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Retail giant to aid D.C. firms

By Jen Haberkorn
March 26, 2008

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has been rebuffed in attempts to expand into the District, yesterday extended its small-business assistance program to D.C. establishments.

Spokeswoman Rhoda Washington denied the move is related to smoothing the approval process for opening a store within the city's boundaries. The retailer said Wal-Mart's reach into the District reflects the fact that D.C. residents make up a large part of its customer and employee base at its Landover Hills store.

"It makes sense to partner with D.C.," Ms. Washington said, calling the D.C.-Maryland line a "thin, gray line" that most people don't recognize when they shop.

The five businesses, all in Ward 5, will get free in-store advertising and business assistance as part of the retailer's Jobs and Opportunity Zones (JOZ) program. It was set up in February 2007 at Landover Hills and nine other Wal-Mart stores across the country, with many just outside major cities. Each quarter, the store selects five new businesses to help.

Prince George's County businesses participated in Wal-Mart's program last quarter. This quarter, the five D.C. stores include Bobby Q's barbeque restaurant, Cafe Sureia coffee shop and Capital Construction Group LLC on 12th Street Northeast; Bubba's Muscogee Restaurant on Rhode Island Avenue Northeast and Windows Cafe & Market on Rhode Island Avenue Northwest.

"We have to have a balancing act in how development grows in our community," said Ward 5 Democrat Harry Thomas Jr., who recommended the businesses to Wal-Mart and announced them yesterday.

The businesses are 5 to 7 miles away from the Wal-Mart store. Ms. Washington said the JOZ businesses are typically within five miles from the stores, but the program includes D.C. establishments to recognize that about 60 percent of the store's 450 associates are residents of the District.

Wal-Mart does not have a store in the District — Landover Hills is its first and only inside the Capital Beltway — but it has already faced opposition from the D.C. Council.

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