The closing of the restaurant this past week in University Town Center has left about a dozen people without a job and scores of customers searching for a new place to catch a mid-day bite to eat.
At 5 p.m. on Friday, the restaurant closed for good after three and a half years in business. Owner Rasheed Abdurrahman said the Great Recession doomed the Wild Onion almost from the get-go.
"In short, we opened in 2008, two months before the recession hit," said Abdurrahman in an email to Patch. "Our bills were based on pre-recession high rent, big bank loan, and the mall has not seen its full potential…we tried to work through the tough times, but low sales, no money is a bad combination."
Abdurrahman, a 1994 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America with a resume that included stints at posh Washington hotels, says the staff was like family to him. Now, those family members will have to find new jobs. Employees were notified of the closing on Wednesday, Jan. 25.
Cook Malik Carter said he saw the writing on the wall, noting that the restaurant had a strong lunch hour but saw little business during other times of the day. He had been sending out applications to other jobs for a few weeks. His efforts paid off, and he has a new job lined up as a theater technician.
Another former Wild Onion cashier was not so prepared.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," lamented a cashier to a customer over the clatter of kitchen staff cleaning up at the tail end of the final shift.
Abdurrahman also fondly remembered his regular customers, most of them workers in the surrounding office buildings, but said local residents never supported his business in sustainable numbers.
"I do wish more people in the Hyattsville community would support small local business," wrote Abdurrahman. "I would get a lot of requests from local people to donate to their event or group, which we did, but many did not spend their dollars with us."
Many former patrons of the restaurant were quick to point out the fleeting presence of other retail tenants in the development. There's Three Brothers, which has already seen one closing only to be reopened under new management. Among the list of failed businesses at UTC are a dry cleaners, Gifford's Ice Cream and the Soup Man restaurant.
"Nobody stays here more than a minute" said one National Center for Health Statistics employee as she puffed on a cigarette last Friday afternoon.
"We're all saddened to hear that they are closing," said restaurant customer Karen Christopher as she walked out of the store with one last Wild Onion meal. "The food was good, the service was good. We asked for fliers if they ever relocate."
Customer Jennifer Peregoy, a vegetarian, was disappointed when she heard the news.
"For vegetarian options, it's one of the few around," said Peregoy as she picked up one last service of sweet potato soup. "We loved this restaurant. There aren't too many healthy restaurants here."
Paul Urciolo, UTC's senior vice president, declined to comment in too much depth about the closing of Wild Onion, but he said it would be missed.
"They had very nice food," said Urciolo. "It just didn't work out."
Here's my theory: It's hard to walk to (for Americans). Now, I've only been covering the area for two weeks, but I spent my early childhood living near Queensbury Road and 39th Place, a stones throw from what is now known as UTC when it was just those three gargantuan white office buildings. My dad worked in those buildings for a number of years with the Department of Labor. Despite living that close, the act of crossing Queens Chapel Road and then East West Highway was, and I believe still is, a major access impediment for the pedestrian for which it is laid out. High vacancy rates in the residential areas of UTC only further magnify the importance of attracting outsiders to the retail areas. Perhaps stronger event programming in the quite attractive courtyard (think concerts and the like) could help attract more pedestrians. Give them a reason, other than shopping, to congregate in its public spaces, and you might see some success.
UTC isn't going to blow away, and conceivably, the ill effects of the recession will at some point subside. If anything the Wild Onion's story of a strong lunch rush proves that, as long as people are there, there will be foot traffic. It's just how does one get people there when no one yet lives there in great numbers?
1. Dramatically improve signage on the roads surrounding UTC. 2. Better sign parking -- yes, I drive virtually everywhere since I am running hither and yon. 3. UTC as a development needs to do a significantly better job of making itself relevant to its close-in neighbors, commuters, and other locals. I virtually live online (when I'm not driving around to and from meetings) and have seen nothing about the development, what it offers, etc. Now it's true I'm biased towards DC for my attention (I work on DC issues) but still. This speaks to Michael's question about folks not living near UTC. Ok, so come up with a plan to draw people in. I had high hopes for the development and still do once the economy rebounds. But a good economy will not fix all that ails UTC.
(First get rid of the tax incentives for keeping storefronts empty! That's helping to keep the whole region boarded up.) 1. I think UTC need to become more visible and enticing to passersby. The E/W hgwy "gateway" needs enticing stores right up to E/W hgwy with visible parking on the sides. (A cheaper way at first would be to build a few mock store fronts at the corners on both the east and west sides of the street.) Get rid of that Neon sign - or change it. 2. Don't scrimp on the public spaces. Turn the fountain back on. Keep the public areas spotlessly clean. Pipe in pleasant music. Don't allow scary looking loiterers. 3. Host events. "A Taste of UTC," "Movie Trailers and Popcorn," "Kids carnival," "Dog day" . It is really unfortunate that the first thing that gets cut when times get hard is the very thing that is needed to entice people to come. There are other ideas but, again, it’ll take money, energy, vision, and commitment.
What business would thrive at UTC if opened tomorrow? Tomorrow without any of the above suggested improvements? Oh, man! That is a hard one. The only thing I can think of is a service business that already has a large clientele and can get new customers on their own without relying on walk-ins. A dentist or medical clinic? Frankly, if it were run nicely, I would utilize a nail salon at UTC.
I think UTC thought that the apartments (the Sutudent Towers and "lofts" etc) would provide the critical mass but that doesn't seem to have worked. I agree that if a popular store or restaurant such as Whole Foods, the "lifestyle Safeway" or a Franklins/Busboys and Poets type of place were to locate at UTC , it might provide the necessary boost. I'm happy Busboys located where it did, though UTC would seem to have better parking. The point Michael Theis made here is a good one; the location of UTC, even though it is close to the PG Plaza Metro, is not pedestrian friendly and the setup of the development is not even particularly car-friendly.
I guess a good question would be is what destination retail ideas do you have to draw people to UTC? If not Apple, then what? What do people drive miles for? What would make me hope on the metro to get to UTC?
if i am incorrect about this, i hope someone in the know can correct it for me. i totally agree that many in the local community decided early on that UTC was not for them. some were upset about the obnoxious parking regime, some were upset about the young people loitering, some just didn't like the restaurant choices, some were upset that the concert series ended and the fountain was turned off, some were just waiting for the long-promised safeway to open. it really is sad.