Just seven months after opening at 40th and Baltimore, Trolley Car Station restaurant has closed its doors. A new operator is currently being sought for the 125-seat restaurant, according to a report by Philly.com.

The highly anticipated restaurant opened in a new two-story building next to the remodeled 40th Street Trolley Portal in September 2018, but things didn’t go as well as the owner, developer and restaurateur Ken Weinstein, who had reportedly invested $2.5 million in the new restaurant, had expected. The restaurant concept, which included hiring 20 staff members with the neighborhood’s diversity in mind, didn’t turn out to be financially viable, according to Weinstein. “We opened with a concept that I thought would work and it just didn’t resonate,” Weinstein told Philly.com’s Michael Klein.  Continue Reading

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A relatively high number of crimes has been reported in the University City District area last month. In March, 33 crimes serious crimes, including gunpoint robberies, residential burglaries, aggravated assaults with a gun, stolen cars and thefts from cars, were committed within the UCD boundaries and reported to the police, according to the latest UCD Crime Update. Twelve arrests were made in connection to those crimes, according to the report.

The UCD Public Safety Division alerts residents to a high number of robberies in March (they say that this trend has continued in April), particularly near the Market-Frankford Line and several trolley stops (see map below).  Continue Reading

After news broke out earlier this week that Penn Book Center, the independent bookstore operating on Penn’s campus since 1962, is going out of business and closing next month, the owners – Ashley Montague and Michael Row – received a lot of messages of support from community members. The University of Pennsylvania’s English Department has also launched a petition on Change.org urging the University of Pennsylvania to “save” the store by possibly offering discounts for textbooks purchased there, much the way Princeton supports its independent bookstore.

“This closure would mean an immeasurable loss to Penn’s intellectual community and to that of the surrounding University City neighborhood,” the petition reads. “We believe that of all universities, Penn, with its strengths in business innovation, is capable of finding a solution to this problem.”  Continue Reading

Penn Book Center, one of Philadelphia’s oldest independent bookstores, will close its doors next month. The reason for closing is not surprising: the business has been experiencing losses due to online sales giants, like Amazon, selling textbooks at cut-rate prices.

Penn Book Center was founded in 1962, and current owners – Ashley Montague and Michael Row – purchased the business in 2005. Located on Penn’s campus at 130 S. 34th St., the store carried many books that appealed to students, professors and scholars.  Continue Reading

The two-story restaurant space on the southwest corner of 40th and Walnut, where Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar used to be located, is finally getting a new tenant. Panera Bread is coming soon to the space, according to a sign posted outside. The space, which also includes an outdoor seating area, is currently undergoing renovation.

Harvest Seasonal closed its doors in early 2017 and until now the space remained vacant. The University of Pennsylvania owns the building and had been looking for “a tenant that will appeal to both the University and surrounding community,” according to an earlier report.

There is no official opening date for Panera Bread yet, but it is expected to be this Spring.