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  • Sheetz opens its first store in Wawa land, right across from a Wawa

    Sheetz opens its first store in Wawa land, right across from a Wawa

    Sometimes Sheetz happens, and at 8:02 a.m. on Thursday it happened in Montgomery County, when the chain opened its first convenience store in what’s long been undisputed Wawa territory.

    The store — which is directly across from a Wawa on West Ridge Pike near Lewis Road in Limerick Township — opened not with a Boom Boom, but with a whisper.

    Unlike a Wawa grand opening — where fans often queue up well before the doors open and the line to get in wraps around the building — there was just David Swartz waiting outside for the opening, bundled up in his folding rocker chair.

    Swartz, 36, of Collegeville, who arrived an hour before the opening, was surprised to find himself the only one in line, as were the gaggle of Philadelphia reporters who far outnumbered him and peppered him for interviews.

    A self-identified “diehard Wawa fan,” Swartz said he came to Sheetz’s opening for the food.

    “There’s nothing you can get here that isn’t delicious,” he said. “I love Wawa but they need different stuff and that’s what Sheetz is here to do, they’re here to deliver that.”

    Slushies, plushies, and more

    Once the doors opened, folks who’d been waiting in their cars started to file in, forming a line for the coffee, which was free all day (the Wawa across the street offered free coffee on Thursday, too). Other customers explored the touch-screen menus, checked out the prepared food offerings, and browsed the aisles.

    Inside, Swartz poured himself a slushie and ordered a hot dog, nachos, and fish tacos with fries — at 8:15 a.m. He also picked up three Hello Kitty plushies for his girlfriend. Wawa, he pointed out, does not sell plushies.

    “My girlfriend is going to be very happy when I come home with these,” he said.

    Inside the store after being the first to enter, Dave Swartz of Collegeville organizes his plushie toys and frozen drink as the first Sheetz store opens in the Wawa territory Thursday in Limerick Township.

    Elsa Ortiz, 54, drove an hour from Philadelphia to pick up a hoagie (or “Subz” as they call them at Sheetz) for her boyfriend.

    “Sheetz is definitely better than Wawa for him,” she said. “Right now I’m neutral, but today I am a Sheetz girl.”

    Ortiz said the store being across from a Wawa is very on brand for the Philadelphia region.

    “The rivalry is just like Philly, with its rivalries and everything else,” she said. “Still, go Eagles! I’m still Eagles!”

    There are some rivalries you can play both sides of, and some you can’t.

    Shortly after 9 a.m., when giveaways for gift cards and Sheetz schwag began, the store became so packed with people it became a real Sheetz show and the line outside for freebies stretched down the building. The residents of the Delaware Valley may rep hard and local, but they also won’t say no to a free T-shirt.

    The expansions

    While opening a Sheetz across from an existing Wawa may seem like the new guy in town is throwing down the gauntlet, it’s actually a move taken out of Wawa’s own playbook. In 2024, when the Delaware County-based chain opened up its first store in central Pennsylvania — what was traditionally Sheetz country — it did so within eyeshot of an existing Sheetz.

    For decades, the urban lore in Pennsylvania was that there was a gentleman’s agreement regarding unspoken boundaries between Delco-based Wawa in the southeastern corner of the state and Blair County-based Sheetz, in south-central Pennsylvania.

    Amy Rudolph (seated) of Collegeville holds court with fellow grand opening patrons as she recounts her story of being #2 in line as the first Sheetz store opens in the Wawa territory Philadelphia suburbs Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026 in Limerick Township.

    But that’s all it was — lore (New Jersey has its own devil, we had to come up with something) — and as both chains began rapid expansions in the 2010s, it seemed inevitable they’d cross over to each other’s markets at some point. In fact, Wawa and Sheetz have coexisted in several markets already for some time, including right here in Pennsylvania, in Berks and Lehigh Counties, according to Wawa spokesperson Lori Bruce.

    Today, Wawa has 1,193 stores in 13 states and Washington, D.C., and more than 95 store openings planned for this year. Ten stores have gone up in central Pennsylvania in the last two years, with 40 more planned over the next five, Bruce said.

    Sheetz, meanwhile, has more than 800 stores in seven states. Previously, its closest store to Philadelphia was in Berks County, but now that it has officially moved into the Philly suburbs, it doesn’t appear it plans to slow down. Sheetz stores have been proposed in Chester County and even in Delco, at Painters Crossing shopping center in Chadds Ford, just five miles down the road from Wawa’s headquarters.

    Now that could get Sizzli.

    A rivalry?

    Representatives of both chains deny they are rivals and point out that they have worked together to support various nonprofits.

    Adam Sheetz, executive vice president of Sheetz, said it has been a friendly competition for decades.

    “They’re one of the best retailers in the country, certainly one of the best in our industry, and we have great respect for them and competing with them has just made us better over the years,” he said.

    Bruce agreed.

    “We’re fortunate to have always had a respectful and friendly relationship with the folks at Sheetz,” she said. “And, while we have always embraced healthy competition at Wawa, when we think about competitors, we tend to think about challenging ourselves to make sure we are meeting the needs of our customers and communities.”

    Folks may eat on trash cans at Wawa, but you’ll never hear Wawa officials talking trash on Sheetz. Wawa fans, on the hand, are a whole other hoagie roll.

    Craig Scott (left) of Wayne and Dave Swartz (right) of Collegeville have breakfast as the first Sheetz store opens in the Wawa territory in Limerick Township.

    The low-stakes rivalry between the stores’ fans has resulted in memes, debates, op-eds, and even a forthcoming documentary, Sheetz Vs. Wawa: The Movie.

    When news of the impending Sheetz opening spread last month, cheeky comments by Wawa fans on social media included “We are all protesting this,” “sheetz is temu wawa,” “Sheetz is fire, but Wawa is for life,” and “this is my heated rivarly [sic].””

    But local officials said they didn’t hear of any pushback on the Sheetz.

    Patrick Morroney, a Limerick Township supervisor, has never been to a Sheetz but said he’s pro-business and welcomed Sheetz opening a store in the community.

    “I think that people are going to find their niche between Wawa and Sheetz,” he said.

    Jamila Winder, chair of the Montgomery County commissioners, said she frequented Sheetz while going to Pennsylvania State University and having the company open a store in Montco is “nostalgic” for her.

    “Even though Wawa has dominance here in Montgomery County and the region, we always welcome new businesses because that creates economic drivers, job opportunities for both, and it just gives people options to choose from,” she said.

    The opening

    During his remarks at the opening ceremony, Neil Makhija, vice chair of the county commissioners, took a different approach and leaned into the playful rivalry by putting on a Wawa hat while speaking to the crowd.

    He called the opening a “complicated day” for him and many people in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

    “I thought, ‘What is happening to our community? Do we need a stronger border security policy in Montgomery County? Should we build a wall and make Delco pay for it?’” he said to laughter from the crowd. “[But] here in Montgomery County we’re welcoming, we’re inclusive, and we’re hungry and I think we’re OK with a little competition.”

  • Westtown’s Jordyn Palmer — a basketball phenom and highly sought-after recruit — has untapped potential

    Westtown’s Jordyn Palmer — a basketball phenom and highly sought-after recruit — has untapped potential

    Amid the cacophony of whirling toddlers at a local YMCA in Oxford, Chester County, about 14 years ago, Jermaine Palmer caught a glimpse in the corner of his eye of what was to come. He had gotten his daughter, Jordyn, into basketball, taking her to his practices, letting her crawl around the court in diapers, and involving her in youth coed rec leagues with a tiny ball and hoop.

    One afternoon, as a game was going on, he noticed, Jordyn and a little boy collided going after a rebound. They both fell. The boy went crying to his mother. Jordyn stood up, grabbed the ball, and scored a layup as if nothing happened, smiling back down the court. Jermaine just shook his head, he recalled.

    Jordyn Palmer, the gifted 6-foot-2 junior guard at Westtown School, tends to make a lot of people shake their heads in disbelief each time they see her play, especially the nation’s top college coaches. She is ranked as the No. 6 player in the country in the class of 2027 by ESPN’s SportsCenter NEXT — Super 60. She is averaging a humble 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Moose, who will be playing for their sixth straight Friends Schools League championship this Friday at 6:30 p.m. against archrival Friends’ Central at La Salle University.

    As a junior, Palmer is on the threshold of 2,000 career points and is the leader of a star-studded team that has a/ 23-1 overall record this season and is ranked No. 7 in the country by ESPN.

    What is so interesting about Palmer is that her best is yet to come. She’s always been tall for her age, and her parents, Jermaine and Kim, had to carry her birth certificate as proof of her age because of that. She has been playing varsity basketball since she was in eighth grade.

    A dominant rebounder, ballhandler, and shooter, she can finish left- or right-handed and has added a more consistent perimeter game. She’s also a team player, making a point to get her teammates involved. She plays with poise, despite the constant attention she has had on her since she was 14.

    She was 5-9 at age 12 playing for the Chester County Storm under-16 AAU team when Westtown coach Fran Burbidge first saw her in a summer tournament at the Spooky Nook complex in Manheim, Lancaster County. Burbidge, who coached women’s stars Elena Delle Donne and Breanna Stewart, quickly saw how much more advanced Palmer was than the teenage girls she was playing against.

    “A friend of mine asked me if I ever saw her play. I remember going to one of the back courts and thinking, ‘There is no way that kid is in seventh grade,’” Burbidge said. “So, yeah, I had to convince myself she was that much better than everyone around her. If I didn’t know, I would have thought she was a high school junior.”

    Westtown freshman star Jordyn Palmer is taking her game international: ‘She has a chance to be that kid’

    Palmer has evolved since then. The second-oldest of four, she’s 17 and may grow another inch.

    She’s also a victim of her own success. Burbidge pulls her early in blowouts — and the Moose have many. She easily could score 40 points a game, but she plays with a pass-first, team-first mentality.

    Last summer, she was playing in a league against a talented Imhotep Charter team when she dominated both ends of the court for 10 minutes. Then she turned back to being a facilitator again. She is by no means lazy, according to her coaches and her father, but she is so smooth that she can play at different levels.

    Jordyn Palmer is averaging 23 points and 12 rebounds this season.

    “I was raised around the game. I grew up with a basketball in my hands, my dad being a coach taking me to practice,” said Jordyn, who carries a 3.5 grade-point average. “I was pretty much crawling around a basketball court before I was walking. I was always the tallest kid, that was me. I grew up playing soccer, too, but basketball was definitively my first love. I would say I was around seventh, eighth grade, when I started to think I was pretty good at this. It really changed when I went to Westtown.”

    And it really changed in 2023 when she was cut from the U.S. under-16 national team in Colorado Springs, Colo., when she was 14. It was the first and only time she was cut from something. She reached the second cuts. She sat in a conference room and was told that she did very well, but she would not make the team.

    When Jordyn called her parents, tears were shed — fueling aheightened determination.

    Top high school girls’ basketball players in the 2025-26 season

    “A year later, I got invited back, and I made the team,” she said. “That was the first time I faced rejection, and I thought I dealt with it well. It made me work harder. Being cut didn’t make me angry because I was not too sure I would make it anyway, but it shocked me. I began working out in the morning, and I’m not a morning person. I hate waking up early. I began taking basketball more seriously than I ever did.”

    A month after she was cut that summer, she led Philly Rise to an AAU national title.

    Jermaine and Burbidge want her to play more intensely for sustained periods of time. Jordyn knows she will need to maintain those levels once she gets to college.

    “Jordyn has not even scratched her full potential,” said Jermaine, the girls’ basketball coach at Oxford High School. “I’m proud of her. Jordyn is a great kid. Her upbringing keeps her humble. But she does not play with the urgency that I know she has. You see it in spurts, but when you see her playing national-level players, that comes out. I get on her all the time about dominating.

    “The stuff people don’t see in the gym is someone who can outplay anyone. You can’t really guard her. When she tightens her shot off the dribble and her ballhandling, she is going to be terrifying. I’m her father and a coach — you see the way games are called. She’s so strong and so solid, refs look at her a different way than they do other players. She has gotten used to it. Refs don’t understand the body difference between Jordyn and everyone else.

    “No one likes Goliath. It’s part of the game.”

    Jordyn Palmer plans to make her college commitment next spring. She’s interested in South Carolina, LSU, Kentucky, Rutgers, Maryland, Notre Dame, and UCLA.

    South Carolina, LSU, Kentucky, Rutgers, Maryland, Notre Dame, and UCLA are the schools in which she’s interested. She says she is looking to make her official visits over the summer and make a decision next spring. Jordyn and Jermaine said they want to take their time with the recruiting process.

    She would get around 30 calls a day this time last year. That has been reduced to around five a day.

    “It’s been a little bit of a pain,” she said. “There have been those times when I have cried by myself because it can sometimes be overwhelming. I spoke to my parents about it, and they have done a great job taking the pressure off me, telling these coaches I’m taking a break. I’m still a kid, and I’m grateful to my parents for allowing me to be a kid. They let me fish.”

    Then, Jordyn went into her own “fish tale.” She got into fishing as a way to relax through her maternal grandfather. During summer vacations, she fishes with her family in northeast Maryland and the Outer Banks in North Carolina. She once hooked a baby shark when she was 7.

    Westtown’s Jordyn Palmer wins second straight Pennsylvania Gatorade Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year award

    “Yep, it was about 100 pounds,” she said. “We took it home and ate it. My uncles helped me pull it in.”

    Her father laughs at the recollection.

    “Jordyn was there,” Jermaine said. “I don’t know if she caught it. But we’ll go with that story.”

    One thing is certain, Jordyn Palmer is no fish tale.

    Westtown School’s Jordyn Palmer will play for a Friends Schools League championship on Friday at La Salle.
  • This Harvard-trained, ex-Uber lawyer is the boss at one of Philly’s biggest builders

    This Harvard-trained, ex-Uber lawyer is the boss at one of Philly’s biggest builders

    Construction is often a family business. Mike Lloyd, as a Harvard Law graduate, former Wall Street trader, past counsel for Uber and Chevron, and a native of south Louisiana, had a first-class outsider’s resume when he arrived at Malvern-based IMC Construction, one of the mid-Atlantic’s largest general contractors.

    But Lloyd is family, too: In 2017, engaged to the boss’ daughter, he took over as IMC’s general counsel, and moved onto a new career path that added his professional and personal skills to IMC’s career construction managers.

    Since 2023 he’s been president and the firm’s controlling owner. On his watch, IMC revenue has risen more than 70%, to $600 million, and it has added offices and clients in New Jersey and Delaware, with more planned. The firm, founded in 1976, now employs 300, plus dozens of subcontracted crews at any given time.

    Senior managers of IMC Construction, 2025. CEO Mike Lloyd is third from right; his predecessor, IMC chairman and Lloyd’s father-in-law Robert Cottone, is third from left.

    Jobs that IMC built or rebuilt in recent years include Penn and Jefferson medical projects, Prologis warehouses in Marcus Hook, the Morgan Lewis tower at 2222 Market St., new plants for Merck, Solenis and other biotech companies, apartments at the Granite Run Mall, the Promenade at Upper Dublin, the King of Prussia Town Center, and more than 100 other area sites.

    Lloyd recently spoke with The Inquirer at IMC’s Chester County headquarters and on a tour of its nearby Great Valley Apartments complex, for developer Greystar. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

    How did you get this mid-career opening into the construction business?

    Rob Cottone [his predecessor as IMC CEO] recognized he needed support to help the organization grow across the Mid-Atlantic.

    This business is hand-to-hand combat every day. Every day is different.

    What I bring to the table is my broad skill set. I’ve worked in finance. I’ve worked in law. I’ve worked in mergers and acquisitions, with big and small companies. I’m comfortable with financial companies, whether for IMC’s own work, or to help the building owners get comfortable with the construction lenders.

    I don’t pretend to know things I don’t. We build a team of specialists who complement each other.

    What’s an example?

    Phil Ritter, a senior project manager, had the idea of creating a Special Projects division for jobs worth $5 million and under. You use a different pool of contractors, and a faster operating model, but you get the benefit of working for a large, efficient organization.

    I worked on the business plan, and in 2020 he started it, with maybe a million dollars in revenue that year. In three years, we were doing $30 million. We had a tremendous success doing small projects for Penn Medicine and Jefferson and others.

    Many companies would not have put a top project executive in charge of a new business. It costs overhead while working on a business plan. But that’s how we invest in people.

    We opened in 2022 in Edison, N.J., with four employees. We are now 37 there, of our 300 total, with $210 million in projected revenue for 2026. Our biggest job is the Crossings at Brick Church in East Orange, a transit-oriented multifamily development for Triangle Equities.

    Are those smaller projects non-union?

    The labor is driven by the clients’ demands. As a general contractor, we are a merit shop [using both union and non-union contractors]. Our jobs are often 100% union, not always.

    Sometimes we do jobs for a lump-sum price, sometimes open-book, guaranteed-maximum, the approach pioneered by Buck Williams [who founded IMC in 1976]. It takes a lot of working with the owners.

    Mike Lloyd, CEO of IMC Construction, in the company’s Malvern headquarters, in January. Behind him are renderings and photos of some of IMC’s recent projects.
    You’re building a lot of apartments lately?

    We see a tremendous amount of suburban apartment demand.

    A lot of these are places where people can avoid going to the city, when you can have a nice dinner and do some retail shopping close to work, close to home. You have that in King of Prussia, you are getting it in the Great Valley, you will see more of it at the Navy Yard, and in Ardmore.

    We recently broke ground at 100 Lancaster in Ardmore for Radnor Property Group, and the Great Valley Apartments we’re building for Greystar. You have a demographic of millennials who are finally getting married and moving out of the city as they have kids.

    We survived COVID by completing over six million square feet of warehouses. We have turned over nearly 5,000 apartment units since the year before I joined, which should make IMC one of the largest apartment builders in the Philadelphia region. We have turned over 1,700 senior-living units over the past five years, which makes IMC the largest builder of senior living units [around Philadelphia.]

    Has office construction peaked?

    I don’t know that offices have peaked. I’m actually bullish on office construction. We’re completing our rebuild of 680 Swedesford Rd. [in Wayne], for example. Employers want to get their people back together. There’s benefits for collaboration and connection.

    But they want higher-quality space. More light and amenities. They want a kind of ecosystem, like you see at the Navy Yard, where Ensemble is investing in life sciences. They have labs, offices, apartments, and amenities.

    At the King of Prussia Town Center, the retail draws people in, and they’re building offices around it. You see a similar trend in the Great Valley. Historically there was this corporate office campus, now there are restaurants, hotels, apartments all around.

    Is biotech construction stalled?

    We are part of a $100 million lab project in Delaware. We did Penn’s Center of Healthcare and Technology in Center City. We built the Radnor outpatient center — it’s a model. We built their facility in Chesterbrook. And the hospitals are still building.

    After years of industry support for underrepresented contractors, are you feeling whiplash due to President Donald Trump’s reaction to DEI?

    We are now one of the largest minority-owned contractors [in the country]. We don’t distinguish ourselves by being a minority contractor; we aspire to be the leading general contractor in the Mid-Atlantic region by leveraging technology in unique ways and creating solutions to serve our clients’ needs.

    We happen to be a minority-owned company. I personally care about expanding opportunities. We have broadened the subcontractor pool and awarded $1 billion of subcontracts to minority- and women-owned businesses.

    We have not felt much backlash or reversal. Many owners still feel committed to expanding the contractor pool. In the current administration it may need to be structured differently.

    Will your kids make this a family business?

    Our children are young. My daughter has already told me she wants to build her own house, and I can live in it if one day we were working together.

  • Downingtown Interchange on Pennsylvania Turnpike reopened after toll-booth canopy collapse

    Downingtown Interchange on Pennsylvania Turnpike reopened after toll-booth canopy collapse

    The Downingtown Interchange reopened Wednesday night after being closed for several hours because a toll-booth canopy collapsed during planned demolition work on the toll plaza, Pennsylvania Turnpike officials said.

    “We were performing preliminary work to remove the canopy, in anticipation of a full closure this weekend. This is part of the demolition work as we reconfigure the toll plaza,” Turnpike spokesperson Marissa Orbanek said in an email.

    “During the preliminary work, canopy columns destabilized, and we immediately shut down the interchange to ensure the safety of employees and motorists. While the interchange was shut down, the canopy fell down on top of the toll booths,” Orbanek said.

    No injuries were reported.

    Certain lanes at the Downingtown Exit were closed late last month as part of the work on the toll plaza.

    The Pennsylvania Turnpike has been switching to an “open road tolling” system that allows tolls to be charged electronically without vehicles having to slow down.

  • Man in custody after allegedly stabbing his infant son in Chester County

    Man in custody after allegedly stabbing his infant son in Chester County

    A 44-year-old man was in police custody after he allegedly stabbed his 3-month-old child late Wednesday morning in Chester County, police said.

    Just after 11:35 a.m., Coatesville police were dispatched to the 2000 block of Smithbridge Drive to respond to a report on an infant that had been stabbed.

    Officers took Michael Phillips into custody for stabbing his infant son in the abdomen, police said.

    “After stabbing him, the father took the infant outside and threw him in the snow,” police said.

    The infant was reported to be in very serious condition and was flown to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for surgery, police said.

    Just before 8 p.m., the Chester County District Attorney’s Office said the child was out of surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition.

    Police on the scene of a stabbing of an infant on Smithbridge Drive in Coatesville, Wednesday, February 11, 2026
  • Chesco makes another election error, after residents said their faith in voting security was shaken

    Chesco makes another election error, after residents said their faith in voting security was shaken

    On the heels of a massive pollbook error that left thousands of voters off the rolls in the November election and prompted an independent investigation, Chester County is facing another mistake from its voter services department.

    Earlier this month, the county’s reminder notices, sent to voters who said they would like to receive an annual mail ballot application, reversed the first and last names of voters on the applications. It was not clear how many applications were affected by the error.

    “This printing error will not affect the processing of the form,” the county’s voter services department posted on its website. “Whether voters choose to submit their application online or using the paper form, all applications will be processed accordingly.”

    It was another blunder for a department that has made administrative mistakes in its elections, with residents telling county commissioners last week the errors were eroding their trust in election safety. It also comes as voters have called for the firing of the director of the department after the office has seen high numbers of turnover.

    Counties across the state are sending reminders to voters who said they would like to receive an application to vote by mail. The county became aware of the mistake on Feb. 4, after it mailed out the applications earlier that week.

    County officials alerted the Pennsylvania Department of State that day, a spokesperson for the agency said.

    “We agree with county officials that there is no need to reissue the applications,” the spokesperson said in an email.

    A county spokesperson referred to the voter services statement.

    More than 52,000 county voters cast their ballots by mail in November.

    Residents had worried during a public meeting last week that the county would make another misstep. The meeting was the first since the county released an independent report investigating a pollbook error that omitted roughly 75,000 unaffiliated and third-party voters and forced more than 12,000 voters to cast provisional ballots in the general election.

    November’s error followed another omission in May, when the county did not include the office of the prothonotary on its primary ballot, due to a legal misinterpretation from the county’s solicitor.

    The issues come as the department’s director, Karen Barsoum, has been accused of fostering a toxic workplace, leading to unusually high turnover. The independent investigation found no evidence of that, the lawyers who penned the report said last week.

    The investigation found no evidence of malfeasance in the election blunders, but rather that lack of training, poor oversight, and staffing challenges compounded to cause the pollbook error.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Roadside bakeries are gaining popularity | Inquirer Chester County

    Roadside bakeries are gaining popularity | Inquirer Chester County

    Hi, Chester County! 👋

    Microbakeries are popping up around the county. Here’s where you can find some. Also this week, a teahouse and community space is planning to relocate to Exton, a former Malvern business owner has been sentenced to prison for deceptive practices, plus a new jazz cafe is opening in Coatesville.

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    Roadside bakeries are filling a void across the county

    The Devon Road Made bakery cart is stocked with bread, cookies, and other baked goods.

    A small but growing number of home bakers in Chester County are looking to fill a void in the community — and in people’s stomachs.

    Microbakeries are slowly growing countywide, with 28 licensed as of last year. They’re selling goods like breads, cookies, cinnamon buns, and pancake mixes from stands outside their homes or through online ordering.

    While some of these bakers prioritize premium ingredients, many are also putting in something you won’t find on the label. “I like to put a lot of heart and soul into it,” said one baker. “I feel if you’re going to put good energy into that, people are going to feel that.”

    The Inquirer’s Brooke Schultz recently visited some of these microbakeries.

    A teahouse and community space is relocating to Exton

    Koselig Nook is planning to relocate to Exton this month.

    A Coatesville business, whose name is inspired by the Norwegian term for contentment and coziness, is relocating to Exton this month.

    The goal of moving Koselig Nook is to ensure more Chester County residents have access to the teahouse, which also functions as a third space. Visitors can reserve a time in the relaxing atmosphere — which has a no-shoes policy — for select weekday or weekend slots.

    The idea is to give people a calming place to go between work or school that’s not a bar.

    Read more about what inspired Koselig Nook.

    📍 Countywide News

    • Residents expressed anger after Enforcement and Removal Operations agents allegedly made what some described to 6abc as “violent” arrests in Phoenixville last week. Video from the confrontation shows agents dragging a person from a vehicle before being taken into custody. Shortly after the incidents, the Chester County District Attorney and the Chester County Police Chiefs Association released a joint statement saying that no police departments in the county have been deputized to carry out ICE actions, nor do they enforce immigration orders. They also noted that they will investigate any major incident to ensure no local laws were violated, adding that “Chester County law enforcement is dedicated to protecting the public, regardless of their immigration status.”
    • In case you missed it, last week the county publicly presented findings from an investigation into the error that left independent and unaffiliated voters off November’s poll books. After the report, some residents called for greater accountability and noted it fell short of addressing problems that could happen again.
    • A Democratic campaign manager was charged last week in Chester County for allegedly filing fraudulent nomination petitions in the 2024 primary race for auditor general, including the forged signatures of a Chester County judge, Coatesville city council members, and the West Goshen Township supervisor.

    💡 Community News

    • The Winter Olympics are underway, bringing curling back to the global spotlight and a familiar face along with it. Taylor Anderson-Heide, who’s competing for Team USA tomorrow night, trained at the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli and graduated from Marple Newtown High School. Planning to catch the action? Here’s a primer to the sport.
    • A Downingtown dog involved in four attacks since 2023, including one that seriously injured a neighbor’s 4-year-old son, was euthanized last week after the case escalated to district court. The owner has several other dogs who’ve been accused of being aggressive, leaving the boy’s parents frustrated that additional action hasn’t been taken.
    • A Coatesville couple has been found guilty of third-degree murder in the death of their 8-year-old son, who died from ingesting fentanyl, morphine, and cocaine. Mousa Hawa, 43, and Holly Back, 42, were arrested in June 2024 after an investigation found drugs and drug paraphernalia near their son’s body.
    • A Massachusetts man was arrested and charged last week after an alleged armed robbery at the Santander Bank in London Grove Township. Nicholas Casaburri, 44, is accused of taking $11,350 before fleeing in a vehicle and eventually crashing on Clay Creek Road, where he was apprehended by state police. Casaburri’s charges include robbery, fleeing and alluding, and aggravated assault.
    • The former owner of Malvern furniture store M. Kaplan Interiors was recently sentenced to six to 23 months in prison and required to pay back over $530,000 in restitution for defrauding dozens of customers. Matthew Kaplan, 37, of Rydal, previously pleaded guilty to deceptive business practices and other charges for allegedly never fulfilling paid furniture orders.
    • Heads up for drivers: PennDot has approved a new four-way stop at the South Valley Road and East and West Circular Avenues intersection in Tredyffrin Township. Work to install the stop signs and road markings is expected to take place this spring.
    • Last week, Kennett Square borough council passed a resolution declaring a phorid fly infestation and hydrogen sulfide emissions emergency, noting they are dangerous to public health and the local economy. The council addressed the phorid fly issue in 2024, resulting in a quarantine order. The borough is now urging state and federal agencies to fund mitigation research and implement additional emergency steps to address the issues that impact mushroom farming.

    🏫 Schools Briefing

    • Reminder for families: Most schools are closed Monday for Presidents’ Day and a few districts — Great Valley, Tredyffrin/Easttown, and Unionville-Chadds Ford — won’t have classes Tuesday in observance of Lunar New Year.
    • Students at Phoenixville Area High School staged a walkout Friday to protest ICE actions. A district spokesperson told NBC10 that with the help of staff and law enforcement, the district “monitored and supervised the walkout” and that students returned to class afterward.
    • Phoenixville Area School District is hosting a kindergarten information night on Tuesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Phoenixville Area Early Learning Center.
    • Tredyffrin/Easttown School District will form a redistricting steering committee this spring as it gears up to make changes to its elementary school boundaries ahead of Bear Hill Elementary opening next summer. Applications for the committee are expected to open in April.
    • Coatesville Area School District middle school students are set to benefit from a new initiative at West Chester University that will work with seventh and eighth graders through their first year of college. The seven-year program is being supported by a $10.26 million federal grant and is aimed at boosting graduation rates, preparing students for college, and developing “essential” skills. The grant is expected to help more than 1,800 students, including in the Chester and William Penn School Districts.
    • Last week, Kennett Consolidated School District released a draft of its Comprehensive School Counseling Plan for 2026 through 2029, which would replace the guidance counseling model with a new one requiring more data-focused planning and outcome measurement. Changes include renaming guidance counselors as school counselors and hiring one elementary counselor next school year, followed by a second counselor the following year. Families can provide feedback through March 3.

    🍽️ On our Plate

    • A new bagel shop is opening in Phoenixville on Saturday. Street Cart Bagels, which took over the former Boston Market at 240 Nutt Rd., specializes in malt-boiled, slow fermented bagels, which are available as singles or by the half-dozen or dozen. It also offers bagel sandwiches, melts, fish salads, and coffee. Street Cart is cashless and accepts credit and debit cards as well as mobile wallet payments.
    • A new jazz spot is officially opening next week. Andrea’s Jazz Cafe, located at 236 E. Lincoln Highway in Coatesville, is hosting its grand opening on Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m.
    • Victory Brewing Company has teamed up with Visit Philadelphia to launch a new beer celebrating America’s 250th birthday. Philly First is a crisp, 4.8% ABV ale with notes of citrus, floral, tropical fruit, and pine. The Downingtown-based brewery will offer it in its taprooms starting Sunday, including in Kennett Square and Parkesburg. It will then be available at other bars and liquor stores starting around mid-March.

    🎳 Things to Do

    🌿 Garden Glow: Explore Longwood Gardens’ conservatories and Main Fountain Garden after hours when they’ll be lit in ways that show off sometimes overlooked features. ⏰ Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, Feb. 13-March 8, 5-10 p.m. 💵 $15-$25 for members, $25-$45 for non-members 📍 Longwood Gardens

    🎙️ America’s Sweethearts: The Andrews Sisters-inspired swing band will transport listeners back in time. ⏰ Sunday, Feb. 15, 4 p.m. 💵 $46-$60 📍 Uptown Knauer Performing Arts Center, West Chester

    🎶 Ruben Studdard: The American Idol winner and Grammy-nominated singer is bringing “The Masterpiece Tour” to town. ⏰ Wednesday, Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m. 💵 $42-$96 📍 Uptown Knauer Performing Arts Center, West Chester

    🏡 On the Market

    A three-bedroom waterfront townhome in Berwyn

    The living room has vaulted ceilings and a fireplace.

    Located in the Daylesford Lake community in Berwyn, this three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom, end-unit townhouse provides waterfront views and outdoor living space thanks to a wraparound deck. The home’s first floor features an open-concept two-story foyer, living room, and dining room; an office; and an eat-in kitchen, complete with an island, quartz countertops, and a butler’s pantry. There’s also a first-floor primary suite with deck access, a sitting or office area, a bathroom with a double vanity, and two walk-in closets. There are two additional bedrooms upstairs, and a partially finished walk-out basement downstairs. There’s an open house Friday from noon to 2 p.m.

    See more photos of the townhouse here.

    Price: $895,000 | Size: 3,658 SF | Acreage: 0.06

    🗞️ What other Chester County residents are reading this week:

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Moore College will consider opening undergraduate programs to men

    Moore College will consider opening undergraduate programs to men

    Moore College of Art and Design will consider opening its undergraduate programs to men for the first time in its 177-year history.

    The Philadelphia school, which touts its role as “the first and only historically visual arts college for women in the nation,” cited the need to make arts programs more accessible in the region and the expected national decline in the available pool of high school graduates.

    The college, which enrolls about 500 students, will study and discuss with its community the prospect of admitting men over the next four months and make a decision by June, the school announced in emails to alumni, faculty, and students Monday. If the school decides to admit all genders, the first class admitted would be for 2027.

    How the UArts closure transformed Moore College of Art & Design, the last art-centered college in Philly

    “We will explore all of this together in an inclusive way for students, faculty, staff, and alumni,” wrote Moore president Cathy Young and Frances Graham and Art Block, chairs of the school’s board of trustees and board of managers, respectively. “Your voices are essential. No decision has been made at this time. The boards want your feedback.”

    Moore College of Art and Design president Cathy Young.

    If Moore goes coed, Bryn Mawr College would be the only remaining women’s school in the Philadelphia region. (In Allentown, Cedar Crest College remains primarily a women’s college.)

    Several other colleges in the region that were formerly for women have gone coed over the last decades, including Rosemont on Philadelphia’s Main Line in 2008, Immaculata University in Chester County in 2005, and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia in 2003.

    Nationally, the number of women’s colleges has been declining from a high of over 200 to just 31 as of 2022, according to a 2025 report by the Pew Research Center.

    It wouldn’t be the first change in Moore’s admissions policy in recent years.

    This women’s college declared its doors open to nonbinary students. And more enrolled.

    In 2015, Moore began admitting “all qualified students who live as women and who consistently identify as women at the time of application.”

    Then in 2020, Moore also began accepting nonbinary and gender-nonconforming students. Since then, the number of those students has been growing. They made up 6% of the first freshman class under the new policy in 2021. By fall 2022, they accounted for 21%, and by fall 2023, 26%. Last fall, that grew to one-third of the freshman class.

    Moore’s graduate programs and most of its continuing education programs already include men.

    Moore officials said they are making the decision from a position of financial and academic “strength.” The school has had operating surpluses for the last 24 consecutive years, a school spokesperson said. Many small schools have faced financial strain in recent years, but Moore fared among the top small private colleges in the Philadelphia region for financial health in a 2024 Inquirer review.

    Moore’s net tuition climbed from $10.8 million to $12.7 million in fiscal 2024 and to $16.5 million in fiscal 2025, financial records show. The school also saw a big gain in private gifts and grants last year to $2.2 million, up from $885,383 the year before.

    This year’s enrollment is the school’s second highest behind fall 2024, when the college accepted 112 students from the University of the Arts, which abruptly closed in June 2024. The school also took 12 students that year from the Delaware College of Art and Design, which closed that year, too.

    Here’s a look at new buildings and programs coming to Philly-area colleges this school year

    Moore opened a new residence hall in Rittenhouse Square last fall, which is just a seven-minute walk from campus and will allow the school to guarantee students housing for all four years.

    In announcing the possibility of accepting all genders, Moore officials noted UArts’ closure and the end of degree-granting programs at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

    “There is a void in Philadelphia’s higher ed creative landscape, and that begs the question: Shouldn’t all creatives, regardless of gender, have access to Moore …” they wrote. “The answer doesn’t have to be “yes,” but it is our responsibility to explore it.”

    College surveys of applicants have shown that the school’s status as a women’s college isn’t a big draw. Only 6% cited it as important to their decision out of 885 survey respondents over the last dozen years, the school said. Meanwhile, a quarter said it was one of the important reasons they didn’t choose Moore.

    Moore officials also cited the expected drop in the high school graduate population beginning this year because of declining birth rates. A decline of 10% is expected by 2037, they noted.

    “There are simply fewer students,” they wrote. “No responsible institution can ignore factors like these. And we won’t.”

    They said they will discuss ways “to preserve and activate in new ways” Moore’s history and legacy as part of the exploration.

    Between February and April, Moore plans to host about 20 sessions for faculty, staff, and alumni to share their thoughts, as well as providing an opportunity for online comments.

    Staff writer Harold Brubaker contributed to this article.

  • Roadside bakeries are growing in Chester County: ‘It’s that home-sweet-home comfort food’

    Roadside bakeries are growing in Chester County: ‘It’s that home-sweet-home comfort food’

    When Jacqueline Spain’s now-grown kids were having a bad day, she would sit them down at the kitchen island and bake them something. Now, she has opened up that kitchen island to her community with her roadside home bakery, Devon Road Made.

    “Food is love, love is food,” Spain said, standing in her kitchen recently, bread in the oven and cookies on the counter. “I like to put a lot of heart and soul into it. I feel if you’re going to put good energy into that, people are going to feel that. They’re going to taste it; they’re going to like it.”

    Devon Road Made is one of the newer additions to a trend of microbakeries that are cropping up in Chester County, some with roadside carts and stands dotting residential roads in Paoli, Downingtown, West Chester, and elsewhere.

    The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

    Statewide, interest in selling home-baked goods has been growing. Pennsylvania had 361 licensed home bakeries in 2023. That nearly doubled, to 663, in 2025, according to the state agriculture department, which oversees the inspections and licensing of food businesses that operate out of home, rather than commercial, kitchens. There has been a general bakery boom, too, in Philly.

    Chester County appears to be a growing incubator of such little bakeries: It had 28 licensed home bakeries in 2025, compared with 16 in 2023, the department said.

    Before issuing a license, the department inspects the baker’s food production site. Bakers must verify they have zoning approval to have a business on their property, submit ingredient labels, restrict pets or not have them, and have an approved water supply. It costs $35 to register.

    In the few weeks since, Spain, 59, and her husband, David, 60, rolled their bakery cart to the foot of their yard at 60 Devon Rd. in Willistown, the community has indeed seemed to like it. Jacqueline Spain’s cookies and David Spain’s sourdough loaves continually sell out. People knock on their door to ask if things will be restocked. One woman sat at the Spains’ kitchen island, sampling freshly baked cookies, while awaiting her pickup order.

    “Everything we make, she has been making for years,” David Spain said. “That’s kind of part of our DNA. It’s got to taste really good — something that we would only serve our friends and family.”

    David Spain, of Willistown, Pa., and his wife Jacqueline Spain, chat with Inquirer Reporter Brooke Schultz about their Devon Road Made bakery cart at their home on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

    And Chester County seems like a place perfectly ripe for these little bakeries to thrive, several home bakers said: It’s not a wholly rural community, nor is it totally Main Line. There is an affluent clientele (Chester is the wealthiest county by median income in the state) with an interest in homemade, quality ingredients.

    But they do face some headwinds: A number of municipalities restrict such carts through zoning codes, even if the bakers are licensed to sell.

    Alexa Geiser, 28, of Lulu’s Bread & Bakery in West Chester, opened her home bakery in October, originally selling her sourdough first come, first served from her porch. But then the borough told her she was not permitted to sell from her residential porch, and she moved entirely online to sell her bread and the occasional chocolate chip cookie batch.

    Though it’s a bummer — she said it was nice to talk with people stopping by for a peaceful hour on Fridays — she felt supported by the community, who offered their businesses for her to host her pickups.

    “I think people really value homemade goods that people put a lot of effort into, and good quality ingredients,” she said. “I use all organic flours and filtered water and good salt in my bread, which is something I personally value. It’s what I want to give to my customers as well.”

    The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

    But the stands are a niche the bakers feel they are filling.

    “I noticed around here, at least where I live specifically, there aren’t really that many,” said Maddy Dutko, of Maddy Makes. “I’ve seen a couple that sell honey or some that sell flowers, but I haven’t really seen any that sell baked goods. I was like, why not? It’s a way for me to connect with people around here. Maybe bring them something that they didn’t know was necessarily in their community.”

    Dutko’s stand, at 623 Sanatoga Rd. in East Coventry Township, is open on the weekends from spring to fall. Dutko sells bread loaves, coffee cakes, cinnamon buns, cookies, and dry mixes for pancakes or cornbread. She tries to keep things fresh and interesting, but also consistent for loyal customers. Dutko, 29, also sells orders online and at markets.

    The physical presence has led to customers hiring her to bake for kids’ birthdays, or people approaching her at markets to tell her they always stop by for a treat when they end their walk on a nearby trail.

    The Devon Road Made bakery cart outside the home of David and Jacqueline Spain for folks passing by to buy some home baked goods in Willistown, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

    There’s something to be said for products baked with love in someone’s home, Jacqueline Spain said.

    On a recent Friday afternoon in Willistown, the Spains stocked the baskets of their cart with baggies of cookies, breads, and dog treats — a customer request that their daughter, a veterinary nurse, fulfilled. A red open flag commenced their weekend hours of “noon-?” People pulled up onto the lawn to shop.

    “It’s feel-good, it’s warm, it’s friendly, it’s inviting,” Jacqueline Spain said. “It’s that home-sweet-home comfort food.”

  • This Chesco business wants to create a ‘third place’ between home and work or school

    This Chesco business wants to create a ‘third place’ between home and work or school

    When you walk into Koselig Nook, Aracelis Mullin wants you to feel a wave of calm. She intentionally designed the teahouse that way: From its welcoming furniture to its lighting, its green paint, its scents, it is meant to be a relaxing third space, a stopping point between work and home, where people can gather, craft, focus on wellness, or anything between. Don’t forget to take off your shoes. (Really. It’s a rule.)

    Koselig Nook, a late-night teahouse, plans to open in Exton, at 333 E. Lincoln Highway, later this month. The business is relocating from Coatesville, where it opened in 2024, to be more central for customers within the county and traveling from Philly.

    “The whole idea and the purpose is to bring the people out of their houses and to enjoy another place where they can network or just spend some time or talk,” Mullin said.

    Named for the Norwegian term encompassing contentment and coziness, Koselig Nook’s seating is meant to be secure and comfortable — with plush, downy pillow seating and blankets, oils, and low lighting, inviting people to lounge.

    So much of today’s gathering culture revolves around bars and drinking, Mullin said. Though sober options are opening in metropolitan areas, like Philadelphia, people in the county have fewer places — especially places open later, she said.

    That’s the gap Koselig Nook seeks to fill, she said.

    “I think there’s a big need for third places that are more calm; for introverted people, they can come and network, too, little by little, but they don’t have the pressure of society saying, ‘Hey, do you want to drink?’” she said.

    Instead, customers can sit and study or work from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for $25 on Tuesdays through Fridays. Students spent a lot of time holed up in the Nook’s Coatesville location during finals week in December, Mullin said.

    In the evenings, from 7 to 11 p.m. for $35 on Friday and Saturday, people can go somewhere that is not about drinking.

    During various events offered week to week, people can come to workshops where they junk journal, cutting up pictures and pasting them into notebooks, or take a meditative break surrounded by gongs and chimes and singing bowls in a sound bath session, or spend time with a medium. You can pick up letters from a pen pal in another country or pen your own, facilitated through Koselig Nook. You can silently read your own book and then, in a formal discussion, chat about it with other readers, trading recommendations.

    Some make events out of it. For one 24-year-old’s birthday, she and her friends journaled together, sipping their tea, and had a sound bath.

    Others come alone and leave with connections: During a full moon ceremony, only two of the 15 women who came knew each other. By the end, “they all shared their phone numbers. … It was amazing,” Mullin said.

    The business traces its lineage to when Mullin’s daughter, Victoria, was living in California in 2020. She frequented a teahouse where customers could reserve time and sit and enjoy themselves during the evening hours. After Mullin visited herself, she felt compelled to bring something similar to the East Coast. She picked the brains of the owners.

    With her background — she ran a traveling tea party business for young girls and a birthday party business in Thorndale — Mullin embraced their model; her teahouse is reservation-only. There is unlimited tea, and a selection of premade snacks. Everything is provided without extra charge once you are in the Nook. Socks only.

    “I wanted to have that community place where the people come and gather, regardless of what your politics and your religion, so we did it. I was scared to death,” she said.

    She expected to have to go a bit more slowly in Chester County, for people to understand the business. But she was met with a lot of enthusiasm.

    “The people are so in need of this that they love it,” she said.