider relocating at some point to 14th St, where there is a burgeoning furniture store scene, much cheaper rents, and proximity to many dense residential areas (Dupont, U St, Logan, Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, etc)?

The good news is that Forever 21 will probably do very well in that space. The other nearby clothing stores seem to be booming, partly due to the many office workers who shop there (what better way to spend a lunch break than to go clothing shopping!) Clothing is also a high-turnover item, so it’s one of the last things people cut out when money is tight (that can’t be said for furniture….or at least not West Elm priced furniture). So in general I’m optimistic about the future of that space and the Downtown retail scene in general. I just hope the Forever 21 build-out happens soon after West Elm leaves and that they preserve the exterior beauty of the building.

I can’t say I am surprised. Every time I went in there it was pretty dead. Not exactly the best location for a furniture store. I think Forever 21 will be a better fit. I hope this isn’t the start of a trend. That area has come along in the past 2-3 years.

I really think an apple store would do well here and help bring traffic to surrounding businesses, but with the georgetown I doubt that is possible now.

Going to miss West Elm, I thought proximity to Macys would have helped.

I guess some good news for the neighborhood is that I *did* see a lot of activity at both the new Carmine’s and new Hill BBQ places along 7th street/between E&D this morning. Looks like these places are definitely moving forward, alto Wagamama looks suspiciously quiet.

On another note, has anyone stopped by West Elm lately? What is the “sale” situation like?

Like others here, I’m sad to see West Elm go, though not terribly surprised given the emptiness of the store whenever I was there. Furniture seems like one of those things where you have to have a critical mass of several stores so you can comparison shop (see 14th St). Downtown location probably also hurt due to lack of parking. Ever tried to carry home a sofa or dining table on the metro?

Tod @6:07 lays out some interesting points about trends and what developers may be thinking. It bothers me to no end that Jemal leaves his retail spaces empty for years, but I’d rather wait for something like Iron Horse Tap Room or Carmine’s than have another crappy T-shirt shop like the “Inauguration Superstore” in the old HNTB space. If I’ve learned anything living downtown for several years, it’s that the good stuff never moves as fast as you’d like.

I hate to hear this news! Loved the aesthetics of this store and how it pumped up the downtown area. Not too happy Forever 21 will be replacing it but I suppose it beats leaving an empty space.

I went over to West Elm at lunch to check out the sale. Everything in the store is 15% off. There were a good number of people in the store, but no checkout line and I only recall seeing a couple people with items to purchase. There were plenty of decorating accessories available – platters, candle holders, pillows, etc. I wanted a lamp, which they only had the floor sample remaining (which was dirty) and I noticed another couple was having the same problem. I’m not sure about the amount of furniture left in stock, but there were still a lot of smaples on the floor, but I know from past experience buying 6 pieces of furniture there, they don’t typically have many new products in stock. In the past I had great customer service experiences, but today was horrible. I had a very unfriendly and unhelpful sales associate. I have a giftcard I’d like to use, so I’ll probably head back this weekend when I have more time, and I’ll cross my fingers for a different sales associate.

Hope the Peruvian retail store stays. Wonder how they feel when the Blackmarket purse street vendor guy in a beat up van sets up right outside their door every day in the warmer weather. Why wouldnt the city do something…….this is not the way to support the pioneer retailers. I am sure potential retail lessees see that and get turned off. The city should come up with a more reasonable policy that support street entreprenuers without stifling DT retail.