D.C.-based deals website LivingSocial opened a storefront in Chinatown with a bang last month, featuring a pop-up restaurant from Mike Isabella and performances by the band O.A.R. Company. Spokeswoman Griffin says the company, which offers locals online deals and discounts at locations around the city, is moving in new directions by opening a physical space in D.C.
Tell me a bit about the LivingSocial storefront. 918 F St. is a first of its kind venue, bringing together consumers and merchants to connect and experiment together with pop-up restaurants, unique classes, whatever. Over the past two-and-a-half years, we’ve been talking with merchants all around the country and heard they want to work with LivingSocial in different ways.
How can your merchants use the storefront? We built the space with flexibility in mind. We’ve got three flex rooms, which are open-area rooms that can completely be flexible. For a certain point in time it could be a painting class, or we can flip that room to make it a pop-up restaurant. We’ve got a 36-person demo kitchen — when the folks from Birch & Barley or Mike Isabella come in, the kitchen is made to be just like what they have in their own restaurants.
Is this the direction you saw the company going in? Since the beginning, our founders really wanted to help build local commerce. We’ve just really listened to our merchants to help them figure out what’s going to help them to get to the next level of their business. 918 F St. has been a natural progression of how we’re working with our merchants.
What’s the future of your storefront plan? We’re going to be starting here in D.C., figuring out what works and moving out across the country.
– Aubrey Whelan
