Boujie Babes owner Jennell Moody inside her new salon (Photo courtesy of Boujie Babes).

There’s a new type of hair salon opening on Thursday, May 11 and it’s not your typical beauty parlor. Owner Jennell Moody, 34, wants to focus on developing young minds as well.

Moody grew up in a single parent household in North Philly, a part of the city where she was born and raised. Her mother worked long hours to support her family, but Moody wishes she had more resources to work early on in her life. This is why she decided to instill a social mission into her business, starting with a mentoring program for girls between nine and 14 years of age to learn about personal hygiene, healthy body image, self-esteem and “the look for less.” Meet her newest business endeavor: Boujie Babes salon, located at 4329 Lancaster Ave in the Mill Creek neighborhood.  Continue Reading

Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar has closed its location at 40th and Walnut after nearly five years of operation. It seems that the restaurant never recovered after a January fire and the water damage it sustained in the aftermath. What seemed like a temporary closing has now become permanent, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. The 40th and Walnut location is no longer listed on the restaurant website.

The University of Pennsylvania, which owns the building, is currently looking for a new tenant to occupy the restaurant space on the first and second floor of the building. “The goal is to find a tenant that will appeal to both the University and surrounding community — there is no timeline at this time for a new opening,” Penn’s Executive Director of Real Estate Ed Datz told The DP.

After months of rumors, we can confirm that Acme will run the grocery store at 40th and Walnut Streets currently operated by Fresh Grocer. In their Monday’s joint press release, the University of Pennsylvania and Acme Markets have announced the signing of a lease to develop a new supermarket at 40th and Walnut that will include a wine and beer shop and a Starbucks.

According to the press release, the new store will “offer an expansive variety of the freshest produce, top quality meats and seafood, and a large selection of natural, gluten‐free, organic, and local products” and will include indoor and outdoor seating. The University City ACME will also “feature a sushi and noodle bar, a guacamole station, a Starbucks, and a beer and wine shop.”  Continue Reading

Workers at the Fresh Grocer at 40th and Walnut were erecting a new sunscreen display near the checkout lines this morning, getting the store ready for the spring. Nothing strange about that, except that the store was supposed to close today for good to make way for a new supermarket operator.

Fresh Grocer’s property lease expires today, March 31, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Facilities and Real Estate Services office. The office manages Penn’s vast holdings in West Philadelphia and has plans for the space that do not include Fresh Grocer.

“Penn has notified Fresh Grocer that its lease will expire on March 31 and that it must vacate the store by that date,” spokeswoman Jennifer Rizzi wrote in an e-mail on March 30. “However, Fresh Grocer rejects Penn’s position that the lease expires on that date, so we do not know whether they will vacate the store on March 31.”  Continue Reading

Coffee Market (Facebook page), the locally-owned coffee shop at 45th and Pine, re-opened 10 years ago under new management, in the space where Sam’s Place used to be, one of the oldest coffee shops in the neighborhood! This Saturday (on April Fools Day!), owner Natasa Brkanin is inviting everyone to celebrate her shop’s 10th anniversary with all day long specials, events, and some delicious coffee sampling! Check out this flier for more details:

Longtime West Philly resident Jeff Lutzner pitches “Pentridge Station,” a playground/park/beer garden proposed for a vacant lot on the 5100 block of Pentridge Street (Photo by West Philly Local).

A longtime West Philly resident is gambling that people will want to travel down a troubled street that is lined with abandoned cars, empty buildings and a quasi-legal automotive shop that sometimes hosts raucous outdoor parties during which shots have been fired to visit his kid-friendly, pop-up beer garden.

It sounds risky, but several people who attended last night’s Cedar Park Neighbors zoning committee meeting to discuss the proposed seasonal beer garden in an abandoned lot on the 5100 block of Pentridge Street said they will support it. Jeff Lutzner, a longtime resident and block captain on the 4900 block of Cedar Avenue, owns the lot and hopes that the beer garden/playground might bring some much-needed attention to the block.

“We really want it to be a place where families could convene,” Lutzner told the 30 or so people gathered at the meeting.  Continue Reading