Nando’s Liquor License Permit Spotted – Restaurant Hours Revealed

I have read with interest all the new stores coming into PQ or not due to the high rents. I now rent upstairs inside Touchstone Gallery at a most reasonable rate. When MotoPhoto went out of business I was the first person to call about the space because obviously I would love to be on the street level. The rent without taxes for 1325 square feet would have been over $6,500 per month. WITHOUT taxes. Now I hear that Ollsson’s and the cafe will be gone by the end of June because a Chinese buffet company from England has offered twice the rent that Ollsson’s pays. Soon we will be Georgetown: an outdoor mall. I have talked to the reps at Jamal and they want $100 PER SQUARE foot on most of their properties. They are waiting for national chains to occupy these spaces. Small businesses that cater to the people that live in Penn Quarter do not have a prayer against national chains. Someone stop the madness!!

I’m sorry to see Olsson’s go, but honestly I haven’t bought anything there (other than a greeting card) in years. I can get any book I need from Amazon, with free shipping and at a steep discount off list price, and when I need something more urgently I generally don’t have the time to stop by Olsson’s before making a second trip to B&N where it’s much more likely to be stocked. It’s regrettable, but inevitable, that a small book store would be forced out of a prime downtown location.

That’s a “community” – or lack thereof. Olsson’s is an integral part of the PQ community – too bad there aren’t enough people who read books or otherwise care to support a local bookstore.
As for the chain stores & Doug Jemal’s insane rents – well, apparently that’s what people want – see #2 above. It’s only “inevitable” when people care so little they do nothing. There seems to be absolutely no interest in anything that isn’t the same store one could find in any mall anywhere in the world, & no interest in persuading the politicians to remedy the situation.

that’s really a shame. olssons is such a nice place — i haven’t bought a book there in ages either but i find it’s a great alternative to starbucks for a cup of coffee. much more civilized. unfortunatly now it’s giant corps who run the show. ugh.

I, too, am sad to see Olssens go. However, every time i go in to find a new title — they must special order it. Online book shopping is much easier, items are in stock or shipped for your enjoyment the day a new release comes out.

Add a deplorable coffee shop and $18 CDs, and I don’t see how any business can survive — even with amazingly loyal customers. The part I will truly miss is the DVD rental.

The only area I see small retail succeed is on F Street — it seems Jemal is intent on making the small strip between 9 and 10 high-end, but not big box. Kudos.

i read TONS of books but i get the vast majority of mine at used book stores (especially the one on the 1st floor of MLK library) and most recently at the awesome book sale over at 2000 Penn. beyond that, ordering online is my next method. if i am looking for something specific and want instant gratification, i do gravitate to B&N or Borders because they are more likely to have it than Olsson’s. it is unfortunate that that an independent store can’t survive though. it’s almost as if an independent store needs to be very specialized so they are something special…but then it runs the risk of being too specialized to have enough audience. i dunno….just my 2 cents. time to read another book!

Shame about Olssens, but like most small bookstores, they’ve been on the decline for years. This is not a surprise. Unless you deal in volume like Barnes&Noble or Borders, bookstores in highpriced urban markets can’t make a profit. The only exception seems to be places like Second Story, and they have a strong online presence via abebooks.com, which I highly recommend for finding ANY used book ANYWHERE. Much better prices than Amazon and you’re supporting small used bookstores around the globe.

More small plate restaurants anyone?

#5 – I wouldn’t give Jemal too much credit for F Street unless you are handing out credit for the empty storefronts.

He owns the South side of the street which is virtually empty other than the Peruvian sweater place that is coming in on the corner.

He does own a little bit of the North side ofthe street including Ultrabar and the Cheese Shop location, but I don’t think he owns all of the North side such as the Mia Gemma and Coco Sala storefronts.

One thing Olssons is very good for is the discount shelves – I always find random books that interest me to buy on those shelves, and at low prices.

i’m REALLY excited about this place! i had a chance to try out a nando’s peri peri in london last month, and it was simply awesome!

Re: #1

I realize that retailers need a lot of square footage. That makes a big difference. But as a PQ condo owner who paid > $500/sf, your outrage at Jemal’s asking price of $100/sf for downtown properties is hard for me relate with. I don’t expect retailers to pay anywhere near the $500+ but a flat $100 sounds reasonable to an outsider. Especially if other companies will pay it. While I’m not a fan of chains maybe the small business owner with very tight margins shouldn’t expect to be on 7th St. Maybe the vacant spot at 400 Mass is more sensible.

AnonPQ – bear in mind that #1′s $100 per square foot is a monthly rental rate, not a purchase rate. that means a retailer has to generate some multiplier greater than 1.0 times $100 in sales on a monthly basis for every square foot rented to cover taxes, salaries, inventory, equipment costs, utilities, rent and hopefully a profit. go out one year and a retailer pays out $1200/square foot per year and gets $0 in real estate equity back. comparing rental rates to purchase rates are like comparing apples to oranges. your margin point is well taken and probably dead on though.

BTW, one could easily gin up some cool math to match the two rates up but that is a topic for a much more technical real estate/finance web site than this one.

I think the $100/sq ft is yearly rent, not monthly. Even so, 700 sq ft (the size of a typical one bedroom apartment) would run $5,833 per month at that rate.

I stand corrected. I meant yearly rental rate instead of monthly.

thanks #13!