Glen’s Garden Market Will Open Second Location in Shaw

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Two years after opening a Dupont grocery focusing almost exclusively on local foods, Glen's Garden Market is preparing for its second location. Owner Danielle Vogel says she's finalizing a lease for a space in the Shay, a mixed-use development at 8th and U streets NW.

"We've launched 32 food businesses," Vogel says of the local artisans whose products she's made a home for on Glen's shelves. "For most of them, we are their biggest customer, and now we're going to double our demand."

The new market will be a smaller version of the Dupont original with 2,100-square feet of retail space versus 5,300. The Shaw location won't have room for a pizza oven or a smoker, but other than that, it will offer the same things, just in tighter confines. There will still be a bar serving $4 pints of local beers. Salads and other meals will still be made fresh in-house every day. And the same set of grocery options grown in the Chesapeake watershed or made by small local producers will still be available.

"It's going to feel more like a bodega," Vogel says. "You're going to be completely enrobed by the bounty of the region."

Having learned some lesson during the first go-around, Vogel is also making some improvements. For example, unlike the current market, which only has a refrigerated prepared foods case, the new Glen's will have also have a hot prepared foods case. That means things like meatballs and empanadas don't have to be reheated. "Everything that should be hot will be served hot," Vogel says. And because sandwiches are so popular, the new Glen's will have two sandwich stations.

Another major upgrade will be the beer garden, which Vogel plans to make twice the size of the Dupont one. She hopes to put build a permanent structure outside, so that it can be used year-round with heaters and fans. "That's the dream," she says. "We'll see if D.C. has a different feeling about that."

Vogel aims to open the new location by November.

Photo by Jessica Sidman