Monday, December 2, 2024
By Christine Axsmith
Mayor Muriel Bowser declared “Georgetown is hot!” at a crowded Shop Made in DC store at 1304 Wisconsin Ave. NW. The event celebrated the first 10-year lease for a Shop Made in DC store, a retail initiative with a mission to grow the DC maker community.
“We have been in this location in Georgetown for two and a half years,” said Miranda Stein, manager of the Shop Made in DC in Georgetown.
The mayor herself enjoys shopping locally and has bought several unique gifts from local D.C. businesses, including a toy for her daughter for a long train ride. She told the audience of shoppers and reporters that she appreciates the service and know-how of local merchants.
“I’ve bought a collection of different items, mostly handcrafted and a reflection of our pride in our city,” Bowser said. “Artisans pour love into their products.”
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said, “I like the art sold in Shop Made in DC.”
Director of Small and Local Business Development Rosemary Suggs-Evans encouraged everyone to shop small.
“It’s also about helping our neighbors,” Suggs-Evans said. “Every time you buy local, you are supporting the local economy. Whenever you buy something from a local D.C. business, take a photo and add the hashtag #IBuyDC and post it to social media. It is a movement of conscious consumers.”
Stacey Price, the CEO of Shop Made in DC, remembered the first store in the Golden Triangle. “Seven years later, $10 million has been put back into the local economy. These are the businesses that make D.C.,” she added. The stores are now in Union Market, Georgetown and the Wharf and sell thousands of products made in D.C., ranging in variety from jewelry to furniture.
“We have given over $42 million in grants to over 500 businesses that support 2,000 jobs for D.C. residents,” Bowser said about the Great Streets and Small Business Retail Grants available to small businesses that promote foot traffic and are service or retail-oriented.
At the same event, Bowser and Smith also addressed questions about retail theft and the District’s measures to reduce it.
MPD is deploying “100 recruits to assist businesses in these corridors,” said Smith. She encouraged retail businesses to have cameras to help law enforcement deter and detect retail theft.
Mayor Muriel Bowser purchases a box of chocolates from Anabella Arcay de Berti of Arcay Chocolates at 3211 O St. NW. Photo by Robert Devaney.
She mentioned the increased use of technology and the Real Time Crime Center which uses public cameras to inform policing. This requires a partnership with stores to solve the crime problem.
“D.C. will see more police officers on the street in retail commercial zones to combat theft,” using a policing strategy of presence and visibility,” she added.
Bowser told the audience that “with business cooperation, retail thefts have been driven down,” and “she gets angry” when local businesses are targets of criminals.
“We want people to feel safe,” she added. “We rebalanced the ecology of safety in the District— MPD efforts have driven down crime. A change in law about retail theft allows MPD to bring more substantial charges against repeat retail thieves.”
MPD Officer Shannon Williams was introduced at the event and saluted for working 24 years in Georgetown.
After the press conference, the mayor and others walked over to Arcay Chocolates on O Street to sample — and buy — the gourmet treats.