Mt. Airy : Development News

When a major community hub loses its lease, what happens next?

About a year ago, we spoke with Mt. Airy Art Garage (MAAG) leaders about moving forward after unexpectedly losing their space. It was quite a blow given the nonprofit’s investment of about $250,000 to rehab and customize the formerly vacant and unfinished property near the corner of Germantown and West Mt. Airy Avenues.

Now things are looking up thanks to a partnership with Mt. Airy USA, a local community development organization.

"I think we’ve always recognized how important the artist community is for the neighborhood," says Mt. Airy USA Executive Director Brad Copeland. He’s been working with MAAG co-founders Linda Slodki and Arleen Olshan to give their organization a home in an upcoming mixed-use redevelopment on the 6600 block of Germantown Avenue.

The targeted site is actually two different parcels: Mt. Airy USA had already acquired the property at 6651-53 and begun a rehab; the more recently purchased lot is next door at 6657-59.

The building at 6657-59 was "the most blighted building on that stretch of Germantown Avenue," explains Copeland, calling it "a high-priority property for us…we started thinking about the site as a whole -- what we could do with the combined parcels."

That was when Mt. Airy USA reached out to Slodki and Olshan about whether the new space’s potential commercial footprint of 2,500 square feet could be a good fit for MAAG. The conversation continued from there. Copeland estimates that the new building will be ready for occupancy sometime in 2018 (Mt. Airy USA will partner with a to-be-announced developer).

The organization hopes to have a plan in place for the design and construction of the property -- anchored by MAAG with residential space and perhaps some artist studios -- by this fall. A public meeting in October or November will be held so community members can offer input to the developer.

"There’s a lot of activity in the neighborhood," says Copeland. "It did make sense for us to try to find out how to be good partners."

MAAG has to vacate its current location on August 31. Until it moves into the new space, the organization will be in pop-up mode. Some events will land at 6622 Germantown Avenue; classes and artist group meetings will take place at the Philadelphia Immigrant Innovation Hub at 6700 Germantown Avenue. Patrons and members can visit MAAG at the Lutheran Theological Seminary for Philadelphia Open Studio Tour and the organization's annual Holiday Art Market later this year.

"It’s a pretty exciting project," adds Copeland. "I think the opportunities that come out of it for further kinds of collaboration are even more exciting."

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Brad Copeland, Mt. Airy USA

This summer after six years and close to a quarter million dollars invested in rent and renovations, Mt. Airy Art Garage learned that they only had a year left in their current location.

When they originally rented the space near the corner of Germantown and West Mt. Airy Avenues, the original MAAG leaders -- including president and co-founder Linda Slodki, her co-founder Arleen Olshan, architect Donna Globus and founding board member Solomon Levy -- spearheaded an astonishing overhaul of the long-neglected warehouse. Under a five-year original lease, a building featuring trenches in the floor, no lights, heating, plumbing or emergency exits was transformed into a vibrant hub for social change and exchange through the arts. But building owner Greg Bushu has decided to remove MAAG's option to renew the one-year lease they received this summer. According to organization leaders, he’s refused to meet with them or discuss the change, despite their model record as tenants and status as an anchor institution on the Mt. Airy business corridor.

"It’s a blow," explains Slodki, but they’re not going to fight the owner. After investing so much in the space, they did have high hopes of gaining ownership, "but the asking price was exorbitant."

"We came back several times to the table to ask about the price he was asking," she says. MAAG had their own appraisal of the property completed last year, and according to Slodki, Bushu’s asking price was almost double the building’s appraised value. "We can’t get a mortgage based on a price like that."

So what’s next?

MAAG is launching a major fundraising and search campaign, along with a series of community meetings to garner ideas and support for their next phase. The first took place on August 20; the second was on August 30. Watch MAAG’s website for details on these and other events.

Whatever happens, Slodki says neighborhood support has been overwhelming, and she’s hoping MAAG can find a new home somewhere in Northwest Philadelphia.

"I don’t know where we’ll be a year from now," she muses. "Maybe we’ll be smaller. Maybe we won’t have such a large rent that we have to meet. Maybe we won’t have resident artist studios. Maybe we’ll have a gallery on one floor and offices on the second floor. If this place is as important to you as you all say it is, why would we give up?"

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Linda Slodki, Mt. Airy Art Garage
 

Five years ago, Germantown couple Jen and Chris Kinka opened their first Nesting House at the corner of Carpenter Lane and Greene Street in Mt. Airy, completing what Chris Kinka calls a "holy trinity" for parents: a stop-in grocery store (Weavers Way Co-op), a caffeine peddler (the High Point Café) and a boutique-style consignment store featuring used kids’ clothes at great prices. The shop also offers top-of-the-line new products for environmentally and socially-conscious parents.

Their unique combination of quality second-hand goods and organic environmentally safe products -- including bedding, bottles and cups, toys and other family necessities -- is a way of tying the environmental and the economic together.

"Raising children can be very expensive, but it doesn’t have to be," insists Chris. The Kinkas have three kids, aged eight, six, and three, and their business has been expanding at almost the same pace as their family. They opened a second Nesting House in Collingswood, N.J., two years ago, and doubled the size of their original Mt. Airy location. Now, they’re poised to open a third shop, just off West Philly’s Clark Park.

They’ve had their eye on the area for a while.

"West Philly has been wildly supportive of us since we opened," explains Chris. On Saturdays, the busiest days in the Northwest store, "West Philly is coming up to Mt. Airy to shop at the Nesting House…It’s about time we gave them their own store."

Family-friendly Clark Park is an ideal hub of clientele. By networking with the local businesses and community organizations, the Kinkas heard about a vacant space opening up at 4501 Baltimore Avenue, right across the street from the West Philly location of Milk and Honey Market and not far from Mariposa co-op.

In a strip of five vacant storefronts, The Nesting House is leasing two to create a 1200-square-foot space. This time around, they’re able to put more thought and energy into the branding and look of the shop.

"Up until now, we have not been in a place economically or even mentally to consider more of the aesthetic nature of our spaces," says Chris. "This is the first space where we’re trying to determine what we want to be our branded look."

As of mid-July, the space is gutted and ready for construction; a beautiful exposed stone wall will add to the urban flair.

Things are moving quickly: Chris says they’re on track to open by mid-August, capturing that vital back-to-school clothing market.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Chris Kinka, The Nesting House 

In April, High Point Wholesale, a new branch of Mt. Airy's beloved High Point Café, officially cut the ribbon on its repurposed early-20th-century space at 6700 Germantown Avenue. The building was once home to Mt. Airy's original post office.
 
While it’s born out of the café -- which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year -- High Point Wholesale isn't a retail or restaurant location. It will house office space, a bakery for High Point's signature treats (including a self-contained gluten-free kitchen), coffee roasting and a shipping operation -- something that wasn't possible in the tiny original space. 

"I created High Point Wholesale as a separate business from the café," explains founder by Meg Hagele, a Mt. Airy native. "We recognized we had to raise money. I couldn’t do it on a wing and a prayer."

An initial round of fundraising from investors netted $365,000, and after searching throughout the northwest neighborhoods for a space, renovations began in winter 2014.

But the road was harder than Hagele and her supporters predicted. The site's first contractor proved incapable of handling the job and securing the necessary permits -- High Point Wholesale seemed destined to fail.

They were "emotionally and financially devastated," recalls Hagele. "It was a dark and hard time to get through...There was a real crisis of conscience. Do we walk away?"

She decided to push forward.

"We were so excited and invested in being on Germantown Avenue and being a part of the revitalization of the Mt. Airy corridor," she explains. Hagele jumped into reworking the numbers, and a new round of fundraising amassed close to $200,000.

"All of our investment is 100 percent from customers of the café," Hagele says proudly.

Early this year, a Kickstarter campaign for smaller-scale and more far-flung supporters added almost $40,000 to that total; the funds will go towards final construction costs.

High Point Wholesale now occupies the building's main floor (3,300 square feet); building owner Mt. Airy USA is on the lower level (1,900 square feet).

The site's second contractor had a creative mind -- the space boasts the original basement beams repurposed as windowsills and a partial wall around the offices, lamps salvaged from a 1950s Cincinnati airport, and natural hewn Lancaster County white oak office desks. A National Endowment for Democracy grant administered through Mt. Airy USA helped outfit the space with a specialized electrical system that’s expensive to install, but will save money and energy on the business' commercial ovens down the line.

An April 11 party in the revamped space was expected to draw about 300 people -- the turnout topped 500.

It told Hagele a lot about how her businesses impact the local community.

"They were invested," she muses, "whether or not they were investors."

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Meg Hagele, High Point Wholesale  

This month, Mt. Airy USA announced that they had won a competitive $100,000 neighborhood planning grant, beating out applicants from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
 
The dollars from the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation will kickstart a year-long study and planning process in the northwest Philly neighborhood, scrutinizing everything from early childhood education and vacant buildings to commercial corridors and senior living opportunities.
 
"We have taken a very collaborative approach in the application process to get this grant," explains Mt. Airy USA executive director Anuj Gupta; stakeholders include East & West Mt. Airy Neighbors, the Mt. Airy Business Improvement District, Weavers Way Co-op and more.
 
Now that they’ve got the grant, the dollars will be administered through Mt. Airy USA, which means "even more collaboration" with a "true cross-section of stakeholders," he adds. Gupta feels that the neighborhood's cooperative, community-driven legacy helped the organization stand out among other applicants.
 
A neighborhood plan was completed in 2004, but it has now become irrelevant. That’s because of progress that has already been made, but also challenges no one foresaw, such as the foreclosure crisis. A new comprehensive look at the neighborhood’s structure, recreational demand and opportunities, and commercial development was needed, and now, the money is there to do it, with the help of a professional team of evaluators and planners including Urban Partners.
 
Beginning this spring, the process will include "a comprehensive evaluation of Mt. Airy’s physical environment," explains Gupta, including "the way residents view their neighborhood as is, and also what they want to see it become over the coming years."
 
That means a property-by-property survey (including questions on resident satisfaction), widely accessible community forums, focus groups and stakeholder interviews.
 
The results will reveal the true extent of Mt. Airy's blight and vacancy, while identifying new opportunities for housing rehabilitation. There will also be a market-driven analysis of opportunities for growth on the commercial corridors.
 
The process will culminate in a comprehensive 10-year plan for Mt. Airy, and, yes, Gupta laughs, that means more fundraising. But the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation does offer a grant program for implementation, so the organizations may set their sights on that next.
 
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Anuj Gupta, Mt. Airy USA
 

"All our childhood memories go back to a park story, a recreation center story, or a library story," argued Mayor Michael Nutter at a March 16 press conference at the Fairmount Park Horticulture Center. It was an appropriate sentiment since he was announcing a $11 million investment in the Fairmount Park Conservancy and its Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative.

The Knight Foundation, with a commitment of $5.4 million, and the William Penn Foundation, bringing $5.5 million to the table, are teaming up to provide these funds, which will in turn support five major civic projects, some of which have held the public imagination for decades.

The dollars, Nutter said, would further the city’s goal of making "Philadelphia the number one green city in the United States of America." The common denominator of all the projects, he added, is that they will revitalize and transform underutilized, under-resourced spaces.

Speakers joining Nutter were Fairmount Park Conservancy Executive Director Kathryn Ott Lovell; Michael DiBerardinis, Deputy Mayor for Environmental & Community Resources and Parks and Recreation Commissioner; William Penn Executive Director Laura Sparks; and Carol Coletta, vice president for community and national initiatives at the Knight Foundation.

According to Sparks, the investment will continue to build Philadelphia’s profile as a world-class destination for "shared spaces that a diverse population can enjoy." Partly because of our booming Millennial population, "Philadelphia is the ideal national laboratory" for civic space experiments like these, and foundations with a nationwide lens are recognizing it.

Reimagining the Civic Commons, according to the Conservancy, will "explore whether reinventing and connecting public spaces as a network of civic assets will help cities attract and keep talented workers," boost the economy, help get residents more engaged, and "begin to level the playing field between more affluent communities and those in need."

Instead of competing for funds, organizations involved will be able to collaborate with each other.

The conference included details on the five selected projects.

A collaboration between Audubon Pennsylvania and Outward Bound will help create The Discovery Center in East Fairmount Park to inspire leadership development and environmental stewardship near the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood.

The Conservancy dollars will also finally make the Reading Viaduct Rail Park a reality, repurposing it as a green public space that will rise from ground level to cross three city streets. Center City District and Friends of the Rail Park will join together to make it happen.

The Bartram’s Mile Trail Project along the lower Schuylkill River is part of the region’s planned 750-mile Circuit Trail Network. It will be tackled thanks to a partnership between Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Schuylkill River Development Corporation.

The funds will also ensure the completion of Lovett Memorial Library and Park in Mt. Airy, with support from the Free Library and Mt. Airy U.S.A.

Finally, the dollars will transform an underutilized piece of West Fairmount Park into the Centennial Commons, a family-friendly playspace for the Parkside community. The Fairmount Park Conservancy will helm this project.

Stay tuned for more from Flying Kite about the plans for these individual projects.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Mayor Michael Nutter; Kathryn Ott Lovell, the Fairmount Park Conservancy; Laura Sparks, the William Penn Foundation, and Carol Coletta, the Knight Foundation. 
 

The Free Library of Philadelphia has announced a $60 million multi-branch development initiative. It will involve not only the significant renovation and expansion of the Parkway Central Library, but of five initial prototype libraries throughout the city. Each will be modernized with the specific needs of their communities in mind.
 
Known as "Building Inspiration: 21st Century Libraries," the multi-faceted plan will be funded in part by $4.5 million from the City of Philadelphia and a historic $25 million gift from the William Penn Foundation. According to a release, the funds from William Penn represent "the largest private gift ever received by the Library."  
 
According to Director and President Siobhan Reardon, the concept for "Building Inspiration" grew from the Free Library's Strategic Plan (PDF) -- essentially a reorganizational effort drawn up after the Library lost roughly 20 percent of its funding from the City and the Commonwealth in 2008 and 2009.
 
Part of that plan involved looking at the ways in which technology is altering basic library services.

"The changes we've announced are all about how to create an engaging 21st-century library in an older building," explains Reardon.

At the 87-year-old Parkway Central branch, for instance, an 8,000-square-foot area called The Common will be designed by architect Moshe Safdie to operate as a flexible and active community gathering space. The South Philadelphia Library will be fitted with a 'Health Information and New Americans' room. The Logan Library will be getting a family literacy center. The Lovett Memorial, Tacony and Lillian Marrero branches will also see progressive improvements.
 
"I think what you're going to find interesting at the neighborhood libraries is a very open experience," says Reardon, who adds that most branches should reopen in late 2016. "It's going to be a much more civically-engaged social learning environment."

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Siobhan Reardon, Free Library of Philadelphia
 

In just eight years, Mt. Airy's High Point Café has earned a reputation for its high quality espresso, delicious baked goods and top-shelf customer service. Owner Meg Hagele opened the place in 2005. She had owned her own coffee shop in Seattle, and when she moved back home to Philly, she knew she wanted to stay in the bean business. 

Restaurants from across Northwest Philly have long wanted to sell the café's products, but the small operation on Carpenter Lane, with its 100-square-foot kitchen, was too small for wholesale. Two years ago, owner Hagele decided she was tired of saying "no."

"Plus, I was getting restless," recalls Hagele. "I needed a new challenge."

The idea for High Point Wholesale was born. Hagele began looking for a facility to house the kitchen and serve as a wholesale hub while leaving the café operation on Carpenter Lane. She eventually found a space at 6700 Germantown Ave; ironically, she had looked at it years earlier and decided it didn't fit the bill. This time around, things fell into place.

"I was looking all throughout Germantown," says Hagele. "6700 Germantown immediately came to mind."

The building was slated to become a Wingstop franchise, but when those plans fell through, High Point was able to secure the lease. Next came a capital campaign. After giving a presentation to customers who had expressed interest, Hagele raised an amazing $350,000 in private equity.

"The money has come from the customer base alone," she says. "I am very moved by the level of support."

Today, High Point Wholesale is in full design mode, with construction set to start soon. Hagele hopes to be up-and-running in January or February.  

Source:  Meg Hagele, High Point Cafe
Writer: Greg Meckstroth

These days, Philly’s problems surrounding vacant land, urban decay and property neglect aren’t just getting the attention of city officials. Local artists, too, see the issue as paramount in Philadelphia’s existing urban context.  Nowhere is this viewpoint better exemplified than ‘RUST 3’, a recent and particularly innovative sustainable art installation coming soon to the Mt. Airy Arts Garage starting Nov. 10.  

Put together by local artists Andy Walker and Andy Heisey, the piece calls attention to the problems of urban renewal and abandonment in Philly.  But the display goes beyond these topics, also raising awareness on big picture issues including sustainability, reuse/rebuilding of our cities, the need for investment in urban areas and how new construction materials impact the environment. 

The installation’s primary work of art is the “Renewed Urban Studio Tent” which is where the idea of ‘RUST’ all started.  Made out of recycled materials found in the city - anything from photographs on clay shells, cigarette butts, glass bottles and recycled cement - the structure was built for the original RUST in August of this year. 

According to Andy Walker, they built the tent on South Broad Street in Center City as a studio for local artists and community members to create recycled/reused collages out of materials found from around the City.  Walker says these collages were then placed on the tent to form the skin of the structure.  "It was a real group effort and that's exactly what we wanted," says Walker. "The idea was to see how art rehabilitates the urban realm.  With artists and community members creating architectural pieces out of recycled materials, we wanted to challenge the notion of what urban building can be." 

RUST 2 came about the following month and showcased the collage pieces created during RUST.  And now, RUST 3 is set to open and will be the last hurrah of the series.  The basic elements of the original RUST will be on display, signifying the final recycling of the project while continuing to show how artists and the community can work together to create beauty out of reuse.

According to MAAG President and Cofounder Linda Slodki, while this is the final installment of RUST, MAAG wants the message to live on.  To this end, a citywide panel, “Artists Taking Back Philadelphia—Brick by Brick” will be on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. at MAAG. This panel will feature the Andys, Gary Steuer—Chief Cultural Officer for the City of Philadelphia, and Shari Hersh/Dre Urhahn—Philly Painting (a project of the MuralArts Program).

Topics covered include urban renewal and how artists fit into the conversation.  According to Slodki, MAAG hopes this discussion will help “bring out more artists interested in the topics at hand while assisting in making changes that need to be made in the future.” 

On that same Sunday, Nov. 11 at 10 a.m., Slodki says the Andys will host a workshop discussing the techniques they used to make their tent and showcase the various ways one can use recycled materials in artwork.

These events and a number of others are all happening at the Mt Airy Art Garage at 11 West Mt Airy Avenue and will run through Dec. 7 when RUST 3 closes up for good.      

Source: Linda Slodki, President and Cofounder of MAAG; Andy Walker, RUST
Writer: Greg Meckstroth

When it comes to sustainable transportation around Philadelphia, pedestrians have been without an active group speaking on their behalf since PhillyWalks ended about a decade ago. While bicyclists have enjoyed advocacy from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and mass transit riders have been represented by the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, pedestrians have not found a similar voice recently. That is, until now. The Clean Air Council has just formed a pedestrian advocacy group, and is in the process of creating an agenda for those who travel with two feet on the pavement.

This new group, dubbed the "Pedestrian Advocacy Project," has met twice so far and has crowdsourced its agenda through the hundreds of people who are on its listserv, according to Dennis Winters, a trails associate at the Council who is leading the project. Winters says e-mail participants indicated the biggest problem facing pedestrians is that "red-green lights (are) not synced right." In other words, traffic lights around the Philadelphia area often favor motorists over pedestrians.

At the project’s second meeting, the 10 or so attendees largely agreed with the e-mail survey. They discussed intersections in Philadelphia, such as 20th and JFK Blvd., that are not as pedestrian-friendly as they believe they should be. Attendees arrived at the conclusion that pedestrian countdown signals and corresponding traffic lights should be re-timed to equalize the playing field between drivers and walkers. By the end of the evening, a committee had formed to study pedestrian countdown signals, and how they could be improved.

One prevailing question for the nascent advocacy group is whether pedestrian countdown signals themselves are to blame for diminishing the pedestrian experience, or whether bad behavior on the part of motorists is to blame. Deborah Schaaf, an employee of the City Planning Commission and a walker herself, says that police enforcement of aggressive driving had to be cut short due to lack of funds. In fact, police overtime money that was supposed to go to the "Give respect, get respect" campaign targeting vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian infractions instead went to Occupy Philly coverage.

The Pedestrian Advocacy Project’s online members also indicated that the presence of outdoor seating and other obstructions blocking sidewalks, traffic laws not being adequately enforced, and aggressive drivers turning left were other impediments for pedestrians. Most members of the listserv attended the Academy of Natural Sciences forum "Walkability: Philadelphia Strides into the Future," which was where the pedestrian advocacy group was unveiled. Given that just about everyone in Philadelphia walks, even if it is just to get to their car or train, this group could help a lot of people.   

Writer: Andy Sharpe
Source: Dennis Winters

The Pennsylvania Convention Center Annex was filled with the redolent scents of artisanal cheese, creamy gelato, freshly-baked bread and biscotti, and premium steeped tea last Sunday. These scents formed the aromatic calling card for the Philly Farm and Food Fest, which was co-organized by Fair Food and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA). One of the highlights of the convention was a panel discussion on the Green Space Alliance’s recent study “Transforming open space to sustainable farm enterprises.”

The panel discussion started with an outline of Green Space Alliance’s (GSA’s) findings, which include recommendations on public outreach, zoning and planning, and urban areas. One of the chief findings is that GSA should extend an arm to local governments, land trusts, and conservancies to generate knowledge about sustainable farming. Under zoning, the study concludes that specific ordinance definitions should be drafted, says Justin Keller, an architect with Simone Collins Landscape Architecture, which prepared the study for GSA. 

Finally, the study advises that incentives be created for urban farms that bolster stormwater management through the elimination of impervious surfaces. It specifically pinpoints urban farms as sources of sorely-needed nourishment in food deserts and job creators in neighborhoods with rampant unemployment. GSA found that the city of Philadelphia has nearly 2,500 acres that can be used for farming, which could yield a crop value between $6.4 and $10.8 million, says Peter Simone, also an architect with Simone Collins.

After Simone Collins presented the study, three panelists offered conference-goers some feedback. Nic Esposito, who farms at East Kensington’s Emerald St. Urban Farm, is interested in the study’s examination of municipal land, as his farm is owned by three different city agencies. While the study looks at both CSAs and farms that donate food, Esposito makes sure to mention that Emerald St. donates all the food it generates from chickens and bees. He also adds that Councilwoman Sanchez and Councilman Green’s land bank resolution in City Council would be an asset for urban farming on vacant land.

Another panelist was Joan Blaustein, chair of the Philadelphia Food Policy Council and a director in the city’s department of Parks and Recreation. Blaustein, who grows food in her own backyard garden, emphasizes the practical nature of urban gardening. Urban gardens “should satisfy the social needs of people in the city,” says Blaustein. She proceeds to give the city a pat on the back for emphasizing urban farms in its Greenworks plan and mentioning it in its new zoning code. 

The third panelist was Fred DeLong, a project director at the Willistown Conservation Trust and Rushton Farm in Chester County. DeLong differs from the other panelists in that his farm certainly isn’t urban. Nonetheless, he has a similar goal to the study and his fellow panelists. “Willistown Conservation Trust wants to connect people to the land,” says DeLong. He adds that within the trust is the Rushton Farm, which is a natural community-supported agriculture (CSA) within an 80-acre nature preserve.   

Writer: Andy Sharpe
Sources: Justin Keller, Peter Simone, Nic Esposito, Joan Blaustein, and Fred DeLong, panelists at Philly Farm and Food Fest

Illustration courtesy of Philly Farm and Food Fest   

Greene Street Consignment has been a fixture among those looking to purchase designer clothing labels at cheap prices. So much so that they have branched out from their original location on South Street and opened six locations, ranging from Princeton to West Chester. It’s soon to be seven locations, as Greene Street will become the latest business to set up shop along Germantown Ave. in Chestnut Hill by the end of the month.

The consignment store will open on the 8500-block of Germantown Ave., near Penzeys Spices, The Paperia gift store, and Chestnut Hill West Station. It wasn’t hard for Greene Street to decide to open in the Northwest Philly enclave.

"Chestnut Hill is such a great community of families, shops and new shops that are opening,” says Casey Drucquer, a marketing director at the consignment shop. Drucquer quickly adds that Greene Street’s owner recently moved back to Chestnut Hill herself.

While Greene Street Consignment is a used clothing store, it’s one with exacting standards. Drucquer reports that her store won’t accept any articles of clothing that are older than two years, and demands that everything sold be in immaculate condition. The store carries adult’s clothing in every size from small to extra large. Drucquer says that the store typically offers Gap, Gucci, Prada, and Anthropologie clothes. For those looking to sell clothes, Greene Street doesn’t require appointments and rewards a 40% commission on items that are sold.  

Drucquer emphasizes that a portion of Greene St.’s proceeds go to a good cause. As a matter of fact, the owner of the store's sister recently founded a fourteen-acre farm in Chester County, called the Greene Street Animal Rescue, dedicated to sick pets.

"Since the opening a few months ago, they have taken in eleven dogs which normally would have been euthanized,” she says. Part of the consignment shop’s profit goes to this, and the store also solicits tax-deductible donations. 

Writer: Andy Sharpe
Source: Casey Drucquer, Greene St. Consignment  

Photo courtesy of Greene Street Consignment