🎨 District Dabble Lab: A true story of patience

When things aren’t coming together on a deal, we revisit the “BLTS” with Pedal Retailers to figure out where we can flex. As a reminder, the “BLTS” are the four fundamental pillars of your real estate criteria - budget, location, timing and space criteria. Most of the time, we flex on location and start to look at a different or broader mix of neighborhoods. Sometimes, we flex on the budget or space criteria, but it’s rare that we flex on timing. 

When it comes to flexing on timing, Emily, owner of District DabbleLab, could teach a master class.

First, here’s the background on District DabbleLab…

Bethesda native Emily started District DabbleLab in 2019 out of her basement as a process art studio with classes for kids, birthday parties and craft nights for adults. Raising her own daughter in Bethesda, Emily was reminded of the intense pressure on kids to become expert at something from a very young age. Sports, music, languages…Emily saw so much pressure towards mastery and not much time to just enjoy, play, and create.

District DabbleLab lets kids and adults “dabble” in different media and discover the joy and delight in the process of making art.

By 2022, District DabbleLab had outgrown Emily’s basement. A friend (also a retail broker) sent Emily our way to get geared up and ready to find the DabbleLab a forever home. 

Pretty soon we had a spectacular business plan that not only detailed the success of the current operation but also the growth opportunities that would come with a larger, proper brick-and-mortar: more space for more Dabblers, an expertly curated retail section, plus a dedicated party room. 

With Powerhouse Business Plan in one hand and funding in the other, we were ready to hit the market to find the perfect space. And we did just that…

💰 B is for Budget

Since Emily had an existing business, we were able to start there with her P&L Projections, dialing them up in connection with the new offerings in the new space. She had funding secured for her capital budget and did not want to go back to the well, which meant that even with a generous TI allowance, a big, expensive buildout wouldn’t work. The financial proformas gave us the acceptable rent range and our limits on buildout costs.

📍 L is for Location

Since Emily was relocating an active business, she wanted to stay close to home in order to keep her existing customer base, and so we had narrow parameters on where the business could be. We toured every available space in the area, and to her credit, Emily kept an open mind despite having strong impressions of most spaces having lived in the neighborhood since childhood.

📋 S is for Space Criteria

Emily needed a space with great presence for the retail component of her business, and one that could fit separate party room and open studio spaces. We also knew we needed sinks throughout the space for ease of cleanup.

When we found a space at Westbard Square in Bethesda that seemingly checked all the boxes. The size, layout and presence were perfect. The budget worked, the location was perfect, the space was ideal, but…

⏰ T is for Timing…and potentially Trouble.

The space was part of a redevelopment and under active construction. It literally wasn’t ready. Emily would have to wait almost a year before she could get open.

✅ But that was okay. Emily decided that the space was right. The B, L and S were great, and she was willing to flex on the T. So we’d proceed with negotiating a deal. We came to an agreement on LOI terms…

Then there was an internal change over on the landlord’s side, and the deal was put on pause. We could either wait however many months it took for the landlord to reengage, or we could revisit other space options.

✅ But Emily decided that the space was right. The B, L and S were still great, and she was frustrated, but still willing to wait on the T. So we’d hang tight until the landlord was ready.

Months later, we were back in action, but the changes on the landlord’s side meant that we would have to renegotiate some of the LOI terms that we thought were all set. We could either renegotiate, or walk and revisit other space options.

✅ And Emily decided that the space was right. The B, L and S were still great, and the T was really getting annoying, but we buckled up, renegotiated, and signed the LOI. Yay! It was time to go to lease. With Emily’s retail leasing attorney on board, we passed the lease back and forth with the landlord a couple times…homing in on a final version.

Then the landlord needed to move Emily to a space two doors down with a slightly different square footage and layout. (This sort of thing happens from time to time in new developments with multiple retail spaces). By this point, patience was beginning to wane. Emily still had the option to walk away.

✅ But Emily decided that the space was still right. The B, L and S were still good, and the T was wearing everyone thin, but the lease draft was changed and the lawyers continued to refine the details. Now I’m pretty sure that all of us on both sides blacked out and still have some residual PTSD, but we got the lease signed.

We started negotiations in the fall of 2022, not signing a lease until the end of 2023. Building out the space hand-in-hand with the landlord took all of 2024. And here we are opening in the year of our lord 2025. That’s right - this process was three years long. 

It was a true test of endurance, and it wasn’t always pretty. At every fork in the road we considered alternative paths, but with all of the options on the table, time and again Emily decided this one was worth the wait. We’ve left out a lot of colorful details here, but suffice it to say someone should write a book and pitch it to HBO. Like we always say, every deal has a story.

Working to open a brick and mortar for three years takes 🥵 stamina, and nothing about this process was easy. During our day of Pedal Last Mile service helping Emily get set up, we were blown away by how special the space really is. We are so proud of Emily for sticking with her convictions and seeing District DabbleLab through to the home it deserves.

District DabbleLab is NOW OPEN at 5312 Zenith Overlook, Bethesda, MD – drop by and see it for yourself!