Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Target DC!

A nice, new, shiny Target
makes it home in D.C.'s Columbia Heights neighborhood!

Aside from The Hecht Company, Woodard & Lothrop, and Giant Food, big box retailers have been largely non-existent in Washington until recent years. In the last 15 years, Washington has started to rise from the ashes of riots that followed the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as years of economic hardship that were punctuated by drug wars, gangs, and astronomical murder rates, and is making solid, economic progress.

One sign of growth in the city, in addition to all the condominiums sprouting up everywhere, is the arrival of big box retailers. It started with Home Depot and a full-service Giant Food off of Rhode Island Avenue NE. Then, over in Tenleytown, the Container Store and Best Buy opened stores. That was followed by a full-service Giant Food in Columbia Heights and in March of this year, Target Corporation opened its first store in the city also in Columbia Heights! Residents couldn't be happier. Target means jobs and convenience. Now, we don't have to travel out to the states for our favorite store! We have our very own Target and it's all good!

My favorite feature at Target: the shopping cart escalator!
A fun and easy way to move your cart between levels
without having to wait for the elevator!


Target is located at 3100 14th Street NW and is a full-service store, including a pharmacy and photo service. It is open Mon. - Sat., 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM and Sun., 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM. This location also includes a Staples, Best Buy, Marshalls, and Bed Bath and Beyond. Parking is available underground. My advice: go on a weekday afternoon. My guess is, it's hell on the weekends! Or, take Metro's Green Line to the Columbia Heights Station.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 4/08

5 comments:

Fénix - Bostonscapes said...

"In the last 15 years, Washington has started to rise from the ashes of riots that followed the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as years of economic hardship"

Something that didn't cross my mind last time I visited your beautiful city; it looked so very pretty... (and, of course, I also never noticed that there were no big box retailers in D.C.) >8}

The Artful Eye said...

First time I saw one of these escalators was in Walmart. I was initially wondering how people got their shopping carts to the second level when I saw this gizmo. Crazy.

Janet Kincaid said...

Fenix: The Washington Post just ran a series of articles on the post-King assassination riots and how they plunged the city into 30 years of non-development. Thanks to the vision of guys like Anthony Williams, the city started to rebuild and economic development has been booming ever since. It's kind of nice to see D.C. become a livelier city where people stay to enjoy our restaurants and theaters rather than rushing back to the suburbs and neighborhoods after 5:00!


Andrea: Crazy is right! When I lived in Walnut Creek, CA, they torn down the original Target (which I thought was more than adequate) and replaced it with a Target double the size. To do that, they had to put in underground parking, which meant they had to put in cart escalators! Trippy contraptions for sure.

Rob said...

Cool, you got Target's cart escilator. Our downtown Target has one of these and I wish I had my cam when I seen it. THe Super Target near me has a Starbucks, but better yet, sushi! (however prepackaged)

Janet Kincaid said...

Rob: Me loves Target and cart escalators! This new Target has a Starbucks, but I haven't checked to see if they have sushi. Hm. A reason to go to Target today...