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The founders of local chain Dolcezza have closed the original shop in Georgetown (1560 Wisconsin Avenue NW) in order to redirect their “focus, time, and energy” on the budding brand’s higher profile locations.
“It’s official, we’ve outgrown our Georgetown store,” management shared via social media.
Co-founder Robb Duncan tells Eater he closed the flagship store for the season last winter and recently sold it and the surrounding building. Duncan says he took position of the property about a decade ago; he started shopping it around just as his much larger “factory” in Northeast was scheduled to come online.
According to Duncan, holding onto the 300-square-foot spot where Dolcezza got its start in 2004 no longer made sense given that it was blocks away from the tourist-friendly drag on M Street NW and that other, newer locations — including a sleek stand inside the Hirshhorn Museum and the all-day breakfast outpost installed at the Wharf — are now in play.
“It obviously wasn’t the place where foot traffic was there,” Duncan says of the company’s launch pad. He remains open to returning to the neighborhood “if there’s a good location on M Street that opens up.”
For now, Duncan is turning his attention to reopening the seasonal pop-up that operated outside the Hirshhorn last year. In order to differentiate it from the gourmet coffee, pastries, and cocktails featured inside, the updated outdoor eatery is projected to serve over a dozen flavors of gelato and sorbet, as well as nitro cold brew coffee beginning Saturday, May 19.
