RSS FeedTarget’s New Urban Focus, Many Soon To Follow?
Last week, national retailer, Target, opened up pop-up stores in 3 urban centers. Yes, Washington DC was one of those cities! But, instead of opening up in Penn Quarter, the 50-item shop opened up on Georgetown’s Wisconsin & M intersection. If you blinked, you missed it because the store is already closed. Some may call it a publicity stunt or an efficient way to sell the hottest items during a busy shopping season at heavily trafficked city intersections. Others may point to a new focus by national retailers on urban centers for retail expansion.
Interviews of Target spokespeople seem to indicate that the pop-up stores have been a tremendous success. And that is good, because analysts believe that the pop-up stores were also a test to prove that there is strong retail demand in urban centers, such as Washington DC. One striking statistic is that DC has a mere 8.5 square feet of retail per capita while the regional average is 25 sq ft and the national average is 23.4 sq ft!
Maybe this recent success by national retailers will spur new store openings in Penn Quarter. We’re sure that everyone agrees that the recent restaurant boom has been excellent for the neighborhood, especially since many of the recent restaurant openings have been very successful. But we also think that a few more national retailers in the neighborhood would help balance out the retail profile of the Penn Quarter. What do you think?
An Inflated View Of The Hirshhorn
Our friend Drew over at DC Foodies sent us this NY Times article yesterday about possible upcoming changes at the Hirshhorn Museum. Specifically the Hirshhorn is contemplating creating a gigantic balloon-like structure that would emerge from the top of the museum, covering the center courtyard. The artist’s rendering shows not only the balloon emerging from the top, but also a type of entrance (looks like the exit of water slide) near the left hand side of the museum.
The NY Times article has a lot of details (could be raised/lowered quickly, estimated at a 5 million dollar price tag) and is well worth a read. They even have a suggestion for the museum: Add a couple of levels of balconies inside the balloon-life roof.
We’ve always liked the Hirshhorn, but something like this would put it over-the-top. If it looks even half as cool as the rendering we’ll be taking a lot more of our out of town guests to see it.
Celebrating A Year of Excellence at Muse
Today we introduce a guest writer, nightseen, who can be found writing about bars and nightclubs at Urban Marinade where he shares his unique view of DC after sundown. Today’s story is about the one year anniversary of Muse, a nightclub at 717 6th Street NW in Chinatown.
It was a quiet Thursday evening in the District almost one year ago when my buddy Dan and I wandered into a nightclub on 6th Street in Chinatown. I had just started writing for the WB and Dan had an idea to do a drink of the week concept for my site, Urban Marinade. We had a drink at this new establishment and continued on to our main destination, Josephine. The evening at Josephine was a bust, so we returned to the Chinatown nightclub because of the warm hospitality we had received. And for one year now we’ve been going back to Muse Nightclub almost weekly.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing some of the best house DJs hit up the turn tables at Muse, including the likes of Marques Wyatt and King Britt. I also had a chance to teach a weekly dance class at the club and see some of the world’s best Lindy Hoppers tear up the dance floor. In other words, Muse has been good to us over the past year.
So on November 13th, Muse Lounge celebrated their 1-year anniversary of epic parties in Chinatown. And of course, Urban Marinade was there to document the chaos and celebrate the success of this downtown nightclub. And in true Muse fashion, they hired world-class artist DJ Icey for the evening.
Icey has a long history within the electronic music ranks as being one of the innovators of “Florida Breaks.” He’s influenced the likes of Baby Anne and Kimball Collins and was the DJ that convinced the Chemical Brothers to do their first show in the States. So yeah, the guy knows his way around a DJ booth and knows how to make you move. He was also one of the first DJs I had the pleasure of covering in Tampa when I started writing Nocturnal Vibe 6 years ago.
Continue on to see a collection of photos from the evening. Not enough for a full gallery, but enough to whet your appetite for more of what this great DC nightclub has to offer.
DC Link Roundup: Heard In The ‘Hood
Here’s what we were reading last week about neighborhood news in DC.
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Penn Quarter/Downtown – An a cappella group called Purple Haze from Northwestern University [music link] will be singing a mix of Christmas carols and pop music in front of Ford’s Theatre (511 10th Street NW) prior to tonight’s showing of A Christmas Carol. The performance is free to all and runs from 6:30 pm to approximately 7:20 pm.
Downtown – Tom Sietsma reviews Bibiana, our newest Italian restaurant, at 11th and H Streets NW. [WP Magazine]
Mount Vernon Triangle – A comprehensive update on the 5th and I Project with a mention of temporary urbanism. [The (Mount Vernon) Triangle]
Dupont – The 17th Street Streetscape project described. [Borderstan]