Hannah CampbellWhile the Dupont Circle market is smaller than the Downtown market, the foot traffic and business sales have been better than expected.
As D.C. residents race to complete their holiday shopping, the competition between local holiday markets heats up.
The DowntownDC Holiday Market has operated along F Street near the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station since 2005. Businesses in Christmas lit booths line closely together down the streets, waiting for crowds of customers to fill them. Lines of people file down for blocks on weekends.
Just across town, located on the 1500 block of 19th Street NW in Dupont Circle, another market opened for the first time ever. A calmer setting sits for the businesses on the street, as customers calmly shuffle to eye trinkets.
While the Dupont Circle market is smaller than the Downtown market, the foot traffic and business sales have been better than expected.
“We never believed a market with 34 vendors would bring so much traffic to the neighborhood,” Bill McLeod, executive director of the Dupont Circle BID, said. “Not just on weekends, weekdays as well.”
The Makers Show, the company recently hired by the Downtown DC BID to run the market, did not respond to requests for comment from The Wash.
The DowntownDC market includes more than 100 vendors this year, ranging from festive food to live entertainment. Gerren Price, president and CEO of the DowntownDC BID, said the number of businesses that participated this year “brings a fresh, festive energy to a beloved D.C. tradition.”
“This year’s DowntownDC Holiday Market has seen record-breaking attendance, with positive feedback from both vendors and visitors,” Price said.
Naj Ajround, owner of Tunisian Touch shop, has participated in the DowntownDC market for 12 years. This year, he decided to also open a booth at the Dupont Circle market. Ajround said he had an existing relationship with Berman and wanted to support the additional market.
He described the two markets as having “totally different customers and totally different energy.”
“We have a lot of tourists here at the Downtown market,” Ajround said. “This is a destination because it’s downtown. In Dupont Circle, we have more of a mix for customers.”
D.C. resident, Helen Meek, also agreed the two markets have different customer bases. She said it does not affect where she makes holiday purchases, but helps residents like herself decide when to attend each market.
“I know the Downtown market will be packed with tourists on the weekend, so I know to go during the week,” Meek said.
The Makers Show, which describes itself as a “mixed-use retail market platform rooted in social justice” on its website, also manages similar markets in Boston and Brooklyn.
Aidan Dunbar, co-owner of the Vintage Underground shop, operates their store in Boston and has participated in the city’s holiday markets in the past. He said the new management of the downtown market invited them to participate in D.C. for the first time.
He said sales for the first few weekends have been great across the market and operates similar to markets out in Boston.
“I think there’s a pretty good mix between tourists and residents,” Dunbar said. “Whenever there’s an event downtown, we get a host of folks that come down here.”
No matter the type of customer that heads to the markets, businesses in the Downtown DC market have not taken a hit this year. As for competition in the city, the Dupont Circle BID believes both markets can thrive on their own.
“I believe there is room for two holiday markets in D.C.,” McLeod said.
Maria Lawson
Wash staff
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