Ellwood Thompson’s Blog

Ellwood Thompson’s brings organic growth to Washington, DC

This was posted on Oct 7th, 2008 by Wine Drinker Extradionarre and tagged in Featured, Local Organic

Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market, Virginia’s largest independent natural grocery, is pleased to announce its expansion into Washington, DC. As the company prepares for its twentieth anniversary, it will open a new store to serve the Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods. Ellwood Thompson’s new store will be located in the DC USA development at 14^th and Irving Streets, NW adjacent to the Columbia Heights Metro station.

“We’ve been interested in the communities along the 14^th Street corridor as the home for our second store for quite some time,” says Ryan Youngman of Ellwood Thompson’s. “We walked the community and talked to the people. The overwhelming support we received from residents confirmed this is the perfect place to expand. Our commitment to environmental sustainability and conservation along with organics and clean local food is a perfect fit for these neighborhoods.”

Youngman plans to keep the lines of communication open, working with residents, community leaders and other businesses in the area to ensure Ellwood Thompson’s understands the food and community needs of the neighborhoods.

The local, organic and natural market is slated to open in fall/winter of 2009 and will be nearly 15,000 square feet. In addition, this growth will bring 90-110 new jobs to the area, everything from managerial to general positions, with great benefits and a unique and meaningful working environment.

Like the Richmond store, each department of the Columbia Heights market will emphasize local products found within a 100-mile radius. Offerings will include naturopathic vitamins, supplements and personal care, local produce, bulk, meat and seafood, wine, cheeses and fresh baked goods. Prepared foods from Ellwood’s Kitchen will be led by award-winning chef and vegan cookbook author, Jannequin Bennett. It will cater to intentional eaters as well as provide a variety of natural, organic, and ethnically diverse dishes. Those who elect to eat vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and/or raw foods will find plenty of options in all departments. There will be inside and outside community seating with wireless internet available.

Ellwood Thompson’s will also offer incentives for conservation and recycling in the form of monetary envirocredits for walking, biking and mass transit and reusing shopping bags, water and food containers. Those who have to drive will have easy access to the underground parking deck from Park or Hiatt Streets.

For more information contact - Lesley Johnson, ljohnson@ellwoodthompsons.com

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Recent Comments

Great news! I live just a few blocks away and have been eagerly awaiting this great news. Thanks for coming to the CH/MtP neighborhood!

This was posted on Oct 7th, 2008 at 03:37pm by Rex North, Mt. Pleasant, D.C..

I live around the corner and am BEYOND excited about this news! Thank you thank you!!

This was posted on Oct 7th, 2008 at 08:45pm by Sarah A, Adams Morgan, DC.

Wonderful, this is fantastic news, can’t wait! Do you mean this fall / winter 2009 or fall of 2009? Hope it is the former, as we can’t wait!

This was posted on Oct 8th, 2008 at 07:45am by Jeff in D.C..

Rex, Sarah, and Jeff - Thanks so much for sharing your excitement with us. Everyone here at Ellwoods is excited as well!

The store is slated to open late 2009. We’ll continue to share updates as things progress.

This was posted on Oct 8th, 2008 at 11:35am by Lesley.

I posted this on West of the Boulevard, but I might as well post it here, too. Any plans to open new stores in Richmond? Outside of the West End, I mean? I lived in Arlington for years, so I know very well that the District, including the 16th Street corridor, has a glut of neighborhood retail, including both traditional supermarkets and organic markets. There’s a Yes! on Columbia Road, a Harris Teeter on Kalorama, a Giant on 14th Street, a Whole Foods on P Street, and I understand that Yes! is opening another branch in Columbia Heights proper. Richmond, on the other hand, has at least half a dozen healthy city neighborhoods in which the residents don’t have so much as a Food Lion. I apologize if this sounds presumptuous, but I’m amazed and a little confused about why ET is moving into a comparatively saturated market when there’s so much room for expansion down here. Is there some threshold of population density, bureaucratic interference, and / or median income that rules out Westover Hills, the East End, Manchester, etc?

This was posted on Oct 9th, 2008 at 08:56am by Gus in the Museum District.

Hey Gus - Thanks for your post. Density of organic/natural food consumers in DC was a main factor in the decision to open a store in Columbia Heights.

Meanwhile, Ellwoods is expanding in Richmond, maybe not a second location, but adding 2,500 sqft to our existing store and opening a coffee shop.

This was posted on Oct 9th, 2008 at 12:35pm by Lesley.

Being a fairly new homeowner to the area, I am very excited to soon be able to walk to your store from my house, especially since it means I won’t have to trek all the way down to Whole Foods anymore. I don’t think the previous poster, Gus, really understands how much DC has changed since whenever he lived in Virginia, especially the area where you will be building the store. Just go to Whole Foods on P Street on any random day or any local farmer’s market on the weekend to see the huge demand that DC consumers have for natural/organic food and a pleasant shopping experience (neither of which you can get at Giant, I assure you). I’m sure you’ve done your research so I don’t need to tell you, but I think you’ve made a wise investment and I’m looking forward to being one of your customers.

This was posted on Oct 9th, 2008 at 02:18pm by Scott, Columbia Heights.

Thanks for replying. I’d still like to see some more investment in Richmond one day. I do appreciate your store, and I’m glad to see that you’re expanding.

And Scott, I know exactly how much DC has changed, having grown up there and moved away less than two months ago. That was exactly my point: that DC is saturated with options compared to Richmond. I look at neighborhoods like Church Hill, and I see Near Southeast fifteen years ago. I look at neighborhoods like Manchester, and I see Columbia Heights ten years ago. I look at Westover Hills, and I see Takoma DC or Brookland. I watched those District neighborhoods grow and thrive because of vigorous commercial investment, and I’d like to see the same happen here.

This was posted on Oct 9th, 2008 at 07:58pm by Gus in the Museum District.

BEST NEWS EVER FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. Thank You! I don’t remember reading it anywhere, but what is the size of the space?

This was posted on Oct 12th, 2008 at 09:12am by Christine, Columbia Heights.

Hi Christine - The store will be approximately 15,000 sqft. Thanks so much for your post; we’re so glad you shared your excitement with us!

This was posted on Oct 14th, 2008 at 09:32am by Lesley.

We are so thrilled that you are coming to Columbia Heights. Your presence will take our neighborhood to the next level. Without naming the grocery in closest proximity to your planed location, their change in logo did little to disguise the fact that the quality of their produce & prepared offerings are a continual disappointment. I look forward to shopping in your store.

This was posted on Oct 17th, 2008 at 09:28am by Brent (Columbia Heights).

This is fantastic news! I look forward to shopping at the new store and I’m so happy I can walk there. I have to say I always dread going to WF because it is always so packed. Now, finding my vegan necessities in my neighborhood will be easy and pain free, I’m sure. Thank you!

This was posted on Oct 19th, 2008 at 06:57am by Suzanne in DC.

Hey, I’m a little late to this party…but congrats and thanks! I will definitely be a patron at ET in DC. I think your store is definitely what the DCUSA Mall needed: a vibrant store committed to organic and earth-friendly practices. I’m sure you’re going to see a lot of business. Thanks again–can’t wait to walk in your doors!

This was posted on Nov 16th, 2008 at 02:57am by Max (Adams-Morgan, DC).

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