Lots of empty storefronts in Mosaic District

[Anonymous]

I went to Mosaic District today and was honestly shocked by the amount of empty storefronts - 1) because that area is always packed and 2) because some of the closed stores seem to do very well elsewhere. I noticed that Francesca's, a juice store, a children's clothing store, Great Gatherings, and I think a restaurant or two had shut down. What gives?

[Anonymous]

Are you from another planet? Small businesses, especially restaurants, have been the hardest hit from covid. And are still feeling the impacts. If they were lucky enough to not go bankrupt and have to close forever, they finally reopened and cannot find anyone to work for them. It's really a horrible situation and you're finally noticing this?

[Anonymous]

Did you just wake up from April 2020, OP?

[Anonymous]

We were all talking about retail failing before the pandemic. It's a reality now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Mosaic District today and was honestly shocked by the amount of empty storefronts - 1) because that area is always packed and 2) because some of the closed stores seem to do very well elsewhere. I noticed that Francesca's, a juice store, a children's clothing store, Great Gatherings, and I think a restaurant or two had shut down. What gives?

I was just there and noticed that the opposite end of the street had new businesses since I was last there: Bloomies, Gyu Shige restaurant, Colada Shop, Urban Hot Pot, Poffy, Sephora, and The Italian Market have all opened fairly recently.

[Anonymous]

I was just there, and I thought it was doing well. Crowded.

[Anonymous]

DP. If you haven’t been to downtown DC in a while, it’s shocking. I moved away right before covid, and was back visiting this summer. I couldn’t believe how far the city had deteriorated. Empty stores, homeless people had taken over Union Station, & the streets around the Capitol were basically deserted in the middle of a weekday.

The city I live in now has seen a couple of restaurants close (mainly owned by older people who were getting ready to retire anyway), but as many news ones open up. It has been relatively unaffected, so it was a shock to see DC.

[Anonymous]

It always felt like the smaller stores at Mosaic were always in flux. Especially the non-chain stores. I think as they build up Mosaic more and more, the rents have become very high for some of these businesses + obviously Covid has changed people’s spending and shopping habits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you from another planet? Small businesses, especially restaurants, have been the hardest hit from covid. And are still feeling the impacts. If they were lucky enough to not go bankrupt and have to close forever, they finally reopened and cannot find anyone to work for them. It's really a horrible situation and you're finally noticing this?

Yikes. Unclench.

[Anonymous]

Mosaic SUCKS.

I say this as someone that LOVED it 5 years ago. I went there for lunch on Friday and it was so packed, I couldn't park, couldn't navigate the roads, took 10 minutes to be a a$$hole and cut someone off to finally turn left. I'll be frank, I'm not going back again any time soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mosaic SUCKS.

I say this as someone that LOVED it 5 years ago. I went there for lunch on Friday and it was so packed, I couldn't park, couldn't navigate the roads, took 10 minutes to be a a$$hole and cut someone off to finally turn left. I'll be frank, I'm not going back again any time soon.

NP but yes, I totally agree. We used to spend a lot of time there pre-pandemic, but the last two tries I've tried to go, it's been impossible to find parking and there were way too many people around. Even my secret parking areas have been found!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mosaic SUCKS.

I say this as someone that LOVED it 5 years ago. I went there for lunch on Friday and it was so packed, I couldn't park, couldn't navigate the roads, took 10 minutes to be a a$$hole and cut someone off to finally turn left. I'll be frank, I'm not going back again any time soon.

To paraphrase Yogi Berra: Mosaic sucks because it is so crowded and successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosaic SUCKS.

I say this as someone that LOVED it 5 years ago. I went there for lunch on Friday and it was so packed, I couldn't park, couldn't navigate the roads, took 10 minutes to be a a$$hole and cut someone off to finally turn left. I'll be frank, I'm not going back again any time soon.

NP but yes, I totally agree. We used to spend a lot of time there pre-pandemic, but the last two tries I've tried to go, it's been impossible to find parking and there were way too many people around. Even my secret parking areas have been found!!

I haven’t been since before COVID. Are you saying that there’s no parking at Target in the garage? There was always tons of parking there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosaic SUCKS.

I say this as someone that LOVED it 5 years ago. I went there for lunch on Friday and it was so packed, I couldn't park, couldn't navigate the roads, took 10 minutes to be a a$$hole and cut someone off to finally turn left. I'll be frank, I'm not going back again any time soon.

To paraphrase Yogi Berra: Mosaic sucks because it is so crowded and successful.

Thank you for this.

And while I thought Great Gatherings was cool and wish I could afford to deck out my den with it, it belongs in a low rent warehouse area not foot traffic $$$ mosaic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you from another planet? Small businesses, especially restaurants, have been the hardest hit from covid. And are still feeling the impacts. If they were lucky enough to not go bankrupt and have to close forever, they finally reopened and cannot find anyone to work for them. It's really a horrible situation and you're finally noticing this?

Yikes. Unclench.

The ‘unclench’ lady is back. We still don’t know what she means, but it’s her word choice that gives her away.