Balducci's Closing Its Only D.C. Store in Reorganization
Some recession-minded consumers, who once enjoyed shopping for gourmet foods at Balducci's, say they are now scaling back. The Alexandria store, above, and the ones in McLean and Bethesda will remain open.
(By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)
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Saturday, April 11, 2009
Recession-minded consumers who once embraced artisan cheeses and fine olive oils are scaling back, and among the losers is gourmet grocer Balducci's.
The embattled chain is planning to shut down its only store in the District at the end of June.
The store on New Mexico Avenue near American University is one of four locations -- the others are in Ridgefield, Conn., and New York City -- scheduled to close under a company reorganization. Balducci's spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said the stores in Bethesda, McLean and Alexandria will remain open, along with the ones in Greenwich and Westport, Conn., and Scarsdale, N.Y.
Balducci's has grappled with instability in its top ranks over the past decade, a time of increased competition from high-end food retailers.
"They have a model which is pricey, and right now the economy is not tailored toward pricey," said Jeffrey Metzger, publisher of trade magazine Food World. "It's a difficult place to shop in terms of your weekly needs."
Barton declined to comment on the reason for the closures or the fate of the stores' employees. The departure of Balducci's on New Mexico Avenue is particularly poignant for local shoppers because it was one of the first specialty food stores in the District and once home of the now defunct Sutton Place Gourmet.
Sutton Place opened about three decades ago offering 400 cheeses, 150 brands of beer and gourmet-to-go pasta and pastries -- now standard fare, even at traditional supermarkets, but a high-end gamble at the time.
Annie Weissman, 26, said she grew up shopping at Balducci's and learned how to cook by experimenting with the exotic fare she picked up there.
"There are so few institutions left that really feel like they have a face as well as a name -- you know, kind of a neighborhood feel," she said.
But even loyal customers like Weissman have scaled back. Weissman said she made risotto recently and normally would have bought truffle oil at the store. Instead, she used regular mushrooms, unwilling even to splurge on morels.
"I hate to say it, but we're probably partially responsible" for the closing, she said. "You just find ways to pull flavor out of tougher places to find it."
During the 1990s, Sutton Place had ambitious plans for expansion and bought Balducci's, a New York institution, for $25 million.
