Well, let me give you a little update on the progress being made in our latest venture. As of today, we have passed the initial plumbing, electrical and building inspections and immediately began closing in the walls with 2 layers of drywall. Tomorrow, we will get there super early to install the bar along the back wall with a marble table and start putting the marble bar together that runs the length of the store. If all goes as we plan, which it never does, we will be 95% complete with the setup of our store by Saturday. So, after that, we will take next week to connect the walk-in freezer and ask for our final inspections – plumbing, electrical, building, mechanical and fire. We are projecting an opening date of April the 15th and are pretty confident with this date. As the photo shows, the complex itself still needs some work. We are hoping, along with a lot of other folks in the project, that Federal Realty will soon pass their needed inspections so we can open our doors by the middle of April.
This has been a pretty intense week so far. We participated in our first ever Taste of the Nation event on Monday night and then had to be in Bethesda at 7am both Tuesday and Wednesday for inspections. The Taste of the Nation was a wonderful event with some amazing food and we passed our inspections, so even though we are baggy eyed, we are happy and ready to get through to the end.
To add the frenzy of activity, April 3rd we start up in the Penn Quarter FRESHFARM Market and April the 6th in the Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market. So, if you see us a bit baggy eyed, you will know why, and we will probably accept a cup of coffee, if you offer.