I’ve been excited for this: there’s a new store coming to the old Arthur’s shop at 11th and Lamont. Former Room 11 staffers Jess Woods and Rachel Mowrer are opening Odd Provisions this Friday, a corner store with convenience-type goods as well as food and produce from local farms, craft beer and prepared foods like rice balls made by Seki from Izakaya Seki, the tasty little Japanese spot on V Street NW.
Jess told me via email that they were very sad to hear Arthur’s, which had been in business for decades, was closing but glad that they wanted to bring in another local business for the space. “We look forward to maintaining the spirit of the space and continuing to offer friendly and convenient service to our neighbors in Columbia Heights,” she said. She also found some neat historical artifacts from Arthur’s when renovating — more on that soon!
Here’s a bit more from Jess, and Washingtonian has a bit too, like that they were inspired by cool corner stores in Brooklyn. They’re opening at 5 pm on Friday, and there’s more on their website too.
Odd Provisions will be a contemporary corner market offering a mix of traditional convenience items, specialty foods by local artisans and produce from local farms as well as craft beer and wine. We’ll be offering a small assortment of prepared foods, including stocks and broths, grab-and-go sandwiches and salads, with made-to-order sandwiches coming next year. We’ll also be partnering with local chefs to offer their dishes in a convenient take-home form.
I’m pretty excited that there’s a cool replacement for Arthur’s, and that we’re getting more retail in the neighborhood. I think that’s something we are really lacking.
They had a preview on Saturday, here are a few more photos from that via their Facebook.
