"We left our georgetown kitchen in 2013 to open our factory in the union market neighborhood .. & now we return .. down the street from where it started & it feels so sweet."
Dolcezza Gelato posted those lines on September 3, and The Georgetowner reprinted them when it reported the shop's return. Robb Duncan and Violeta Edelman started the business in 2004 in a 300-square-foot kitchen at Wisconsin Avenue and Q Street. Next it goes to 1300 Wisconsin Ave. NW, which will be its seventh location, with an opening expected in late fall or early winter.
On the east side of the neighborhood, at 1331 29th St. NW, Scheele's Market is working toward a different date. The grocery has served the neighborhood since 1895. Its lease runs out on November 30.
Both stories happen on corners off M Street, and that is where Georgetown is changing this season. M Street is getting national flagship stores. The places a resident walks to for a pint of gelato, a carton of milk or a weeknight dinner are changing hands on side streets and upper Wisconsin Avenue.
Wisconsin and Q, and the Corner Dolcezza Is Taking
The Dolcezza news involves two corners. Its original spot at Wisconsin and Q has changed hands often. The Georgetowner lists La Jolie Bleue Bakery & Cafe, Bharati and Oakberry as past occupants. The current tenant is Delhi Belly, an Indian street-food restaurant owned by Vikas Kakkar and Raj Manroy, which opened at 1560 Wisconsin Ave. NW in August with samosas, chatpata dishes and chaat. PoPville photographed a window sign giving an August 15 opening date.
The gelato shop is coming back a few blocks south, to the corner at 1300 Wisconsin. Pressed Juicery opened there in 2022 and closed abruptly in early July. That makes it one of the season's smallest real estate stories. A juice counter that lasted about four years is being replaced by a business that has been tied to this street for more than two decades.
1331 29th Street, Through November 30
Scheele's is the counter-example. Its tenure is the longest on any Georgetown corner, and it now depends on a property sale.
The September update from the Save Scheele's Market campaign says the owner is selling the building and has told the tenant the lease will not be renewed past November 30, 2026. When the building last sold in 2011, residents secured a 15-year agreement with the new owner to keep it a market, and that agreement runs through November 2026. Owner Daniel Hong was originally expected to leave at the end of July. The Georgetowner reported in July that he had been given four more months. The paper named him a 2024 Georgetowner of the Year.
Here is where things stood in the campaign's latest update:
- The proposal. A group is assembling investors to buy the property and keep Scheele's open as a neighborhood market. The plan includes renovating the market and the building's two residential rentals, individual investments of $200,000 or more alongside possible bank financing, and a minimum five-year commitment.
- The status. The campaign describes the talks as preliminary. No consortium has been formed and no purchase has been agreed.
- The support. More than 460 people had signed the campaign petition, which also asks neighbors to keep shopping at the market while the talks continue.
- The bigger claim. The campaign calls Scheele's possibly the oldest continuously operated market in Washington.
For a household on the east side of the neighborhood, the November 30 date is what matters in practice. Until then, the market at 29th Street remains open.
The Side Streets Got the Cooks
The corner-by-corner pattern holds for this year's new restaurants. Most of the chef-run openings since late summer are on short streets and small addresses rather than M Street storefronts.
The busiest new address is 1228½ 31st St. NW. Alfie's, a northern Thai restaurant and natural-wine bar from chefs Alex McCoy and Justin Ahn, opened there on September 2. Flora Pizzeria opened next door on September 14. Two blocks away on Grace Street, Eater DC reported that Café Tulúm would open in early September at 3210 Grace St. NW. It serves Mexican food with Japanese-influenced seafood and small plates, with restaurateur Juan Dracoulis behind it and Gerardo González Sánchez running the kitchen.
Upper Wisconsin added sweets. Dutch Darlings, a stroopwafel and coffee shop run by father and daughter Hans and Maaike Ravesteijn, held its grand opening at 1003 Wisconsin Ave. NW on Friday, October 2, according to the Georgetown BID. Even the one food arrival on M Street fits the small-space pattern. Flavor Hive, which began as a Northern Virginia food truck, moved into the former Harmony Café space at 3287½ M St. NW.
Two more are announced and not yet open:
| Address | Business | Stated timing |
|---|---|---|
| 3246 Prospect St. NW | Bizzeria, chef Michael Rafidi's permanent home for Yellow's wood-fired pies | Fall 2026 |
| 1317 Wisconsin Ave. NW | Spicewalla, a spice and chai shop from the Chai Pani team | "This fall/winter" |
| 1300 Wisconsin Ave. NW | Dolcezza Gelato | Late fall or early winter |
Bizzeria is the one to watch on Prospect Street. Washingtonian reported that it will be the permanent home for the wood-fired pies Rafidi has served at Yellow, with pastry chef Alicia Wang also behind them. Prospect Street already had more going on this summer. Fathom Gallery, the art and event space beneath Compass Coffee, added a second venue at Georgetown Court, 3251 Prospect St. NW, where Peacock Cafe and Cafe Milano are also tenants.
M Street Went National
UNIQLO opened a 22,618-square-foot store at 3262 M St. NW on August 28. Two weeks earlier, Bombas opened its first D.C. store at 1400 Wisconsin Ave. NW. It is a homecoming of a different kind, since co-founder Randy Goldberg is a Georgetown University alum.
More national brands are announced for M Street, none with an opening date yet:
- Kith, the sneaker and streetwear retailer founded by Ronnie Fieg, at 3040 M St. NW
- Edikted, a women's clothing brand, at 3135 M St. NW
- Pop Mart, the Beijing-based designer-toy retailer, at 3221 M St. NW
- Thursday Boot Company and Thursday Cafe, in the former Sprinkles space at 3015 M St. NW
- Garage, a clothing retailer, in the former Club Monaco space at 3295 M St. NW
The west end of M Street is the exception closest to home life. Adriana Hoyos, the Miami-based interior design and luxury furniture house founded by Ecuadorian designer Adriana Hoyos and Eduardo Pérez, opened at 3328 M St. NW. The Georgetowner placed it in the design-center stretch of the 3300 block, with Cady's Alley behind it. Anyone planning a room refresh before the holidays now has one more showroom within walking distance.
The Dates Between Now and Mid-December
The calendar follows the same corner-by-corner geography. Most of it centers on Tudor Place, upper Wisconsin and the Prospect Street end of the neighborhood.
- Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to noon. Trick or Treat at Tudor Place, 1644 31st St. NW.
- Saturday, October 31, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Wisconsin Avenue Woof Walk from Georgetown Main Street. Check-in is at Milo & Mav, 3206 N St. NW, and the dog costume contest starts at 1 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Halloween Kids Club at Pinstripes, 1064 Wisconsin Ave. NW, listed in The Georgetowner's community calendar.
- Saturday, October 31, 7 to 11 p.m. The Haunted Light Show at the Exorcist Steps, 36th and Prospect streets NW, presented by EventLightsUSA and Exorcist enthusiast Andrew Huff.
- Friday, November 20, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wax to Watts: Illuminating History at Tudor Place. It repeats on Wednesday, December 2, and Saturday, December 12.
- Monday, November 30. The last day of the Scheele's lease unless a sale changes the outcome.
- Saturday, December 5, 1 to 3 p.m. Holiday Tea & Tour at Tudor Place, with tea at the Dower House.
- Saturdays, December 5 and 12, 1 to 5 p.m. The Georgetown Cookie Tour from Georgetown Main Street. Participating businesses have not been announced.
Halloween morning has Tudor Place, the Woof Walk and Pinstripes overlapping within a few blocks of each other. The second Cookie Tour Saturday falls twelve days after the Scheele's lease end date, in the same late-fall or early-winter window Dolcezza has given for its return to 1300 Wisconsin.
If you are weighing what these changes mean for a home near 29th Street, upper Wisconsin or Prospect, Jaclyn Mason and Daniel Heider - Main Site would be glad to walk those blocks with you. Get in Touch.
