New Businesses Thriving on Church Street Thoroughfare

By Rosemary Reed
WI Contributing Writer
Thursday, February 23, 2006

Church Street is alive with new commercial spirit. The community people who worked so hard to convince Whole Foods to locate on ‘P’ must be pleased.  There is vast condo construction and two new ‘concept’ stores on the 15th Street end of Church Street: Nimbus Hair Salon and Future Green, an eco-friendly home and accessory center.

They were all previously built out from the many car repair shops which lined 15th and Church Streets for years. The two stores have kept the inside floors concrete, and both have left some of the brick exposed.

They also have the heating ducts exposed and a somewhat ‘Scandinavian industrial look.’ And finally, both stores’ facades and interiors are reminiscent of a ‘car-shop historic presence.’

  The personable Yusuf Baptiste, a DC native who graduated from the college-prep elite Banneker High School, opened Nimbus last year. He said, “Banneker gears you for critical thinking. I went first to Macalester College in Minnesota for political science studies. Trying to finance my college courses made me stop my university career, and I returned to DC to work with a construction firm and to learn graphic design. Both skills helped me in building and designing Nimbus. I did most of the construction work in the shop.”

He continued, “I gave my architect my concept drawings, and he tweaked them. I executed the plans. I worked two jobs night and day to pay for the costs. It took about 6 months to finish.” After returning to DC, Baptiste trained at the Graham Webb International School of Hairdressing in Arlington. He’s worked for the hair salons Molecule on 19th Street and Daniels’ on ‘M’ Street. “Everything I did, and everyone I worked for, and everywhere I studied has influenced my work.” Baptiste said.

Nimbus is a clean, modern-looking white-bright and glass building. Baptiste joins the other three shops in keeping the ’pull up door’ car repair shop design facade. He combines clean sculpted wood chairs from Cote d’Ivoire with sleek industrial chairs.

Baptiste said,” The elements blend and inspire me and my customers. I was looking for calm.  I was looking for a hair salon with a lounge feeling where people are comfortable and at ease. However my bar-lounge’s drink is just healthy water.  People in the neighborhood have responded well. I like to put a smile on their faces. It’s a great place to be. I can do all sorts of hair for all sorts of ages, body types, and styles.”

Karin Miller, a Nimbus customer who was on her way to a New York meeting, thinks that “the shop reflects Yusuf’s aesthetic, his personality, and the talent he’s learned from his former salon experiences.” 

Like Nimbus, Future Green is making patrons wish there were more stores like it. The original owners, Lisa and Swee Sim, wanted to put under one roof fair trade items. The concept of   ‘fair trade’ means that most of the money from the customer goes to the producer. Future Green also buys from co-ops based in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Serbia, and some countries in Africa

The Sims bought recycled and organic materials for clothing, accessories and jewelry, items for household use, and they sold world music from small producers. Keith Ware and his wife were friends of the Sims and felt Washington, D.C. was ready for a Future Green concept store.

“We’re from DC.  We have children here. We believe in the future and we knew of Church Street emerging as a possible home or apartment owners’ area,” Ware said. Donna Ware, his wife, and Court Pearman staff the brightly colored shop. “We sell and we tried out all our products as we were building the space out. The floors are of re-cycled tires. In the back you’ll see bamboo floors. The hot-air system is efficient. You can actually un-zip sections and put it in the wash to keep the inside clean,” said Ware.

They found an African American firm which has skin care, hair conditioning and bath. The company tries to use only naturally obtained components which are made from natural products whose producers are paid a fair wage for their services.

Walk around and you will find Tibetan wool mittens. “Each mitten has a tag telling you the name of the knitter and her story,” Keith Ware explained. He continued, “A lot of our products have that kind of connection with the producer and the buyer.”

“Speaking of knitting,” Ware continued, “we’re gong to have a yarn section. I don’t know much about yarn, so various customers said they would help by suggesting the types and fibers which they would work with. I didn’t know it, but there are various farms around here which sell naturally dyed wools.”

Future Green also hosts a Falun Gong session every Thursday at 7pm. Falun Gong is an ancient meditation concept which was revived in 1992.  There are about 62 million people around the world practicing Falun Gong.

Although the Chinese Government has tried to suppress it for years, Ware and his wife Donna are some of the many African Americans who appreciate its spirituality and its ideas of physical and mental unity. “It’s a way of looking at life. It fits Future Green’s concept of a healthy mind and healthy environment,” said Ware.