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  • 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.

  • A West grad’s ode to Eagles tailgates | Inquirer Cherry Hill

    A West grad’s ode to Eagles tailgates | Inquirer Cherry Hill

    Hello, Cherry Hill! 👋

    A West grad’s latest project explores the religious-like experience of Eagles fandom. We take a peek. Also this week, we’re following the latest on the Kibitz Room closure, plus the former Lone Star Steakhouse is one step closer to being demolished.

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    A West grad explores the religious-like experience of Eagles fandom

    A photo of Eagles fans tailgating from Mike Cordisco’s “Sermon on the Lot.”

    The Eagles aren’t the reigning Super Bowl champs anymore, but a new photo project by a Cherry Hill native explores a question about our fandom: Is it akin to religious fervor?

    Photographer Mike Cordisco set out to document Eagles fans and their tailgates, going beyond the stereotypical rowdy image and leaning into the religious-like experience of “sacred Sundays.” He’s compiled them into a 98-page book called Sermon on the Lot, which showcases photos of fans outside the Linc between 2018 and 2025.

    “On Sundays, you go to Mass,” Cordisco said. “But in Philly, you go to the parking lot and tailgate an Eagles game.”

    Some of Cordisco’s work is on display at Unique Photo in Center City through mid-March.

    Read more about the West grad and what inspired his latest project.

    💡 Community News

    • Reminder for residents: The extended deadline to pay the first half of this year’s township tax bills is next Wednesday.
    • A Cherry Hill man is mourning the death of his father, who died in a fire at their Main Street home on Jan. 31. In the aftermath, Hazem Abdalla, 27, wants people to remember his father, Eid, for his life, not his death. Eid was born in Egypt, where he started a construction company before moving to New Jersey for his sons to get a better education. Eid, who was 69, had previously worked as a taxi driver and a chef at the former Cherry Hill Diner. A crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $40,000 for funeral and rebuilding costs. The cause of the fire, which also damaged a neighbor’s house, is still under investigation. (NJ Pen and Fox 29)
    • After being empty for nearly 20 years, the former Lone Star Steakhouse building on Route 38 is closer to being demolished. A court recently ruled that the derelict building qualified as abandoned and that an uncontested foreclosure could move forward. The roughly 5,700-square-foot building has been vacant since 2007. (Courier Post)
    • Skechers is gearing up for a mid-spring opening at Garden State Pavilions, a company spokesperson confirmed. The shoe and apparel retailer will open between Five Below and Staples, taking over 8,500 square feet.
    • The Cherry Hill Fire Department is hosting a child safety seat event on Friday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Deer Park Station.

    🏫 Schools Briefing

    • About 500 East students walked out of school Friday morning as part of a student-organized ICE protest that lasted about one hour. “We need to make sure that ICE understands that we’re watching, we’re listening, and we’re not going to stop fighting back until they leave the innocent people in our communities alone,” one of the organizers said. (Eastside)
    • A settlement agreement has been reached between Cherry Hill Public Schools and the Zionist Organization of America, which filed a complaint in June 2024 on behalf of an East student. In the complaint, the Zionist Organization alleged that the school district retaliated against the Jewish student, who reported alleged antisemitic harassment. Under the settlement, the student’s disciplinary record is being expunged. (Philadelphia Jewish Exponent)
    • Reminder for families: Monday is a makeup day for one of last month’s snow closures. There’s no school for students on Tuesday for the Lunar New Year, but teachers will report for an in-service day. See the district’s full calendar here.

    🍽️ On our Plate

    • Two weeks after The Kibitz Room abruptly closed, former owner Brandon Parish said he is working to reopen the beloved deli “under a new entity.” An attorney for the deli, now owned by Brandon’s mom Sandy Parish, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Friday.
    • Fast-casual takeout eatery Rice & Spud Station opened last week at 404 Marlton Pike East in Saw Mill Village. The Halal eatery serves loaded baked potatoes, rice bowls, and desserts.
    • In case you missed it, Bahama Breeze’s parent company last week announced the upcoming closure of all the remaining tropical restaurant’s outposts by early April, including at the Cherry Hill Mall.
    • Cherry Hill real estate developer Shamikh Kazmi is looking to expand his Yum Grills brand to 200 locations, largely in the Philadelphia area, with around 15 slated to open in the next few months. The expansion of the new fast-food eatery that serves smash burgers, cheesesteaks, and loaded french fries is expected to cost $60 million. It’s unclear if any locations will be in town. (Philadelphia Business Journal)
    • The owners of Old World Italian eatery Il Villaggio are gearing up to open Duo Restaurant & Bar in Westmont this month.

    🎳 Things to Do

    🏺 Galentine’s Pottery Class: Try your hand at ceramics at this intro class, which also includes sparkling cider, for anyone 13 and older. ⏰ Friday, Feb. 13, 6 p.m. 💵 $125 📍Hugs Ceramics

    💃 Valentine’s Social Dance: If dancing is more your style, this event kicks off with a group class before segueing into a social dance with a DJ and light snacks. ⏰ Friday, Feb. 13, 7-10 p.m. 💵 $20 📍Storm BDC

    ❤️ Valen-Wine Celebration: Yogi Berra Lodge No. 3015 is hosting a Valentine’s-themed event complete with dinner, dessert, and wine. ⏰ Friday, Feb. 13, 7-11 p.m. 💵 $45 📍American Legion Post #372

    🫖 Tea Party Fundraiser: Monday is the deadline to register for this library fundraiser, which includes afternoon tea, a Jane Austen movie, and a fascinator make-and-take. ⏰ Sunday, March 1, 1-4 p.m. 💵 $35 📍Cherry Hill Public Library

    🏡 On the Market

    A four-bedroom home with an indoor hot tub

    The home’s two-story family room has a hot tub, wet bar, and ample windows.

    Located in the Ridings of Fox Run, this four-bedroom home has had just one owner since it was built in 1978. Among its most unique features is a two-story family room with an eight-seat hot tub and a wet bar. A second-floor library looks onto the airy space. There’s also a dining room, a family room with a fireplace, and an eat-in kitchen with granite countertops on the first floor. Upstairs, the primary suite has skylights, a gas fireplace, and a jacuzzi. Outside, the wooded property has a deck and a koi pond.

    See more photos of the property here.

    Price: $879,000 | Size: 3,467 SF

    🗞️ What other Cherry Hill 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.

  • Saks Fifth Avenue in Bala Cynwyd is closing

    Saks Fifth Avenue in Bala Cynwyd is closing

    Saks Fifth Avenue will be closing its Bala Cynwyd location.

    Saks Global, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, announced the impending closure in a news release Tuesday, a month after the luxury clothing retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

    After decades in business, the expansive store along City Avenue is expected to close in April, according to a Saks Global spokesperson, who said decisions were based on several factors, including store performance and “lease economics.”

    Fifty workers at the Bala Cynwyd Saks Fifth Avenue will lose their jobs effective April 11, according to a WARN Act filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Another 155 workers at a Wilkes Barre fulfillment center will be laid off, according to a separate filing.

    As part of the company’s restructuring, it will shutter seven other Saks Fifth Avenue stores, including at the American Dream mall in North Jersey, as well as a Neiman Marcus in Boston.

    “Saks Global is refining its store footprint to focus on profitable locations with the highest growth potential,” company executives wrote on its website, adding that the nine closures represented “the first phase of this ongoing review.”

    The move will make the company “better positioned to deliver exceptional products, elevated experiences and highly personalized service across all channels,” CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said in a statement.

    Over the years, the Saks Fifth Avenue in Bala Cynwyd has become the brand’s only physical outpost in the region. It is referred to as “Saks Philadelphia” on the company’s website, despite being located across the city line in a freestanding building at Bala Plaza.

    City Avenue is shown in April 2024. The Saks Fifth Avenue along the busy thoroughfare is closing in April.

    The aging shopping center is in the process of being revamped into what developers are advertising as a “sanctuary for work, life and play,” with hundreds of new residential units.

    Nearby on City Avenue, a standalone Lord & Taylor, which closed in 2021 amid the department store’s bankruptcy, is being converted into an apartment building.

    City Avenue in Lower Merion set to triple its apartment count, transforming the office and retail hub

    Until recently, the longstanding Saks Fifth Avenue appeared primed to be part of the area’s future: In 2024, City Ave District, the nonprofit business development agency that straddles Lower Merion and Philadelphia, reported that business at the store was so strong that it had resisted offers to move to King of Prussia.

    Once the Bala Cynwyd Saks Fifth Avenue closes, the nearest location will be in New York.

    Saks Global also operates a Neiman Marcus at the King of Prussia Mall, which is not on the list of stores to close.

    The Neiman Marcus at the King of Prussia Mall, pictured in 2020, will remain open.

    Saks Off 5th discount outlets at the Franklin Mall in Northeast Philadelphia and at the Metroplex shopping center in Plymouth Meeting recently closed. The winding down of those stores was announced before the bankruptcy filing, as was reported by several news outlets, including the Philadelphia Business Journal.

    Elsewhere in the country, Saks Global is closing the majority of its standalone Fifth Avenue Club personal styling suites, the company said Tuesday.

    In New York, Bergdorf Goodman, which Saks also owns, will remain open.

    What Philly-area Saks customers should know

    Shoppers walk through Saks Fifth Avenue in New York in January.

    Shoppers at the Bala Cynwyd store will no longer be able to buy gift cards in person, according to Saks, and will have 15 days from the start of the closing sale to use existing gift cards.

    Items that were bought before the closing sale can be returned or exchanged as usual, the company said, but purchases made during it will be final. Merchandise bought during the closing sale will also be ineligible for return or exchange at stores that are remaining open.

    SaksFirst credit cards will still be accepted, according to the company, and customers with those credit cards will still earn points for purchases made in store. Shoppers will no longer be able to make in-person credit card payments or apply for credit cards at the Bala Cynwyd store.

    At other Saks locations, including the King of Prussia Neiman Marcus, the company says the customer experience will remain unchanged.

  • As three Di Bruno Bros. stores close, a sign of hope for the Ardmore location

    As three Di Bruno Bros. stores close, a sign of hope for the Ardmore location

    As the final two of three Di Bruno Bros. stores to close this month approached their last days, the wind-down was visible on the shelves. Cheeses, meats, breads, and prepared foods vanished first, followed by deeply discounted packaged goods that remained.

    The Di Bruno locations in Wayne and the Franklin Residences in Center City, at Ninth and Sansom Streets, will close permanently on Wednesday, with no immediate clarity about what comes next. (The company’s original Italian Market store and Rittenhouse Square shop remain open.)

    The closing of Di Bruno’s Ardmore branch last Wednesday, however, is already reshaping the future of Suburban Square’s Ardmore Farmers Market, where the Italian-goods purveyor opened in 2011 and eventually became the dominant tenant.

    Di Bruno Bros. in Suburban Square in Ardmore on Jan. 29, about a week before its closing.

    Toward the end of its run, the Ardmore location of Di Bruno Bros. occupied more than half of the market’s stalls. Rather than replacing it with another large operator, the market will be reconfigured to accommodate multiple smaller food tenants, said Douglas Green, a principal at MSC Retail, which handles leasing for Kimco Realty Corp., which owns Suburban Square.

    “Di Bruno’s just kind of got too big,” Green said. “It limited cuisine diversity and pushed them into specialty items and cuisines that weren’t really their core business.”

    An MSC Retail brochure shows four available spaces ranging from roughly 600 to 800 square feet, several of them divisible. Existing vendors — including Stoltzfus Meats, Ardmore Produce, Ardmore Seafood, Malvern Buttery, Sushi Sei, Tabouli, and the Ultimate Bake Shoppe — would remain, with additional “future opportunity” areas identified near the dining zones.

    “The idea is to break the space up into smaller units, create more cuisine diversity, and ideally replace the Italian specialty concept,” Green said.

    The original Di Bruno Bros. location at 930 S. Ninth St., as seen in 2024, is unaffected by the store closings.

    Green said his firm is already negotiating with multiple potential occupants, including chefs and restaurant groups from Philadelphia interested in suburban expansions. “There’s been a tremendous amount of interest — honestly more than I ever would have imagined, and I’m not saying that in a sales-y way,” he said.

    For customers, the swiftness of Di Bruno Bros.’ three-store shuttering has been striking.

    Brendan Burland, an insurance consultant who lives in Bryn Mawr, stopped by the Wayne location Friday for lunch with a friend and found the bar closed and the shelves reduced to discounted goods.

    “No bread, no meats, no fresh cheeses,” Burland said. “It was depressing — a total ghost town.”

    Di Bruno Bros.’ largest location, at 18th and Chestnut Streets in Center City, as seen in 2024.

    Burland said the store’s restaurant program had been losing its spark even before the final weeks. “The bar menu had become less inspiring over the last few years,” he said. “It started to feel like, ‘Here’s some pizza and some sandwiches,’ instead of something interesting or unique.”

    What he will miss most are the basics that made Di Bruno Bros. a destination. “Their product line was pretty substantial. My buddy and I even joked that we should become cheesemongers,” he said, adding “we know nothing about it other than we like to eat cheese.”

    Cheeses at Di Bruno Bros., 930 S. Ninth St.

    The retrenchment follows the 2024 acquisition of Di Bruno Bros. by Brown’s Super Stores, which owns a dozen ShopRite and Fresh Grocer stores in the region. Later that year, Wakefern Foods, a grocery co-op that includes Brown’s, obtained the Di Bruno’s trademark and branded products.

    Sandy Brown, the company’s executive vice president, said when talks began with Di Bruno Bros. in 2023, it was facing “significant financial challenges” and was at risk of not being able to continue operating.

    “We even stepped in ahead of the acquisition to help ensure they could get through the 2023 holiday season, because many suppliers had already begun limiting deliveries due to concerns about the company’s stability,” Brown said.

    That disruption in supply contributed to declining sales and worsening store conditions, she said. “Our goal from day one has been to stabilize the business, protect the brand, and preserve an important part of Philadelphia’s history,” Brown said. “We believed — and still believe — that Di Bruno Bros. is worth saving.”

    The move is a shift from the Brown’s company announcement in December 2024 that it planned to open an additional 12 to 15 Di Bruno stores in the coming decade.

    Sandy Brown said the company decided to prioritize the “iconic” locations in the Italian Market and Rittenhouse “because these sites continue to anchor the brand.”

    She said all 69 retail workers at the three closing stores were offered positions elsewhere within Di Bruno Bros. or at Brown’s Super Stores, with no loss of pay or benefits. About 70% are expected to remain, she said, while three supervisory positions were eliminated. Workers had complained on social media about the abruptness of the planned closings.

    While plans are coming together for the Ardmore location, the future of the Wayne and Franklin spaces remains unresolved. A representative for Equity Retail Brokers said the Wayne space is not yet on the market. MSC Retail, which also handles commercial leasing at the Franklin location, said that space is also not yet being marketed.

  • The landmark Kibitz Room deli in Cherry Hill, which closed last month, has filed for bankruptcy

    The landmark Kibitz Room deli in Cherry Hill, which closed last month, has filed for bankruptcy

    The Kibitz Room in Cherry Hill, which shut down abruptly about two weeks ago after 25 years, has filed for bankruptcy protection, seeking to liquidate its assets.

    An attorney for the deli filed paperwork Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, claiming assets of less than $50,000 and liabilities of $100,001 to $500,000. A hearing on the Chapter 7 petition was scheduled for March 3.

    The Kibitz Room, in Holly Ravine Plaza at 100 Springdale Rd. in Cherry Hill, on Feb. 2, 2026.

    Social media posts on Jan. 30 noted that the deli, owned by Sandy Parish, had apparently closed without notice.

    Meanwhile, former owner Neil Parish — Sandy’s ex-husband — told Patch in an article published Monday morning that he was talking to the landlord about reopening the deli. Their son Brandon commented on a public Facebook post midday Monday that he was working on reopening “under a new entity. Unfortunately the previous ownership was out of my hands but I did run the store for the last nine years until I left to open the other location. … It surely wasn’t from lack of business!!”

    Veteran deli operator Russ Cowan opened the Kibitz Room in Holly Ravine Plaza in 2001. Two years later, Neil Parish bought it using their daughter’s bat mitzvah gifts as the down payment. “She got four years at Syracuse, all covered,” Neil Parish said in an interview last year. “It was a good investment.”

    After Neil and Sandy Parish split up in 2016, Sandy ran the Kibitz Room with their son Brandon, now 32. Neil moved to the Baltimore area, where he ran delis before returning to Philadelphia.

    Brandon Parish stopped working in Cherry Hill early last year when he and his father opened the Kibitz Room King of Prussia in Valley Forge Center, which is not involved in the bankruptcy.

    Sandy Parish did not return messages seeking comment, nor did her son.

    In an interview last year, Brandon Parish said he had worked at the Cherry Hill deli since he could stand on a milk crate and wash dishes.

    “I didn’t want to be in camp,” Parish said. “I didn’t want to be at school. If it wasn’t the lacrosse field, I wanted to be at the shop. It was just the whole environment. The people who worked there were a second family.”

  • 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.

  • Downingtown dog involved in 4 attacks is euthanized

    A Downingtown dog has been euthanized after it injured multiple people in recent months and made residents feel unsafe, officials said.

    The decision, made the day of a Thursday hearing in district court, stems from a November incident in which the dog bit a child in a neighboring house on the 500 block of Thomas Road.

    Whitley Coggins said her sons, ages 4 and 8, had been playing in the backyard when the neighbor’s dogs were let outside. One mixed-breed dog got through the fence, attacking her youngest son, she said. The boy was bitten on his upper arm and required stitches.

    There are four dogs that had been known to neighbors for aggressive behavior, she said. Though the Coggins family had never personally experienced it until November, the mother said, she warned her sons to run back inside if they ever saw the dogs in the yard.

    After the hearing and the owner’s decision to euthanize, Coggins said she was frustrated that the only positive was that one of the dogs was removed from the house.

    “I feel like I’m supposed to feel like something was done, I’m supposed to feel good that the one dog that attacked my child is gone, and I do feel a small sense of replaced safety or something — that that one dog is not there,” she said. “But that one dog has never been the problem, not the whole problem.”

    Coggins said her sons still feel unsafe leaving the house and are fearful of dogs.

    “Following our time in court, we still had to return — and the rest of the neighbors had to return — to a neighborhood with three dogs who have registered attacks on other people and other animals, and because of the laws and the way the laws are written or interpreted, there is nothing to go forward with to remove these dogs,” Coggins said.

    Reached by phone, the attorney for the dog owner declined comment.

    Brendan Brazunas, Downingtown’s chief of police, said the owner’s defense counsel immediately suggested euthanasia given the seriousness of the 4-year-old’s injury, and the fact that this was the fourth documented bite involving this dog since 2023.

    “The dog that created the most issues at that house is this dog that was euthanized,” Brazunas said. “Obviously, the community is very concerned and they’re afraid, and I think this was the first step with regards to dogs at that house.”

    Brandywine Valley SPCA, which had assisted the Downingtown police in the case, transported and euthanized the dog, a spokesperson for the organization said.

    “This was a tragic situation that never should have escalated to this point,” Erica Deuso, mayor of Downingtown, said in a statement. “I love animals, and I am heartbroken any time a dog loses its life, but public safety comes first.”

    The charges were dropped, as they can only be made for live dogs, Brazunas said. But there are ongoing cases facing the owner’s other dogs.

    A Jan. 20 incident was reported to police when the dogs escaped through an open door and injured an adult man, a tow-truck driver who was returning a vehicle. That case will be heard in the coming weeks.

    The SPCA has six outstanding charges for other dogs in the owner’s home regarding rabies vaccinations, dog licenses, and the dogs getting loose, the spokesperson said.

  • The Narberth Council bars borough police from assisting ICE in immigration enforcement

    The Narberth Council bars borough police from assisting ICE in immigration enforcement

    Narberth’s borough council has voted unanimously to bar the municipality’s police officers from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the agency’s 287(g) program.

    The resolution approved Thursday made clear that “our police department operates to protect our residents and protect the public safety here and does not have a role in immigration enforcement,” said Council President Fred Bush.

    ICE’s 287(g) program deputizes local law enforcement officers to carry out immigration actions, including identifying, arresting, and deporting immigrants. ICE has signed around 1,400 such agreements with law enforcement agencies in 40 states, including dozens in Pennsylvania.

    In Philadelphia’s collar counties, only the Lansdowne Borough Constable’s Office in Delaware County and the Pennsylvania State Constable Office Honey Brook Precinct 1 in Chester County are 287(g) participants. Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler, a newly elected Democrat, terminated his office’s controversial partnership last month, citing negative impacts on public safety and law enforcement trust.

    Neither Lower Merion nor Narberth participates in the program.

    Narberth’s resolution establishes that the borough will not enter into any agreement with the federal government, including 287(g), that would commit borough time, funds, efforts, or resources toward ICE noncriminal enforcement activities.

    Officials clarified that Narberth’s police department would cooperate with ICE officials if they had a judicial warrant to arrest someone. An internal memo first reported by The Associated Press last month has authorized ICE to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judicial warrant.

    Narberth officials acknowledged that the resolution could be seen as “virtue signaling,” given that the borough already does not participate in an ICE partnership. Yet council members said they believe it’s important to publicly signal the municipality’s values regarding immigration enforcement.

    The resolution “lets the public clearly know where we stand on the issues, helps reinforce trust, and provides that clarity of what we will do and what we won’t do,” said Dana Edwards, Narberth’s mayor. “From my standpoint, it’s a practical resolution.”

    “When our community members trust their law enforcement, they feel comfortable reaching out to them for assistance,” said Councilmember Jean Burock. “We can’t afford to erode that trust.”

    Bush cautioned residents against interfering with ICE operations, describing the agency as “poorly trained” and “dangerous,” citing “the actions and the images that came out of Minneapolis” in recent weeks.

    Neighboring Haverford Township similarly barred its law enforcement officers from assisting ICE last month.

    Narberth’s resolution came on the heels of a Jan. 30 incident in which two people were taken into custody by ICE during a traffic stop in Penn Wynne.

    Following the arrests, Lower Merion affirmed in a public statement that the township does not participate in 287(g) and encouraged residents to call 911 if they observe law enforcement activity with no Lower Merion police officers present.

    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.

  • ‘Sermon on the Lot’ compares Eagles fandom to a religious experience: ‘On Sundays, you go to Mass’

    ‘Sermon on the Lot’ compares Eagles fandom to a religious experience: ‘On Sundays, you go to Mass’

    Mike Cordisco is not the first person to compare football to religion, but he might be the first person to spend years photographing Eagles tailgates to make the comparison clearer.

    Cordisco’s newest project, Sermon on the Lot, is a 98-page book that compiles photos the Cherry Hill native took at Eagles tailgates between 2018 and 2025.

    The goal of the project, Cordisco said, was to push past the typical rowdy image of Eagles fans before a game and show their passion as a kind of religious fervor.

    Beyond the project’s title, the book itself is designed to look like something one might find in a church pew, with silver embossing on the front and a midnight green ribbon bookmark.

    It also features a sermon written by Philadelphia journalist Dan McQuade, who died last week at 43.

    Select photos from Sermon on the Lot will be on display at Unique Photo in Center City. Cordisco, 34, is hosting a gallery opening on Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and says it will remain in place until mid-March.

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    Play Ball

    Cordisco’s origin story in becoming a photographer is simple. He bought his first camera in 2016 to document his trips to baseball stadiums. It was around the same time he moved within Philadelphia’s city limits for the first time.

    Baseball is Cordisco’s “true passion.” He played high school baseball at Cherry Hill West and spent one season on the club team at Rutgers-New Brunswick, where he attended college. He spent a few years working for minor league clubs, working game day operations for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and selling tickets for the Frisco RoughRiders.

    After three years in Texas with the RoughRiders, Cordisco moved to the Bella Vista neighborhood of Philadelphia and got a job as a database administrator with Better Tomorrows, a Camden-based nonprofit.

    Cordisco was still making frequent trips to MLB stadiums in an effort to see them all, but grew frustrated with trying to document them on his cell phone camera.

    “I was straining, lying on the ground, straining on railings to get these perfect shots on my iPhone,” Cordisco said. “And I was like, ‘You know what, why don’t I just get a camera?’”

    Cordisco’s love for photography grew, and eventually he became interested in not just documenting moments, but telling stories with his lens. He collected his baseball photography into a project titled If They Don’t Win It’s a Shame, which “exposes American culture and society within the confines of its national pastime,” according to Cordisco’s website.

    “It’s a way to tell all these stories and use my experience in the field, [to] visually tell these stories that I’m interested in,” Cordisco said.

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    Sacred Sundays

    Once Cordisco started to take photography more seriously, he knew he wanted to put together a project that would capture Philadelphia, which he considers to be “the one identifiable U.S. city.”

    The city’s sports teams seemed like a natural place to begin framing Philly’s identity. Cordisco did not have personal allegiances to the Philadelphia teams, as his family had roots in New York, but he knew how much Philly cared about its teams from growing up in its suburbs. He began to shoot the places where he saw the city and its teams entwined.

    “I was photographing diners that might have Eagles merch in the windows and people’s Phillies and Eagles bumper stickers,” Cordisco said.

    He also began photographing the occasional Eagles tailgate. He became captivated by the community that surrounded Lincoln Financial Field on Sundays. By 2022, he had narrowed the project down to focus on tailgating.

    A photo of Eagles fans tailgating from Mike Cordisco’s photo project, “Sermon on the Lot.”

    “Through the middle of this season, I went to every single one,” Cordisco said. “It was just, for me, the best way to really show and visualize Philly culture.”

    Those photos became Sermon on the Lot. Cordisco chose to drape the project in religious metaphors to frame football, and particularly Eagles fandom, as a religion — one with its own set of rituals, traditions, and ways of worship.

    “On Sundays, you go to Mass,” Cordisco said. “But in Philly, you go to the parking lot and tailgate an Eagles game.”

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    Even though the scope of the project changed from its initial aim to portray Philadelphia, Cordisco still feels the city’s identity lies within Sermon on the Lot.

    “There’s no way it can’t come through,” Cordisco said. “I think my photos and the work definitely still show that classic grit and character that Philly is known for in the images … It’s still there, even if it’s maybe a layer or two deeper in the work.”

    Dan McQuade, seen here in a Daily News photo from 2014, died on Jan. 28, of neuroendocrine cancer, one day after his 43rd birthday.

    McQuade’s missive

    Cordisco was seeking a Philadelphia writer to pen a foreword for his book. He was a frequent reader of McQuade’s work, so Cordisco sent McQuade a cold email in September to see if he would be interested writing something for the project.

    “There was nobody else who could have written that,” Cordisco said. “He had no idea who I was, I just e-mailed him one day and he got back to me and said that he would love to do it.”

    To fit the project’s religious theming, McQuade’s foreword takes the form of a sermon. It is about the two men who showed up to former Eagles owner Leonard Tose’s house after news broke that Tose had agreed to sell a portion of the team and move it to Phoenix in 1984.

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    The two men, Barry Martin and Robert Vandetty, left Tose a note asking the owner to reconsider, as McQuade detailed in a 2023 story for Defector. Martin and Vandetty’s note closed with a simple phrase: “Go Birds — Philadelphia Birds.”

    “‘Go Birds’ is your greeting, your mantra, your rallying cry,” an excerpt of McQuade’s sermon reads. “The Eagles trademarked it, but it does not belong to them. It is yours. Think of Barry and Rob. They risked arrest to say ‘Go Birds.’ When you go forth today, I beseech you to say it too.“

    Cordisco said McQuade went “above and beyond” in his involvement with the project, offering ideas on how to display the work at the Unique Photo gallery showing. McQuade’s words will hang alongside Cordisco’s photos on the walls of the Center City photo store.

    Cordisco started Sermon on the Mount more interested in how the Eagles reflected Philadelphia than the team itself. But now, thanks to the community he found in the parking lots, he considers himself a Birds convert.

    “I went out to the tailgates and just saw how much it truly meant to people,” Cordisco said. “Not even just the wins and losses, but just being there. I talked to people that have been tailgating in the same RV for 40 years now, and they would tell me all these stories about how they raised their kids at the tailgates.

    “Making that connection with so many people only strengthened my fandom of the Eagles.”