With plans to become permanent next spring, the pop-up version of the future brick-and-mortar Italian goods store Via Umbria opens this Saturday.
“There is a bit of permitting and renovation to be done to get to our final goal, so we are a pop-up through the holidays,” says Suzy Menard, co-proprietor of the space with husband Bill, in an email to Elevation DC. She says shoppers will find everything from pasta rolling pins to giant tubs of Nutella to hand-painted tableware. “Everything in it is of and from Italy.”
Menard says the plan is to renovate the brick-and-mortar building over the winter, then open as a permanent space in spring 2015.
The Menards – who met in 1984 working on a political campaign in an office mere blocks from the site of Via Umbria– have long sought to parlay their passion for Italian culture into their entrepreneurial vision. Under the name Experience Umbria, they’ve run a travel company since 2008. They’ve also imported Italian wines and foods through their Bethesda shop, Bella Italia.
Now the couple is combining all of these under one umbrella “because it was crazy trying to run them separately when they are all interrelated and part of a single dream,” says Menard.
Space for cooking classes and other special events will also be featured in the store come spring, as will imported meats and cheeses, produce, baked goods and other edibles. Prepared meals will also be available.
“We truly are not interested in [just] selling product or moving merchandise, but rather in sharing [the artisans’] labors and our experiences with our customers,” adds Menard.
The couple, who live in Forest Hills, spent the summer of 1990 in Italy with their then one-year-old son, Austin. Italy left her mark then on the young family. Decades later, Suzy says Georgetown – the neighborhood – is the ideal place for Via Umbria to exist.
“Georgetown [University Law Center – through which Bill traveled to Italy to study in the first place - ] “gave us our introduction to Italy,” Suzy says. “In addition, our brand is a smart fit with this neighborhood, as Georgetowners are well travelled and appreciate the things in life that are worth slowing down for and savoring.”
The pop-up, located at 1525 Wisconsin Ave. NW, will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 7pm and Sundays 12-6pm. It will be closed Mondays.
Amy Rogers Nazarov is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist with more than 25 years experience as a staff reporter and a freelance writer, covering technology, adoption, real estate, and lifestyle topics from food & drink to home organizing. Her byline has appeared in Cooking Light, The Washington Post, Slate, Washingtonian, The Writer, Smithsonian, The Washington Post Express, The Baltimore Examiner, The Sacramento Bee, Cure, The Washington Times, Museum, and many other outlets. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists & Authors and tweets at
@WordKitchenDC.