Yes! Organic Market Coming to U St. Corridor

Thanks to Prince of Petworth and Columbia Heights News for alerting us to this. Apparently, the folks at Yes! Organic Market plan to open up a new shop in the Union Row development at 14th and V St. This is very good news, and is further evidence of how far along the U St./14th St area has come (as if further evidence is needed). I'll spare you the regurgitation of the press release, which can be found on both blogs I posted above. However, I did have a couple of thoughts on this that I haven't seen brought up yet.

First, I wonder whether or not this will affect the decision being made by Ellwood Thompson's as to whether or not to open up a store further up 14th St. in Columbia Heights. With the Whole Foods on P St., and Yes! at 14th and V, I wonder if there will be sufficient demand for yet another organically-based market in the neighborhood. As I mentioned, it's great that the U St. corridor is coming along to the point where businesses such as Yes! can open up, but I can't help but wonder about the potential cannibalizing effect this may have on a neighborhood like Columbia Heights.

My other thought is how great it is to see a locally based retailer such as Yes! assuming such a high profile space in a major development in D.C., but I wonder what effect--if any--a project like this will have on the neighborhood. I noticed that the press release stated that one of the retail spaces will become a "major national retailer", which I suppose is somewhat inevitable. But it's nice that another major space was filled by a local retailer who should have the ability to attract customers from all backgrounds--something of vital importance to the U St. area (and one of its charms).