Business Ins & Outs

Reiss Limited at 1254 Wisconsin Avenue, which originally replaced Armani Exchange in 2007, has closed. Though the UK-based clothing line was worn by Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, when she met the Obamas at Buckingham Palace, Georgetowners will no longer be strutting the streets in this apparel unless they order it online.

Another one bites the dust at the Georgetown Park mall: The National Pinball Museum, which opened in December 2010, will be closed in two months. The museum received a letter May 18 from the mall owner Vornado Realty telling the non-profit that its lease would expire in 60 days. The move, though a surprise to the museum, was within the legal boundaries of its lease. Admission was originally set at $20, but it’s now down to $3. Get your fill of these national treasures before it closes!

Serendipity 3 opened over Memorial Day weekend, in the former spot of Nathans at M and Wisconsin. The original New York restaurant, opened in 1954, has famous dishes such as foot-long hotdogs and decandent sundaes, and the D.C. store will feature D.C.-exclusive dishes.

Though Dean and Deluca at Potomac and M St. has been around for 17 years, there’s recently been a new element mixing things up: Janie Mathieson. She’s been in the restaurant business for a while; before she came to work at Dean and Deluca she worked for a year as the manager at husband, Jonathan Krinn’s three-star restaurant, Inox. Before that, she was at 2941, where her husband was also the head chef. She was drawn to Georgetown and Dean and Deluca because she wanted to find something different and new to work on.

“I first found out about Dean and Deluca when I was living in New York,” she said. “It was the place to be and shop. Now, adding the catering side, we take that great product and prepare it and bring it to people. It’s a true match.”

Mathieson brings with her a history of hospitality that she has grown into a blooming catering business for Dean and Deluca. “It’s a new business we’re developing. We do a lot of outreach to businesses and knocking on people’s doors.” She attends a lot of networking events, from BID and GBA meetings, to society affairs. With two children, ages four and seven, she has a busy life. And as she says, no day is ever the same as catering director. “It gives me a good balance. I get to go home and be a mom and then come here and put on great events for people. This is the opportunity to build a business.”