Business

Sallie Lewis • June 22, 2015

On a sunny, spring afternoon, Iraklis Karabassis sits in his office at 3238 Prospect Street. Light floods in through an open window. Faint, soothing sounds of a cocktail shaker emanate from Peacock Café across the street. Fittingly, the fashion-focused Karabassis is well dressed, polished-yet-effortless in dark jeans and a striped button-down. His outward sophistication reflects the sharp mind and business savvy for which he is known.

“Georgetown has stolen my heart,” said the former owner of the Benetton at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, among many other Benetton stores, including the first-ever U.S. store in the former White Flint Mall.

Karabassis has traveled the United States and the globe extensively as head of IK Retail Group, a premier fashion retailer. But it’s his place in Georgetown that he returns to time after time.
“Thirty-two years after being here, don’t ask me why, but I love Georgetown,” he said of its village-like atmosphere. “I still find this uniqueness and mystique. If you live it, then you get it.”
Although his fondness for Georgetown is undeniable, Karabassis has concerns for its future.

On any walk down M Street, residents and visitors alike can witness the burgeoning presence of large mono-brands, such as H&M and Forever 21. For Karabassis, this raises the question of whether Georgetown is at risk of losing its homegrown charm and entrepreneurial spirit.

“We lost our momentum,” he said of Georgetown. “We became old and not innovative anymore.” He attributes this to the restrictions of the neighborhood, including high rents, limited parking and the difficulty in attaining a liquor license, all of which detract people from investing in local businesses.

“Everything starts, and ends, with the level of the investment,” he said, saying that Georgetown needs to attract the attention of innovative minds again and bring novelty back to the neighborhood. “We have to raise the bar.”

With their massive production, the mono-brands and their large, glitzy stores are certainly putting pressure on the market, while displacing more and more of the small boutiques run by creative, self-driven individuals. These small boutiques are what Karabassis believes keep the market interesting.

The neighborhood’s high rents may be one reason for this shift, but it’s also the fault of the consumer, he said. Many people today are looking for fast, disposable fashion — that is, stylish, trendy clothes at low prices. It’s about quickness of production and affordable price points — at the cost of creative quality and attention to detail. But, “the customer likes it, and we have to respect that,” says Karabassis.
Furthermore, the age of e-commerce has revolutionized the shopping experience, making it more convenient than ever for people to purchase their favorite clothes and accessories. Brick-and-mortar shops are suffering because educated, fashion-forward customers know they can shop their favorite brands online at a range of competitive price points, he said.

Even in the malls, Karabassis claims that the fashion factor has faded considerably, replaced by shops filled with teenager clothing, ice cream, cosmetics and Starbucks coffee. “Today, buying clothes is the last thing you think of when you go to the mall,” he said.

He recalled how the mall on M Street, Shops at Georgetown Park, was once “the jewel of Georgetown.” Now, lamentably, he added, it’s been “converted into big boxes.”

As president and CEO of IK Retail Group, Karabassis focuses on international brand management and development in the American marketplace. Over the past three decades, he has grown an impressive, far-reaching business with roots in Georgetown. Yet his familial roots reach far eastward.

Karabassis was born in the picturesque port city of Volos, Greece. After studying and majoring in geology in Italy, he moved to Paris for post-graduate work, where he became involved with the clothing brand United Colors of Benetton. It was there that he was tasked with bringing the brand to the United States.

By 2008, Karabassis had opened more than 100 Benetton stores in the U.S. and Canada. In March 2008, before the last recession, he sold his Benetton operation to the Benetton Group in Italy — an example of both his lifelong relationship with luck, and his ability to grab an opportunity when it presents itself.

Over the years, Karabassis also expanded the luxury Italian brand MaxMara, adding a number of American stores to its portfolio before selling his stake in May 2008.

As these two major sales went through, Karabassis made IK Retail Group the center of his business. He became increasingly focused on consulting for European retailers in the United States, representing different brands while helping to boost sales, control costs and strategically increase exposure nationwide.

“America is very difficult for Europeans to succeed,” said Karabassis with a trace of his Greek accent. “It’s very competitive, and everyone wants to be here.” The entrepreneur, who speaks four languages — Greek, French, Italian and English — is smart and sought after. He has built his career on proven results. If one is looking to enter the U.S. market, he is the man to call.

Karabassis helps clients of all backgrounds looking to penetrate the American market, and he is selective because he can be. With three decades of industry experience and expertise, he has created a reputation among Europe’s fashion community, gaining their trust by proving he’s adept at scouting trends, finding smart locations and making strong contacts that will help them succeed.

With the help of his team at IK Retail Group, including his wife and vice president of retail, Yasmine Karabassis, he is able to select clients with strong potential who need help entering or expanding in the United States. The team strategizes with clients on short- and long-term goals while managing myriad logistics: branding, personnel, store design, marketing, accounting and advertising, plus warehousing and distribution. It’s a complete package.

From 2008 to today, IK Retail Group’s portfolio has been filled with unique brands, from Piazza Sempione to K16, Leghilà, Freddy, Andrew’s Ties and Billionaire Italian Couture. The latter label, the work of two talented businessmen named Angelo Galasso and Flavio Briatore, features handmade, luxury menswear. Though not for everyone, everything in the brand is meticulously made, the aesthetic of which is a mix of Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Tom Ford, according to Karabassis.

Most recently, Karabassis partnered with Kiko Milano, an Italian cosmetics company expanding aggressively here in the U.S. The Greek entrepreneur has been tasked with finding all of their new locations and properly guiding the brand in America; for 2015 alone, Kiko Milano is set to open 30 new stores, totaling 150 by 2017, including one in Tysons Corner.

Though IK Retail Group works mostly through partnerships, it also owns retail concepts outright. One of these is called Emporium DNA, a multi-branded fashion retailer for men and women that has been a successful tool for market testing, with both domestic and international brands. It has three store locations: the Yale University campus in New Haven, the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas and 1666 Connecticut Ave. NW, near Dupont Circle.

In a career that has seen much success, two of the entrepreneur’s greatest accomplishments came with the development of the Collection at Chevy Chase and the Miami-based project, 1111 Lincoln Road. The Chevy Chase endeavor was one of the premier luxury retail developments in the nation, and Karabassis had a central role, as both a consultant, and in developing and leasing out the shops. In Florida, Karabassis worked with the internationally renowned Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron to transform and reimagine a mixed-use development project adjacent to the Lincoln Road Mall in Miami. “It was one of the most exciting moments for me,” Karabassis said of the job. “It’s really one of the top projects in America.”

Another arena in which Karabassis’s entrepreneurial spirit can still be strongly felt and seen is the restaurant industry.

In November 1992, he and Franco Nuschese opened Café Milano on Prospect Street. The celebrity-frequented Italian restaurant is one of the most famous in Washington — to see and be seen.
While Karabassis sold his share of Café Milano to Nuschese in 2012, he continues to flavor D.C.’s fast-growing culinary scene with Sette Osteria, his Italian restaurant located at 1666 Connecticut Ave. NW.

This April, Karabassis opened the second Sette restaurant — the former Café M, at 1634 14th St. NW — under the same name, but with a slightly different look. At a recent tasting dinner at the new location, guests dined on a sampling of creative dishes: creamy burrata with tricolor tomatoes, homemade pastas like spinach gnocchi with gorgonzola cream sauce, a saffron risotto with juicy beef short ribs and homemade tiramisu — bellissima!

In Italian, Sette translates to the number seven, which is often regarded as the world’s lucky number. Perhaps Karabassis can attribute a small bit of luck and timing to his success, but it’s the methodical, strategic approach to his work that drives his good fortune. His commitment to unique, expressive brands has never wavered, and he’s proven his success in a time of change.
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Kelly Byrnes Robert Devaney • June 18, 2015

Circulator Bus Now Runs Through National Mall

Navigating the National Mall is now made easier with a new Circulator bus route catering to the area, which launched June 14. The tourist-friendly route, which begins at Union Station, has 15 stops near main attractions, including the U.S. Capitol, National Gallery of Art, Lincoln Memorial and Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

“The DC Circulator’s expansion is a win for the District, its residents and visitors. This route will provide people with greater access to the nation’s most iconic monuments, memorials and museums while boosting economic activity in the District,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser upon announcement of the route.

The latest Circulator route marks the city’s sixth overall, featuring buses running every 10 minutes for a $1 fare. Weekday service runs from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. while weekend hours of service are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In: Hop, Cask & Barrel on Wisconsin Avenue

There’s new wine in an old bottle. Hops, Cask & Barrel has opened 1717 Wisconsin Ave. NW, occupying the former space of Wagner’s Liquors. The business is associated with Sherry’s Liquor of Woodley Park on Connecticut Avenue. Ryan Wegman, director of wine and outreach for the store, sent the Georgetowner an introduction: “HCB serves the liquid geek — a craft beer selection beyond predictable names (Deschutes and multiple growler taps), to wines outside the large labels already available (and classified growths for the connoisseur), and eclectic spirits no one carries, but we’ve imported directly (Brennivin!) or negotiated an allocation above everyone else’s (Pappy!) — hopcaskandbarrel. com.”

Out: Washington Post Shuts Down Gazette Newspapers

“The Gazette newspapers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties will print their final editions June 17 and 18 after more than 55 years of publishing,” reports the Washington Post. The Gazette, which began publishing in 1959, had a weekly circulation of half a million five years ago. According to Post Community Media, part of the Washington Post Company, the closing eliminates 69 jobs, including those of 12 reporters and two photographers by Aug. 11, with the required 60day notice given to employees.

Davis Kennedy, publisher of D.C.’s Current community newspapers, bought the Gaithersburg
Gazette in 1979 and built a group of Montgomery County papers under the Gazette banner that he sold to the Washington Post Company in 1993. The Prince Georges edition began in 1997. According to Post blogger Eric Wemple, Kennedy said he made an offer for the Gazette papers through a broker but was rejected; however, a Post spokesperson told Wemple they had no record of the offer.

Cats Roam at Crumbs & Whiskers

“U Got to Be Kitten Me.” (Yeah, we just wrote that quotation down, too.) The preview parties have already begun for Crumbs & Whiskers, Georgetown’s cat cafe at 3211 O St. NW, which officially opens June 20. Owner Kanchan Singh, and her friends and family, have fixed up the place with advisories on the wall, such as “Be gentle with cats” and “No flash photography.” Partnering with the cafe, the Washington Humane Society will provide vaccinated and vetted cats to Crumbs & Whiskers, which will act as a foster home for the cats until they are adopted. Crumbs & Whiskers is the city’s first cat café.

Man & Woman of the Year

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society hit a record-breaking $1,810,930 at its annual Man and Woman of the Year gala, held June 13 at the J.W. Marriott. Man and Woman of the Year honors went to Kevin Rohalmin and Katie Simmons Hickey.

Robert Devaney • May 11, 2015

“We give a second life to trees,” said Thomas Moser, founder of Thos. Moser Handmade American Furniture, whose company seems to treat every day as if it were Earth Day.

Celebrating his 80th birthday, Moser was at the opening of the company’s new store in Georgetown March 20 to say hello to Maine’s Congressional delegation and his clients and fans – and, we might add, to charm anyone talking with him.

The company’s chairs, tables and dressers of simple, timeless design are highly regarded, expensive, meant to last generations. Moser gets the attention of architects, designers and homeowners, as well as schools and libraries, even presidential ones.

Handcrafted and signed, company output is 85-percent residential. One Maryland house reportedly has more than 30 pieces. Moser has furnished parts of Georgetown University’s law library as well as that of Catholic University. The company’s products are on full display at the Park Hyatt on M Street in the West End and in its Blue Duck Tavern.

Aaron Moser, one of the founder’s sons, heads the company’s contract division, which serves offices and schools. He is as proud of the company’s 55 pieces at the George W. Bush Presidential Library as he is of Moser’s relationship with St. Timothy’s School, just outside Baltimore, and its students, who attend woodworking classes at the Maine factory.

“We’re not furniture purveyors,” the company founder says. “We’re craftsman.” His enthusiasm is infectious, and his brutal honesty and cheeriness fill a room.

The new Georgetown store on 33rd Street is “more like an art gallery,” the company’s “finest in the country,” Moser said, looking around the 5,000-square-foot space. Located a few doors north at the corner of 33rd and M Streets for 10 years, the Moser store is back after almost a three-year absence because Georgetown fits the company’s marketing demographics perfectly.

It is a little out of the way for Moser – the C&O Canal is down the street – but he loves its ambiance and is curious about the history of the building at 1028 33rd St. NW.

The building’s solid stone (from the Aqueduct Bridge which was replaced by Key Bridge in 1923) and brickwork lines up well with a Moser mantra, a reworded Shakerism: “Build an object as though it were to last a thousand years and as if you were to die tomorrow.”

“I learned woodworking from dead people,” said Moser, not skipping a beat in retelling how he became part of the handicraft revival of the 1970s.

Originally from Chicago, an Air Force veteran, he was a college professor teaching language and speech pathology. He taught in Saudi Arabia for a few years, setting up language labs at the College of Petroleum and Minerals.

After years of pursuing woodworking as a hobby – beginning with antique-hunting and making missing drawers for pieces: “We bought 26 grandfather clocks in parts.” He called the learning process a case of reverse engineering. “Parts of things show continuity.”

Soon enough, Moser was all in, starting his business in 1972 in New Gloucester, Maine, which, as of 2010, still holds a Shaker community of four. With his wife Mary’s support – they met when he was 14 years old and she was 12 – a career reinvention from academic to woodworker took place. Married for 58 years, the couple has four sons: Matthew, Andrew, Aaron and David.

“I wanted to recapture the craft of the early-19th-century artisans,” Moser said. “I venerate the 19th century.” He liked what Americans produced before factories began to dot the nation in the second half of the 1800s. He said he is “fascinated by Shaker design, the honesty of material, the economy of labor. The Shakers prayed to God with their hands.”

Other influences on Moser include Stickley, the Arts and Crafts movement and Bauhaus design. “My work is derivative,” he said. As for the classic Windsor chair, “the best ones are in America.”

“We are the antithesis of Ikea,” says Moser CEO Bill McGonagle. “We like to say our furniture lasts as long as the time it took the tree to grow.” He joined the company in 2012 after working for another Maine Tom: natural products maker Tom’s of Maine.

As for the Moser company’s environmental soundness, McGonagle noted, “We have a small footprint.” There are about 200 employees.

“It’s how we source the wood,” which grows no more than 600 miles from the factory and office in Auburn, Maine, he said. “We don’t throw any wood away. We use half of what we buy. The remainder craftsmen buy for their art. Scraps move on to being firewood or sawdust used as bedding.”

The company uses domestic hardwoods only: no teak, no mahogany.

And Moser’s favorite kind of wood? “Cherry,” he said. “It reveals what God put there.”

Robert Devaney •

Hops, Cask & Barrel, associated with Sherry’s Liquor of Woodley Park, 2627 Connecticut Ave. NW, is set to take over the closed Wagner’s liquor store at 1717 Wisconsin Ave. NW, as first reported by the Georgetown Metropolitan.

Caitlin Franz •

Very few people can say they started their own business on their lunch break, but Christina Conrad of Boobypack did just that.

She said the idea came to her over one weekend hanging out with some girlfriends in a tiny New York City apartment.

“For the rest of the night ‘Boobypack- the fannypack for your rack’ is all I could think about,” Conrad said. “The next day I went into my day job at Time Inc. and during my lunch break started googling how to file for an LLC.”

The innovative product was inspired by her friends mentioning that they lost or damaged their phones at an outdoor music festival in Miami. Conrad wanted to create an alternative for ladies who wanted to go out without a purse—particularly for outdoor events.

But Boobypack’s mission does not end with the bra bag.

After starring on the popular ABC show Shark Tank, Conrad says she started to think about the bigger picture. “Our biggest take away from Shark Tank was that there are a lot of other markets out there interested in our rack packs,” Conrad said.

The company is currently working on a less revealing Boobypack for impact athletic activities, as well as a comfier version for travel.

“We’ve even had moms tell us it’s perfect for cruise ships, so that they never lose their room keys!” she said.

An unexpected use for the product is that it can store insulin pumps for diabetics, who have written to the company and posted pictures showing their special take on the Boobypack.

The company wants to work on improving its designs for all sorts of women while continuing to sell and distribute the original Boobypack products online.

“We’re a company made up of women, making a product specifically for women,” she said. “So female empowerment comes naturally to us. It’s in our DNA.”

Boobypack is super involved in the social media sphere, using hashtags like #believeinyourSHELFIE and #Girlboss frequently on Instagram.

“Being a Boobypack Angel means you’re a confident, active woman with a sense of humor,” Conrad said. “A #girlboss who believes in her #shelfie if you will.”

Robert Devaney • May 10, 2015

Founded in 2005, Bank of Georgetown is celebrating 10 years in business. Chartered in D.C., the bank was cofounded by the late Curtin Winsor III and Mike Fitzgerald, chairman, president and CEO.

“When Curt Winsor III and I conceived of Bank of Georgetown, we envisioned it as an integral part of the Washington metropolitan area,” Fitzgerald says. “Our mission was, and is, for our customers to experience the true meaning of a community bank. Locally owned. Locally run. Locally involved.”

Bank of Georgetown has 11 branches in Washington, D.C., Montgomery County and Northern Virginia. It has more than $1 billion in assets and 108 employees.

In his column in December, John Girouard observed, “Community banks include Bank of Georgetown . . . which provide services to small businesses, including construction loans, and contribute to local charities. They are known in the community, and they know us, too.”

The bank’s corporate headquarters at 1115 30th St. NW includes its 11th branch, named after Winsor, who died in December 2012.

Happy 10th to a hometown favorite.

Caitlin Franz • May 7, 2015

D.C. experienced a record-breaking year in tourism for the fifth year in a row, the city’s tourism agency, Destination D.C., announced May 5. Domestic visitation to the District was up 5.7 percent in 2013, to 18.34 million visitors, according to McLean-based D.K. Shifflet.

All visitors to D.C. contributed a total of $6.8 billion to the local economy, a year-over-year increase of 1.9 percent, per IHS Global, Inc., The city’s retail sector saw 2.5-percent growth. There was a 4-percent increase in spending on food and beverage and a 2-percent increase in entertainment spending.

It is believed that these increases in tourism and spending were the result of several Destination D.C.-sponsored campaigns, like D.C. Cool. Campaigns of a similar nature are in the works for the coming year.

Caitlin Franz •

New legislation that went into effect May 3 gives bakeries the opportunity to apply for a license allowing them to sell baked goods with up to 5-percent alcohol content. Infused pastries and sweets with alcohol content of between .5 and 5 percent can only be sold to individuals 21 years old or older.

The law is also changing the way distilleries and festival organizers provide alcoholic beverages to their customers.

Distilleries are now eligible for licenses that would allow them to curate drinks made with their own products and sell them onsite.

Festival organizers are now able to get a temporary liquor license lasting up to 15 days. This appears to be a significant improvement from the current model, which requires organizers to obtain a one-day permit for each day of a festival.

Georgetowner • May 6, 2015

A kitchen fire at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 2, shut down Good Stuff Eatery at 3291 M St. NW. The hamburger restaurant will be closed for several days. The fire was quickly contained. There were no injuries and minimal damage. During the fire, traffic in the 3100 and 3300 block of M Street NW was diverted.

Owner and chef Spike Mendelsohn tweeted, “#GoodStuffEatery Gtown will be closed for several days due to a small fire. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Linnea Kristiansson • April 23, 2015

The trendy spin studio SoulCycle will take over a former Georgetown restaurant and hookah bar later this year. The company has been growing in and around D.C. over the past few months, most recently opening locations in the West End in 2014 and Bethesda earlier this year.

Two new locations are in the works for the Washington area this year, according to SoulCycle, and the company has signed a lease for 1024 Wisconsin Ave. NW, where the poorly regarded Prince Cafe closed last fall. The Georgetown SoulCycle will have a 56-bike studio to host its signature classes. SoulCycle’s classes combine spinning on stationary bikes with upper-body workouts. The new location will include a SoulCycle lifestyle boutique.