The following piece is an opinion and does not reflect the views of The Eagle and its staff. All opinions are edited for grammar, style and argument structure and fact-checked, but the opinions are the writer’s own.
In my first year of college, I’ve found that the much-overstated plight of college students rings very true. I, along with nearly everyone I know, am broke. And while turning out lattes or sitting idly at a desk in an uncanny on-campus building both leave a lot to be desired, the alternative of sitting in your room while peers enjoy a Sunday brunch outing is equally, if not more, dissatisfying.
Successfully navigating this tension may require out-of-the-box thinking: How do you and your friends leave campus in a way that’s economically inclusive? One solution to this admittedly first-world problem may prove altruistic as well: seeking out more local places.
This may seem painfully obvious and perhaps unmoving. Yet, our Instagram feeds so often present people backdropped by the monotonous greys and blacks of a Tatte or an equally ubiquitous or well-funded establishment that typically involves taking a number and finding cramped seating.
The “why” behind these places’ popularity is obvious. They are often readily accessible and more aesthetically pleasing. The reasoning behind this is similarly obvious: they can afford prime real estate closer to hotspots and metro stations and have marketing teams bolstered by expansive capital to curate sought-after looks and feels.
Shedding our corporately counted-on desire for ease and aesthetics and pivoting to smaller businesses may help our wallets in the long run, while sustaining businesses that are comparatively disadvantaged to their conglomerate counterparts, generally and especially during a recession.
Evidencing this in our neighborhood, early 2025 polling of Washington restaurant owners found that 40 percent of full-service restaurants in D.C. are in danger of closing this year. Reasons for this are varied. Some cite recent ballot initiatives that increased hourly wages and layoffs by the Trump administration as impeding residents’ ability to patronize. Whatever the direct cause, the group most impacted is the same: mid-range price point spots that cannot raise prices without losing a crippling portion of customers.
The previously mentioned polling also precedes President Donald Trump’s recent economic moves. With J.P. Morgan maintaining a 60 percent likelihood of a U.S. recession, the pressure on small businesses is very likely to increase. In D.C., this could mean even more local mom-and-pop restaurants closing their doors, as they lack the financial cushion larger chains possess.
All of this is to say: Eat local! Try a new cuisine at a new restaurant off the beaten path — if we value the less commercialized, more truly local places in our city, supporting them now is crucial. And this directive isn’t even wholly selfless. In my experience, these places are often tastier and cheaper than their corporate competitors.
Local restaurant owner Tony Tomelden puts it best: “D.C. needs to decide if it’s going to be a city full of big corporate chain places or local mom-and-pops.” If people opt for chains, “family-style places are just going to go away.”
Harry Walton is a freshman in the School of Public Affairs and a columnist for The Eagle.
This article was edited by Quinn Volpe, Alana Parker and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Emma Brown and Nicole Kariuki.
