Whole Foods Will Bring Pop-Up Market East of the River

• March 26, 2014
• 7 Comments

by Lark Turner

A rendering of the St. Elizabeth’s Pavilion. Courtesy of DMPED.

Whole Foods will bring a monthly, fresh food market to the St. Elizabeth’s pavilion beginning April 5 to serve the Anacostia and Congress Heights neighborhoods, Mayor Gray announced on Wednesday morning. All of the proceeds from the market will be donated to area organizations. The Washington Post was the first to report the plans for the pop-up.

Whole Foods is in the middle of an aggressive expansion in DC, where its stores are often seen as harbingers of high-end development. One store is slated to deliver on H Street around 2016; another is planned for Navy Yard.

The pop-up market will take place on a new pavilion at St. Elizabeth’s. Its purpose is to drum up interest in redeveloping the site with retail, commercial and residential uses. In addition to food, the retailer will also provide nutritional information and help with meal planning.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/whole_foods_will_bring_monthly_pop-up_markets_to_st._elizabeths/8281

7 Comments

1. StringsAttached said at 5:09 pm on Wednesday March 26, 2014:
   Now that I think about it...this isn't really to help the community; it's to get the word out that there's a WFs nearby across the river. I find it funny how businesses know there's money to be made from individuals EOTR yet they don't want to actually plant themselves there.

1. Anacostia owner said at 7:42 pm on Wednesday March 26, 2014:
   This is awesome news! Looking forward to more businesses moving East of the River. They provide jobs, clean up closed up boarded areas, bring in foot and car traffic, and overall revitalize the area. Looking forward to shopping at this WF store.

1. mona said at 7:45 pm on Wednesday March 26, 2014:
   I thought that part of the problem of getting grocery stores into the eastern part of the city was to make sure they were affordable. Whole Foods doesn't really fit the bill here. Are they doing this as a test run to prove why they shouldn't put a store there cause no one will pay the outrageous prices?

1. Chuck said at 7:49 pm on Wednesday March 26, 2014:
   Whole Foods should move to lower South Capitol St. SW in the 20032 zip code. There are plenty of opportunities for them there and the traffic they'll get from the DHS, Coast Guard, Bolling, Bellevue, and Congress Heights crowd along that corridor would pay for itself.

1. Nicoli said at 12:32 pm on Thursday March 27, 2014:
   Seems like a good, low to no risk way of feeling out the market EOTR. Good for WF. Hopefully it leads to something permanent.

1. Rachel said at 12:27 am on Sunday April 6, 2014:
   It was cheaper than TJ's this weekend and much better quality. I hope they do this every weekend what a great farmers market and beautiful building!

1. Jamie said at 8:55 pm on Tuesday April 8, 2014:
   I'm so bummed I missed this this past weekend. I'm a WF lover and I live in Congress Heights, so I def marked my calendar for May 3! Will most certainly be supporting any WF presence in SE... or any similar quality retail that makes a commitment to coming EotR. HINT HINT -- anyone out there?!?