Explore every episode of the podcast Takoma Podcast | Hyper-Local Interviews from DC and Takoma Park Maryland

The TPSS Co-op has been a fixture in Takoma Park for 45 years—but most people walking past the mural-adorned building on Ethan Allen Ave have no idea what's actually going on inside. This grocery store isn’t owned by a corporation or a single investor. It's owned by 11,000 of your neighbors, and it does about $11 million in annual sales from its 4,200-square-foot home.

We joined GM Mike Houston for a store walkthrough and a conversation about what makes a co-op fundamentally different from every other grocery store—the bulk department, the local supply chain, the union staff that averages over nine years on the job—and what's coming next. 

Mike talks about staying open during an 18-week gut renovation by running a full grocery store out of a tent in the parking lot, why co-ops are a direct answer to grocery consolidation and dynamic pricing, and the latest on plans for a second location.

If you've ever wondered whether a TPSS membership is worth it, this is the episode to watch.

🔔 Subscribe for more stories about the people and businesses that make Takoma Park one of the most unique communities in the DC area. 

🛒 Visit TPSS Co-op: https://tpss.coop

📍 Learn about the expansion: https://tpss.coop/expansion

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tpsscoop

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TPSScoop

Scott Horsley is one of the most familiar voices in American public radio—tens of millions of NPR listeners have heard him cover presidential campaigns, the White House, the 2008 financial crisis, and now the economy as NPR's Chief Economics Correspondent. But for nearly 20 years, he's also just been a neighbor here in Takoma, walking his dog Ribsy to Rock Creek Park, grabbing things at Ace Hardware, and watching this community change block by block.

I caught up with Scott on his porch near the Takoma Rec Center to talk about what brought him here, what he sees when he looks at this neighborhood through an economist's eyes, the evolution of downtown Takoma Park, and what it's like to work in a rapidly changing media landscape after decades at NPR.

It's one of those conversations that reminds you: you never know who's walking down your street—especially in this neighborhood.

🔔 Subscribe for more stories about the people and businesses that make Takoma Park one of the most unique communities in the DC area.

🎙️ Follow Scott:

NPR: https://www.npr.org/people/2788801/scott-horsley

X/Twitter: https://x.com/HorsleyScott

Charbel Abrache didn't set out to be a pizza maker. From pharmacy school in Venezuela to the high-pressure pastry lines of Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Seylou Bakery, his journey from medicine to the kitchen has been a series of calculated risks and constant learning. Now, at Red Hound Pizza in Takoma Park, he’s applying that same obsessive attention to detail to a "grandma style" pie that's become a local obsession.

In this episode, Charbel discusses the steep learning curve of baking with heritage grains, the "happy accident" that turned his wife’s pregnancy cravings into a signature soft-serve program, and the chaotic reality of opening a shop where the blueprints didn't quite match the machinery. It’s a look at how one family built a business around their community—and their dog—while proving that the best results often come from being flexible when things don't go according to plan.

🔔 Tap follow in your podcast app for more stories about the people and businesses that make Takoma Park one of the most unique communities in the DC area.

📍 Visit Red Hound Pizza: https://www.redhoundpizza.com/

📸 Red Hound on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redhoundpizza/

Amazon can deliver a book to your door in a day. What it can't do is hand you a free coffee when you just got laid off.

That's the edge Matt and Megan Bormet are betting on with People's Book in Takoma Park, Maryland—and two years in, they've both quit their day jobs to run it full time.

In this episode, they break down how a community-first bookstore is not only surviving in the Amazon era but thriving in it.

We get into the Harvard Business Review research that gave them confidence to take the leap, why they describe People's Book as "an event space disguised as a bookstore," the surprising profitability of zines, why they love TKPK and the #1 thing that worries Matt about the town’s future.

• 🔔 Tap Follow in your podcast app for more stories about the people and businesses that make Takoma Park one of the most unique communities in the DC area.

• 📍 Visit People's Book: https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/

•  ☁️ People's Book on Blueskey: https://bsky.app/profile/peoplesbooktakoma.com