Business Ins & Outs: Blu Dot, Le Labo, UBreakIFix, Apéro
By • September 28, 2020 0 1443
In: Blu Dot, from Minneapolis
A mod, Minnesota-based furniture retailer opened at 3333 M St. NW, filling the large showroom space vacated by the North Face clothing company. “We design everything we make,” says Blu Dot furniture, started in 1997 by three friends after college. The sleek chairs, drawers, beds and shelves occupy a practical midrange position in the home goods sector. The M Street store will be Blu Dot’s second store on the East Coast. Practicing COVID-19 precautions (masks and gloves provided, if needed), the store adds, “If you’d like to prearrange a visit, please call us at 415-255-2345.”
In: Le Labo
Le Labo perfumery opened at 3005 M St. NW (the former Hu’s Shoes). Along with its signature scents, given an online thumbs-up by various celebs, the place offers skin and hair care products and candles — all handmade with vegan, natural ingredients.
This Week: UBreakIFix
Quick-repair shop UBreakIFix at 1519 Wisconsin Ave. NW — upstairs, where the yoga spot was, behind Wisconsin Nails — is set to open after the D.C. government signs off on its approvals. The franchise mostly fixes consumer electronics, repairing phone screens and computers and dealing with camera and software problems.
Coming: Apéro on P Street
On the Georgetown-Burleith ANC’s Sept. 29 agenda is GothWine Limited Liability Company’s application to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board for a new retailer’s class “C” restaurant license for the shuttered restaurant at 2622 P St. NW.
Its name in trade will be Apéro. According to Lauren Hayes of City Paper, the bar, “specializing in Champagne and caviar, aims to be the place people start or end their evenings out. That’s why Elli Benchimol, Felicia Colbert and Christian Johnston chose to name their bar for the French word for the time before a meal when apéritifs are sipped. Happy hour, in other words.”
Apéro replaces 2622 Cafe and, before that, the After Peacock Room. It sits between the Washington Fine Properties office and the Avery Hotel, across from the 7-Eleven. The refined spot, which may open for private events next month and to the public in January, seats 42 inside and 30 in the backyard (approval pending).
