Washington, D.C.-based Politics and Prose Bookstore (P&P) has announced plans to open a new location this fall in a $2.5 billion mixed-use redevelopment of the city’s Southwest District.
The new store will open October 12 as part of the unveiling of The Wharf, a mile-long project along the Potomac River that will include nearly 900 condominiums and apartments, restaurants, luxury hotels, and office space.
At 2,300 sq. ft., P&P's Wharf store will be approximately half the size of the flagship location, which opened 33 years ago in suburban Northwest DC, where it has gained a reputation for its robust reading and events calendar. Events are already planned for the Wharf location this fall, including MSNBC host Chris Matthews and cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy.
In a statement, P&P’s co-owner Bradley Graham said the store was "excited" to be moving into Southwest DC, which he called "an increasingly dynamic part of the city that has been woefully lacking in bookstores.”
Aside from the events calendar and the number of staffers, many details about the store have yet to be worked out, according to Jon Purves, P&P’s director of marketing & publicity.
The news about the Southwest comes after P&P announced plans to open a second store--a 1,000 sq. ft. outpost--in the northeast district’s Union Market. The Union Market store will be part of a similar development, which is also a large, mixed use project in a historically African-American, low-income area of the city that has seen dramatic change in the past few years.
“The neighborhood plays to our strengths,” said Purves. “It’s in an area that is kind of a blank slate,” he explained, noting that the bookstore intends to create a distinct identity within the neighborhood.
In particular, he pointed to the location’s accessibility by public transit, and the potential to partner with other businesses in the development, which will include a 6,000-person music venue, high-end restaurants, and the city's fish market.
“It’s exciting,” said Purves, "to be part of a development with a mission to reconnect D.C. to the waterfront.”