Oh my just when you think the Radnor meeting was going to be by the book stupid like they have been it was a little popcorn worthy.
With great delight, I saw a familiar face take command of Commissioner Jack Larkin’s grand (and latest) eminent domain plan it seems.
Now Commissioner Larkin seems to be a little too enamored of eminent domain don’t you think? Remember, poor Wayne Presbyterian Church, and their parking lot?
I may be borrowing the lede a little bit so here we go…
Tonight the Radnor Board of Commissioner received a visit from one of my favorite former commissioners from Lower Merion, Phil Rosenzweig. You see how I know Phil as he is one of the seven commissioners we put into office as residents when we wanted to end the specter of the threat of eminent domain for private gain in the Historic Ardmore Business District many years ago. As a matter of fact, once he was sworn in he was the commissioner who wrote the language for the ordinance to eminent domain in Ardmore.
When Phil shows up at a meeting, municipalities are wise to listen. Because that man doesn’t come to play, he doesn’t grandstand, he comes to win for his clients. If Radnor wants to get tied up in litigation and lose at the expense of taxpayers, he’s their man.
I heard a very clear message to Radnor tonight: the land they think they are going to bully their way into from VFMA is not for sale.
The look on Larkin’s face as well as Moira Mulroney in my opinion was rather amusing when the cameras panned back.
Do not misunderstand me, I certainly don’t want to see more residential development back there and Valley Forge has been selling off land piecemeal over time. One thing that also came out tonight is how much a particular developer offered them for I presume the land that Radnor now wants. I believe the number was 20 million or thereabouts and just wow right? Especially just wow because Valley Forge said no.
Radnor needs to be a respectful date and learn that right now, no means no.
We first heard about this officially when Savvy Main Line wrote about it in early January.
Apparently they want the land, (they meaning Radnor Township for some kind of parks and rec thing.) Of course I find that amusing because they can’t take care of the parks they have now. And it’s always a battle at meetings when people come in and ask for basics.
… the township would much rather shake hands than grab, according to Commissioner Jack Larkin whose ward includes the VFMA campus. It prefers to negotiate an amicable purchase and bypass the long, tortuous path of eminent domain,
This wouldn’t be a hostile takeover as some eminent domain purchases are, he says. Cash-poor Valley Forge Military wants to sell. In fact, it’s had talks with a developer who hoped to build single-family homes at the site, Larkin says. VFMA knows the township wants the property but went “radio silent” some time ago.
Could the threat of eminent domain bring VFMA back to the bargaining table? There is a precedent. Radnor engaged in a similar gambit in late 2024 when it threatened to use eminent domain to take Wayne Presbyterian Church’s parking spaces. In that instance, friendly fire sparked a friendly resolution.
The VFMA deal – whether negotiated or seized – will be a boon for the township, Larkin says.
So this whole issue just got a little more fun at least for me to watch with popcorn.
Again, no one wants more residential development over there, but the flipside is sometimes Radnor needs to do things the right way not the way they just feel is more expedient. These commissioners needs to learn how to do things differently, and they also got some stripes in their proverbial hides courtesy of residents who are pissed off because they doesn’t respond to emails apparently.
Get your popcorn, ready kids, I’m not kidding. Radnor had a personally delivered warning on camera tonight. No matter how pleasant it was delivered, I think the message is pretty goddamn clear.
Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. Just when you think there’s no more Barsouming to be had, here she comes again! She is the Britney Spears of county government! Oops she did it again!
A Pennsylvania county election office that was already facing criticism for a 2025 election snafu and an alleged hostile work environment is dealing with another error.
Roughly 145,000 mail ballot applications sent out in Chester County this week for the 2026 elections were printed with the first and last names of voters reversed…..Chester County’s election director, Karen Barsoum, confirmed ….Barsoum declined to say which employee or division of the office performed the check.
She said the accuracy check was more focused on confirming that the proper information, such as voter ID number or address, was connected to the right voter rather than whether the names were in the correct order.
Mmmkay Karen and once again we hear crickets versus a simple apology or truly owning yet another screw-up.
Effective leadership starts at the top and she’s not a leader is she? She’s not a good manager is she?
So last night I posted a single comment regarding the Super Bowl Half Time Show:
“Maybe my age is showing, but I don’t get it or the controversy.”
I wasn’t being a racist asking this. I was accused of that. Twice. So pardon me for not literally getting why it was such a big negative deal that this guy performed. I just watched the half time show again and I still don’t get it. What was it like IMHO? Like a big happy block party.
I posted on my blog’s Facebook page about it. I am not a rap person. I do like Latin beat and salsa because it’s happy music and the dancing is cool to watch. I had a Cuban American uncle from Miami who scowled a lot when I was a child, but you learned things. That is how I first tried Cuban coffee, which I like as much as Espresso. Either his parents or grandparents had immigrated at some point to the US like most of our relatives of some generation or another – they were here long before Bay of pigs, etc.
One of my closest friends from high school lived in Puerto Rico a bunch of years, and built a house there. She likes Bad Bunny because she has always liked rap and hip hop and she also likes Latin music as a now Floridian. So I listened to the halftime show and watched it. I particularly liked the part with Lady Gaga and there were parts I neither liked and or disliked, I just didn’t understand because I don’t speak Spanish. But it wasn’t an unpleasant experience. It was upbeat and there were no wardrobe malfunctions.
So I posted about it with a screenshot of Bad Bunny dancing with Lady Gaga and said I didn’t understand what the big deal was. I decided write that in there the problem wasn’t bad bunny. The problem were the idiots on the Internet. Some Haitian woman literally called me a racist because I said I didn’t understand what the big deal was since October or whenever it was, the NFL chose him.
I have never understood what the big deal was. I mean seriously they’ve had every kind of act for the Super Bowl since I was old enough to remember so what was the big deal? As opposed to Janet Jackson, he kept his costume on. It was like a big block party and that made it fun.
Here is some of the nonsense that got posted on my blog’s Facebook page, and yes I have been snarkier than usual because this constant stream of BS is ridiculous. We all descend from immigrants at some point in this country. It’s how our country was populated. Literally people were saying Puerto Ricans aren’t Americans. So freaking offensive and wow they don’t even know the basics of US history when it comes to people from our territories. I bet they think people from the US Virgin Islands aren’t Americans either?
Once again, 1930’s Germany with social media. When they start their new master race these Mensas, who won’t be white enough for them? Yes I did just say this out loud. And interesting to note was that Charlie Kirk’s widow did not seem to have been present for the “All American” alternative halftime show honoring her late husband and why is that?
And Kid Rock who has always just been crass at a bare minimum has always had controversies far worse than most:
“We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans,” the performer said last week. “The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people. We love our family, and that’s the way to do it with love. Don’t forget that, please. Thank you.”
And let’s talk again about positioning Kid Rock as a paragon of everything wholesome? Really? Well I guess Jeffrey Epstein is dead right?
He is faith, family, and freedom? He’s an ugly American…literally.
They had he and the other performers all clothed up like a Mormon wedding….I included screenshots of the one female performer and it’s a shame she can’t buy a clue because she has a lovely voice:
Look I also do not get the AI generated thing about Bad Bunny burning a flag. It literally did not happen.
We are a country founded by immigrants. Puerto Ricans are literally Americans. So are folks from the U.S. Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories.
No one makes anyone watch anything on TV. One chooses to watch something on TV. Bad Bunny was never the problem here.
I am so fatigued by this nonsense, aren’t you? Every day it’s something. The new normal is anything but. We live in the era of ugly Americans. The most pathetic thing is our founding fathers fought, bled, and died so they could have the right to be asshats at every turn…and now they want our rights to be subjective and disappear.
‼️MISSING‼️: Rep. Lisa Borowski Lisa Borowski for State Representative. We suspect she is probably on her knees somewhere doing whatever is asked of her by Johnny Frack as this is what she does- whatever she is told. (I hope the pats on the head don’t mess up her hair.)
Lisa Borowski is a co-sponsor of horrible data center loving PA HB 2151, and was for quite a while a co-sponsor of last year’s disaster of a data center bill HB 502, until she slithered away like the snake 🐍 in the grass that she is (or muppet weasel take your pick.)
This is Lisa’s habitual political M.O. —whatever is best for Lisa. She would not and cannot be counted on to defend Delco residents on pipelines, hydrogen hubs, warehouses, or wanton development (even in Radnor Township which also doesn’t like being tagged by this lowly blogher much to my great amusement!) so unless public pressure comes to bear she will sit there on data center bills like Joshie’s good little girl.
It’s time to innundate Radnor’s fave political muppet. Call her, if they don’t pick up the phone, leave a message. DO NOT USE FOUL LANGUAGE NO MATTER WHAT – among other things, her staff doesn’t deserve it. They can’t help it if she is inept and a political striver. (I had to laugh just now because for some reason when I started to write striver, it wanted it to be stripper🤣)
If you live in her district, you also should find people to primary her and run against her who are decent candidates. After all if she can’t stand up for everyday Pennsylvanians in solidarity of getting rid of data center threats, you can’t trust her for anything. People should want someone who works for them not for themselves and special interest groups right?
STATE REP. LISA BOROWSKI 168TH DISTRICT/DELCO CO-SPONSOR OF BAD DATA CENTER BILL PA HB2151 LAST SEEN AT PHOTO OPS IN RADNOR TOWNSHIP Call 484-427-2884 or 717-772-2005 1-833-787-5039
Oh, and Lisa? The First Amendment protects my right to criticize you as now a state politician because you are no better than you were as a local politician.
OK, I am making historians everywhere vibrate with this sentiment. But it’s my right to express it and I think it needs to be said.
#BOYCOTTAMERICA250
We have nothing to celebrate. What is going on in our country today is not what our founding fathers fought and died for.
It’s time to cancel the birthday party.
I’m not sorry about articulating that. Who we are today in this moment are not joyous Americans are we? Isn’t it more true there are so many people with a very twisted perspective on what America is that they’ve literally forgotten the history?
So why should communities spend god-awful amounts of money to celebrate America 250?
Someone wrote to me and told me I should haul it out to Kennett Square on February 10 for this:
There’s a better way than simply boycotting America 250. There’s an effort right here in Chester County to encourage people to read the Declaration of Independence publicly to honor its words. Its words are powerful. I strongly encourage you to attend the Dare to Declare Red Carpet Premiere at the Kennett Library on Tuesday, Feb 10th at 6 pm. There’s a 15 minute video of community members from throughout Chester County reading the Declaration, followed by a panel discussion with some of the readers. It’s NONPARTISAN. And it provokes powerful civic discourse, connecting 1776 to today, which is what we need right now. Here’s the link to more info: cccf250.org.
Sorry, not sorry I do not need a symbolic reading of the Declaration of Independence. Our founding fathers are rolling in their proverbial graves right now IMHO. It seems what they fought, bled, and died for is being squandered by people that Americans foolishly elected, doesn’t it?
We are living through 1930s Germany with social media every single day.
We are living in Orwellian existence we didn’t sign up for that’s now very very real.
“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”.
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them”.
“There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”
“The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering—a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons—a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting—three hundred million people all with the same face.”
I could Orwell all day, but I won’t. It’s too real right now. It’s kind of freaky.
I mean, if you put the nasty politics aside and the rhetoric every day being shoved down our throats, there are all the other things.
Different kinds of people who aren’t really trained the way you would think, coming into our communities and sometimes it seems rather arbitrary and how they are choosing the people they are targeting, but is it arbitrary? Or is it just simplistic profiling based the color of skin or that someone may look a little different from whom they consider to be Americans? But then they shot a mom who was white, so was it really because she was with her spouse who was a woman? And they shot a male nurse who they said drew a weapon that was really a cell phone?
We’ve had incidents here in Chester County and when it’s close to home, it feels quite different again, doesn’t it? Even if you’re not at target what if you spoke up? Then you are a target aren’t you? Or if you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time, you’re possibly a target, aren’t you?
People are anxious about going out. People I know who are diverse nationalities, but US Citizens, are walking around with their passports or birth certificates because they’re afraid they’re going to be picked up off of the street for looking not like those who come.
I am a kind of a grateful homebody as a middle-aged woman, and this all makes me more of a homebody. It’s literally such an ugly world. Why do you want to leave your four walls let alone celebrate a big USA birthday when what we are right now today doesn’t represent at all what our founding fathers (and mothers) envisioned?
A couple of my friends were worried because they thought I fell off the face of the Earth the past few days. I finally told one of them I didn’t, I was just tired and I needed a day to myself. I’m feeling life weary because of what we experience every day in this country right now.
I thought I was imagining things thinking that our rights are somewhat subjective these days , and then I read a terrifying article this evening. A man wrote a letter which wasn’t particularly bad. It was expressing how he felt on some topic as an American and it’s like he’s being looked into. That’s kind of crazy town.
(Some of those links have pay walls and I can’t help you. But some of them do not so you can read about it. )
Do we still hold all these truths to be self-evident as Americans? Or are the truths merely subjective depending upon who is reciting them?
I was about a child when the Bicentennial occurred. I loved it. I wrote in a Conestoga wagon through Valley Forge Park.
Prior to the Bicentennial I was the youngest volunteer tour guide for The Park Service giving full tours of the Todd house and the Bishop White House.
I was a child who saw the rebirth of Society Hill, and that was kind of a big deal. I literally lived in an area that represented part of the foundation of this country’s history.
I am someone who was born into a family which had immigrants on both sides. These immigrants arrived at different points in our country’s history and yes legally, but they were immigrants nonetheless.
I remember my maternal grandfather‘s recounting of the “Irish need not apply” signs in shop windows in Philadelphia. As in he saw them and his family experienced it, although from what I can tell based on my research on ancestry.com, a lot of them had been in this country since the late 18th century.
My paternal grandfather was Italian. I remember the stories of them having to change the name of their factory in Philadelphia during World War II so people didn’t mistake them for fascists because they were Italian. I also remember the stories of this grandfather as a very small child traveling with his mother back to the “old country“ so he could meet his Italian relatives and they got caught there through the end of World War I. In Italy he was referred to as L’Americano. When they came back to this country when it was safe to travel again, he was referred to as the Italian boy or something not as nice.
So yes I am making some local historians vibrate with #BoycottAmerica250 but whatever. A true historian should understand the sentiment because can we truly celebrate that which is utterly eroding? I wonder what it is like to be an American at the Olympics this time?
This is sad. And scary. How can we celebrate the past when no one is paying attention to the lessons of our own history?
Every time anyone speaks out now, they have to worry if some government overlord is going to come after them and is this how this country was set up? Do people even understand the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights?
And I will be perfectly clear. I’m not telling everyone they should boycott America 250. I’m telling you I pretty much am. I just can’t do it with a clear conscience. I just can’t do it because what’s happening now is what our forefathers bled and died to stop, didn’t they? It started for me with the misuse and overuse and incorrect use of the word patriot I don’t think the people that spout it half of the time know what it means.
Someone said to me today we can’t let people sap the joy out of our lives… yet some days I feel that the only thing that is happening in this world.
So I’m keeping my joy and keeping to myself and just not really doing the America 250 stuff. Because tome, in order to participate in something like that, you have to feel like it means something to people and I think people have forgotten what it actually means.
That is all. We need to really remember how and why we got here, and to some? Oh yes those particular truths are way too self-evident.
How would you like to get mayonnaise that looks like this?
Well, I did today.
I went to order off the Duke’s website and the website sent me to Amazon. I can no longer order directly any longer, apparently.
So I ordered from the Duke’s store on Amazon. I ordered mayonnaise. I can’t even tell you how disgusting it was when it arrived today.
It’s so disgusting. Truly gross.
And this I think will be the last time that I ever purchase Duke’s mayonnaise and I have been buying it for years and it was my favorite until it arrived today and I thought I would vomit because it was just all like clear yellowy oil.
There was no mayonnaise part to it and it was not beyond expiration and how the Duke’s store thought that was OK to package and send escapes me. It was one of those normal size jars. I guess like 30 ounces or something.
I used to order from the Duke’s website. Why? Because if you ordered directly from them, you also had access to the other things they sold, which included some wonderful mustard as well as flavored mayonnaise or mayonnaise made with avocado oil or light mayonnaise. Basically here on the East Coast, you’re lucky if the grocery store will actually consistently have the mayonnaise in stock. The other products don’t appear in this area. And I love their mustards as a matter of fact, or I did.
I couldn’t believe I was shipped something like that so I Googled Duke’s. And guess what it was sold.
It had been under the flag of Sauer Brands out of Richmond, VA. But apparently in 2025 it got a new corporate daddy. And the new corporate daddy is a multinational conglomerate called Advent International.
RICHMOND, VA, February 19, 2025 – Sauer Brands Inc. (the “Company”), a scaled platform of leading condiments and seasonings brands, today announced the completion of its previously announced transaction in which Advent International (“Advent”), a leading global private equity investor, has acquired Sauer Brands from Falfurrias Capital Partners (“Falfurrias”). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We are thrilled to welcome Sauer Brands into our portfolio and build upon the success the Company has already achieved to date,” said Tricia Glynn, a Managing Partner at Advent. “Our aspirations are to enable even more consumers to discover and fall in love with Sauer’s brands, including Duke’s Mayo, Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa and Kernel Season’s.”
Well, isn’t that interesting. I’m guessing now there will be multiple products. I will not be purchasing anymore because they’re under this corporate umbrella. I also did like Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa. But given this is how the mayonnaise looks from Duke’s that’s now not really Duke’s in my humble opinion.
Unless something changes where Advent is involved, l will not purchase any product associated with them.
ICE in Phoenixville PA today. Taylor Alley parking lot adjacent to The Foodery Phoenixville and Borough Hall.
I called the Foodery to verify.
Notice how agents spoke to people along with throwing people to ground.
Once again, you can’t clearly see which branch of law-enforcement they are with once again and masked faces.
I also have no idea if local law-enforcement was notified or not.
I have no idea who these people were they took, or if they were even illegal.
This is unnecessarily traumatic and it’s happening in our communities.
1930s Germany with social media.
Oh the continued irony as America gets ready for a big anniversary this summer. This is not what our founding fathers fought, bled, and died for. This is what they were trying to escape. If this is the way this is going to be.
I will be damned if I go to any America 250 or US Semiquincentennial anything this summer. We should all boycott these events because what we would be celebrating isn’t even represented in our day-to-day life, and I am entitled to that freaking opinion.
Shhhhh! They want it to be a political secret! Literally if you try searching for it on Google and stuff it’s nearly impossible to find you have to dig. Which is kind of unusual because they want these bills out there so people can see their elected officials are working except they elected officials know this is a shameful dirty secret and should not pass go.
The media is not really talking about this – I have only found ONE story and it goes to some sort of initial vote TOMORROW as in 2/4/26. But we all are and why is that? Is there a Johnny Frack err Josh Shapiro blackout of sorts? I hate to sound all conspiracy theory, but this whole issue is like a giant conspiracy theory, isn’t it?
It is a partisan bill. It’s a Democrat sponsored bill, the they want to offer up with us the residents of Pennsylvania as collateral damage, to help Governor Josh Shapiro, who just launched his reelection campaign and has an agenda when it comes to data centers, doesn’t he?
An Act amending the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), known as the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, in zoning, providing for data center ordinance assistance; and imposing duties on the Center for Local Government Services.
So yes, it’s a Band-Aid on the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) which hasn’t had any comprehensive updates since circa 1968 or 1969. The MPC guides all the zoning that we find maddening affecting our communities. The MPC is the reason that when your elected officials say they can’t do something about something getting shoved down a community’s throat…they often can’t. Sometimes it’s because they lost their balls but not all of the time, right?
You know it’s funny, but under the MPC, all of our communities have to update their comprehensive plans every so many years or they should. (In some cases, like what was once the case in Lower Merion Township for example, it was like 30 years or better, but I digress.) Anyway the MPC tells our communities how often they should update yet that weighty tome is never comprehensively updated, and it needs it, but in order to do it, it requires an act of the state constitution to be enacted, and isn’t it time yet to do so?
I mean, why would politicians actually go out of our their way to do anything truly beneficial for their communities when it’s far easier to hold up that gruel bowl and to just continue to jury rig the MPC with these odd legislative Band-Aids that do more harm than good? This is exactly the case in my humble opinion with PA HB 2151 of 2026. Josh Shapiro and his corporate buddies and lobbyists want it, yes? It’s not all about them yet is it?
This has barely been introduced five minutes ago quite literally and it’s already being warp speed turbo charged fast tracked. All by edict of the Governor and his cozy relationships with AI and data center folks, yes? A VOTE IS SCHEDULED FOR TOMORROW ALREADY. We know how slow stuff moves in Harrisburg, yet this is all polished and ready to go? Mmmkay.
PA HB 502 of 2025 is kind of a political cousin to PA 2151 of 2026. It kind of interesting that you can’t find articles about it now and PA 2151 is very hard to locate on a simple internet search. It’s hiding in plain sight hoping it’ll get passed PDQ.
PA HB 2151 will literally remove rights from municipalities regarding data centers. It’s not some nice and nicely how to guide which is how it’s being misrepresented by state reps and presented.
The good news is state reps are almost always constantly running for office because it’s a two-year term. We as Pennsylvania’s need to remind them. They can’t rest on their laurels and hope the Democrats are going to save them because this is a partisan bill. We don’t have much time to ratchet it up here and we need to get busy. It’s already happening but you can do your part contact your state rep. Tell them simply PA HB5121 is not for the good of Pennsylvania. You need to tell them if they like being a state rep they don’t want this to be their Waterloo.
Now I want show you who’s involved with the bill. And please note there is still one obvious Chester County State Reps who is a sponsor. Sappey and I am very disappointed in her, and Danielle Friel Otten who ran initially as a pipeline activist, has apparently removed herself (more below). Of course former Radnor Township Commissioner who often looks like a muppet with those bangs who is now a Delaware County State Rep named Lisa Borowski is on it as well, which doesn’t surprise me because all she does is bend over in Harrisburg, for whatever she is told to do, doesn’t she? And yes, that does sound vulgar, but that’s an opinion of how people see her.
(Actually any sponsor or co-sponsor on this bill should be sent kneepads with Josh Shapiro‘s face on them shouldn’t they? )
Your data center issue potentially appearing in your community is your new pipeline. It’s your new condo building you don’t want. It’s your new apartment building. It’s also your new warehouse that you don’t want. The common denominator here is they need to comprehensively update the PA Municipalities Planning Code yet what do they want to do? Shove data centers in everywhere. Now I’m gonna show you who the Bill sponsors are here and then I’m going to segue to a piece of Pennsylvania in Lackawanna County that you didn’t know existed- Archbald. Why is this little area? That’s a big big acreage area called Archbald important? They’re trying to shove 400 acres are better of data center up there. This area is a proposed location for several large-scale data center projects, notably the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus (14 buildings) and “Project Gravity” (7 buildings) by Western Hospitality Partners, sparking significant local debate over environmental impact (water, power) and proximity to residential areas
If you want to FedEx, these people kneepads, you can go to their office page, you will get the addresses. Of course I’m actually kidding with the kneepads but it’s apropos in my opinion.
I must note that since I started this post earlier today, Rep. Danielle Otten has apparently removed herself from the bill. However, there is no public announcement of this by here, and shouldn’t there be? Otherwise it makes people wonder, right? If you are standing with the people, please say so. Here are the screen shots that pertain to this and see updated list here:
So giddy up fellow Pennsylvanians and stop this thing. It deserves to be stopped. This bill diminishes our rights to have a say in the shape of our communities. Plus there are very real environmental and other issues with regard to data centers. Google Louden County Virginia and other places which have been negatively impacted. Here in Chester County and throughout PA, it’s starting to feel like every day brings another data center plan. It’s time to slow their roll.
Gosh East Pikeland, your slip is showing…again. I will note that this is a document that is filed with the courts and not a state secret. And this attorney and his firm? They don’t play.
Grab the popcorn. Happy Friday!
I feel the need to point that out since they didn’t like that I posted something else not a state secret…in November.
I had finally gotten through listening to the insanity of the West Whiteland Zoning Hearing Board meeting when a new headline for Savvy popped up. DiBruno’s which is now NOT really them any longer, it’s owned by another company now – Wakefern is closing the Ardmore and Wayne locations. A 3rd store in Philadelphia I guess someplace also is closing according to Michael Klein in the Philadelphia Inquirer. So the company that purchased them in 2024 is related to ShopRite as in that guy Jeff Brown who ran for mayor in Philadelphia a few years ago.
Apparently the original store on 9th Street in the Italian Market and the center city Chestnut Street location will survive. I will admit for DiBruno’s my heart belongs to 9th Street. That was a big part of growing up, going there with my father.
I covered the opening of the Ardmore store in 2011. The soft opening launch of it all was March, 2011. I covered it for Ardmore Patch at the time.
March 31 marked the grand opening reception for Philadelphia-based Di Bruno Brothers new store in the Ardmore Farmers Market in Suburban Square.
Di Bruno’s began in 1939, when brothers Danny and Joe Di Bruno opened a small market on 9th Street in the heart of the Italian Market in South Philadelphia. I grew up going there with my family.
My great aunts lived not too far away in South Philadelphia and as a small child my family lived in Society Hill before moving to the Main Line. Some of my earliest memories were treks to the market and to Di Bruno’s.
When you walked into the long and very narrow store that was Di Bruno’s on 9th Street, it was a feast for the senses: cheeses and cured meats were suspended from the ceiling and shelves lined the walls with all sorts of foods and coffees. Large oak barrels filled with olives, pepperoncini, and other brine-soaked treats stood at attention like soldiers. Their spicy, salty aromas saturated the store.
People were greeted with a smile and the brothers were always helpful. You could truly trust them to give you something fabulous when you asked for, say, a suggestion on a cheese or cured meat.
One of my late father’s favorite stories about Di Bruno’s took place one Christmas time, and centered around an older woman in the store who was dressed in neat but threadbare clothes. As he told it, the woman was struggling with what she could get with the very little money she had, when one of the Di Bruno brothers asked if she needed help. She showed them what she had, and they said it would be fine and filled two large shopping bags with food for her. It was obviously far exceeding what she would have been able to pay for, but that was just the way they were. They were kind and they treated all their customers like family.
That feeling and legacy have survived throughout the generations and informed every store Di Bruno’s has opened.
While their latest opens for regular business on April 5in the Ardmore Farmers Market in Suburban Square, Di Bruno’s opened their doors on March 31 for a grand opening celebration that was heaven on earth for foodies.
The Ardmore Market is a very clean and well lit modern space, yet Di Bruno’s, as they have with their other stores, has maintained the feeling of the Italian Market. They spared no expense and treated all of the guests to the delectable treats that made them famous, in addition to samplings from their catering menu.
If the crowd at the grand opening is any indication, Di Bruno’s will be not only a welcome addition to the Main Line food scene, but an incredibly popular one as well.
Buona fortuna Di Bruno’s and welcome to Ardmore!
Here are some photos I took at that launch party:
I only went to Wayne a couple of times because well, Carlino’s in West Chester is out here. Wayne was a big gamble for them when it opened in 2021. I wondered how it would do over time. At the same time they opened Wayne, it seemed like Ardmore was just less than it was before. But I also heard the rents in Suburban Square are crazy expensive around that same time, so was it unexpected to me this news today? Actually yes. I always figured when Wayne opened, eventually Ardmore would be phased out because the Ardmore Farmer’s Market has been a fauxmer’s market for many years, dating back to when DiBruno’s opened there in 2011. As a matter of fact, it was DiBruno’s that got me to go back to the Ardmore Farmer’s Market at all.
Anyway, it’s a major bummer, and I feel sorry for the employees. That will be a BIG empty space in Wayne across from the farmers market there. In Suburban Square? Meh. Kimco will plug some drek in their spot in the fauxmer’s market.
