A grocery store, Good Food Markets, will be opening in the next few weeks at 2006 Rhode Island Avenue NE, and the neighborhood couldn’t be more delighted.
“We’re thrilled with what they are offering,” says Kyle Todd, the executive director of Rhode Island Avenue NE Main Street. The two nearest grocery stores are over a mile away.
Cristina Moody, vice president of marketing and community outreach for Good Food Markets LLC and general manager of the new store, says an opening date has not been set, although she is hoping to open in November.
The market is located in a circa-1920s building, the former home of a soul food restaurant. The space was vacant at the time Good Food took over the lease in February 2014. Since then, the 1,000-square foot building has undergone major interior and exterior renovations.
Moody says the main floor has been converted into the market; the basement will be used for offices and storage. Besides produce, meat and basic grocery items, the market will have a grab-and-go section with prepared food in containers to take home and a prepared lunch selection to go.
Some items will be organic; some will be locally sourced. “We want to be a fresh-food grocery store,” she says. Hours have not yet been set but she expects the store to be open seven days per week.
Good Food Markets is located in Woodridge, where
several new stores have opened recently.
“We are excited to be part of the neighborhood,” says Moody. “Woodridge is a lovely neighborhood. Rhode Island Avenue is a commercial corridor. We have a nice storefront and a lovely old building in what they’re trying to make a new commercial area in Woodridge.”
Todd said the market sought community input about what kinds of products they’d like to have. “We were really impressed with the efforts they made to reach out to the community,” he says.
“They will offer unique access to fresh produce and to good quality food you can’t find at that end of Rhode Island Avenue,” says Todd. “We’ve got a bakery and a sandwich shop, but this is an opportunity for fresh, locally sourced meals at home.”
A previous version of this story misstated the market's name; it is Good Food Markets, not Good Food Market. Elevation DC regrets the error.