Apartment Zero To Close, Shift Focus

Apartment Zero's owners plan a Web store and eventually will offer interior design services. (Apartment Zero)

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Thursday, July 2, 2009

One of the District's most well-known modern furnishings stores, Apartment Zero in Penn Quarter, is closing. "It's sad. We love our customers. . . . Ten years has been a great, long run," co-owner Douglas Burton says. However, "we aren't closing the business; we're relocating and reorganizing it."

The decision was made in part because the landlord wants to remodel the building and is not renewing leases. Also, the business is "evolving," Burton says. Apartment Zero's customers are changing; retail sales have dropped, and demand for interior design services has increased.

So starting Wednesday, everything at Apartment Zero will be on sale. In-stock items, including samples, will be discounted 30 percent. Shoppers will find Sub-Zero appliances, limited-edition pieces from Vitra and modern accessories. For example, Rosenthal wineglasses regularly $35 each will be $24 each, and a De La Espada sidebar will drop from $4,500 to $3,150. The sale ends July 26.

Burton, who owns Apartment Zero with Christopher Ralston, says the business will resurface during the holiday season. It will launch a Web store that will include pieces not sold at the D.C. shop. And the owners are hunting for an Arlington office that will focus on interior design services and to-the-design-trade sales.

Apartment Zero is at 406 Seventh St. NW. For more information, call 202-628-4067 or visit http://www.apartmentzero.com.

Kathleen Hom