A Newcomer Takes the Store Manager Reins in Mt. Airy 

by Karen Melton, for the Shuttle

August 6, 2026

by Karen Melton, for the Shuttle 

I recently sat down for an interview with Anh Vongbandith, the somewhat new (since March) manager of Weavers Way Mt. Airy. I’m a regular at Das Good Café, which Anh runs with her husband, Anou, and daughter Jade a few doors up from the Germantown store, so I already knew her enough to exchange greetings and stories about squirrels (more on that later). But this was a chance to speak at length about her new job and her background. The conversation is edited for brevity. 

Q: Before we talk about managing the Mt. Airy store, I have a question about Das Good Café. I always notice that it’s a gathering place where people meet up with their friends. They bring their families; customers at the next table always smile or nod to one another. Everyone seems to feel at home — they hang around talking long after they finish eating. How do you create that kind of welcoming environment? 

A: That actually is a Co-op question as well as a café question. Not every business needs to feel like an extension of home and community, but a local café and your food co-op certainly should. That happens when the people who serve you care about their jobs and do them the best they can, with respect and attention. Customers respond in kind.  

People who shop at Weavers Way have many choices about where they can buy their groceries. When they choose to shop at the Co-op, it’s not just because of the products we carry; it’s not just because it’s close by. It’s because of how we operate and how we treat them. The people who work here make the Co-op feel like a community. As the flagship Weavers Way store, there are people who have been here for 20 and 30 years. 

Q: So that raises an interesting question — what is it like to be the new person in an organization with so many long-term employees? 

A: It can be a challenge, because people have a certain way of doing things — that can make it hard to experiment with changes. But it works the other way, too. They have seen a lot of experiments and what did and didn’t work. And they are part of what creates that sense of community; they are there because Weavers Way means something to them. For many it is more than a job. Shoppers know them and know that staff will always drop what they’re doing to look for something or answer a question. 

Q: And how do you get that level of experience for yourself and manage people who’ve been here so long? 

A: I’m working on it. I’m trying to learn everyone’s job — what they do, how it’s done. And when I spend time working the register or walking around the store, I get to talk to our members and hear what’s working or not working for them — where things are located, why they buy what they buy. We have as many choices for bird feed as tomato sauce, and the best bakery section, because that’s what our members asked for. 

 As far as management, it is about mutual respect and accountability for our work — we each have our jobs to do. When someone needs help it’s important to let me know, because helping staff is one of my jobs. I have their backs; I ask them to have mine. 

Respect needs to be the starting point, regardless of the type of business. I have managed many different kinds of food operations, from multiple sites for a large corporation (ARA Services) spread out over many miles, the Barrymore Tea Room back in the day at the top of the Bellevue, and catering and restaurant businesses with my husband. I especially enjoy catering. It’s a fun challenge to prepare a lot of food, and catering usually involves a gathering of people who are connected in some way.  

Q: You mentioned bird feed earlier. I understand you are the neighborhood animal rescue? 

A: I’ve always loved animals. Anywhere I’ve lived, people would bring me the neighborhood strays and orphaned wildlife, and I do my best to care for them appropriately so wildlife can stay wild and domestic animals can find homes. When I lived in Florida it was prairie dogs. Here it’s been squirrels, kittens, possums and many others.  

My husband is currently making squirrel and bat houses for our yard. We have a number of trees and get to observe a lot of wildlife – we especially enjoy watching the squirrels.  

What I am not crazy about is fish – eating fish, that is. When I was a child we were on one of the last flights out at the end of the Vietnam War. My Vietnamese mother was married to a U.S. Coast Guard captain. When the marriage broke up, she and I continued to live in Hawaii but spoke little English, which made things difficult.  

My mother worked multiple jobs to support us and she also fished every day. She handmade a long net and would attach one end and swim across the waterway and back with the other end. The net always caught enough fish for us to eat with some left to sell. People didn’t have refrigerators, so fish had to be eaten quickly. But I rarely eat fish anymore. 

Q: That’s quite a journey from subsistence fishing to managing large-scale food service and grocery operations! Thanks for talking with me and welcome to Weavers Way.