Malvern Borough King St – other side from Flying Pig – a lot has been empty for a few years, and now construction fencing is up and it looks like foundation digging?
It used to be before it was an empty lot, a row of buildings. The buildings at the time were historic to the borough, but they were in such bad shape. They had to come down. I do know that much because I remember when they were torn down, but then at one point pre-COVID it was a giant apartment tower thing proposed and then that idea went nowhere, but did it really?
So someone tells me that there’s another kind of apartment thing in the works. Shops below and like 30 apartments above, so it’s another one of these fairytales of live work play because you know you can afford to work minimum wage in the shop below and rent the overpriced department above, right?
I’m sorry did I sound sarcastic? I meant to sound sarcastic. If it was maybe small like a dozen units and stores I would say OK that will be at least in keeping with probably human scale in the Borough of Malvern.
Here’s hoping Malvern can get it together enough to stay on top of this. They have yet another new manager who came in at the end of 2024 and I hope she realizes Chester County is a different beast from Delaware County. She is a commissioner in Upper Chichester and used to be Manager in Darby Township.
Malvern Borough is one of those places where they try to keep things on the down low, nothing to see here. I am a particular fan at the moment of the Mayor of Malvern Borough who liked a post the other day that was literally bashing me on Facebook. That’s so very professional for a man I’ve never met. And the amusing thing is the post was just because, literally…a woman I had never even ever interacted with.
Yeah Mr. Mayor, I see you. Maybe it’s time to just retire completely?
30 apartments is going to be fairly tall. And Malvern Borough seems to forget the last time they got something they didn’t like called Eastside flats which really aren’t wearing very well are they?
Apparently the development has a lot of variances needed so right now they’re just digging a hole in the ground, which of course is very attractive with the bright orange construction fencing, which really isn’t too hard for kids to get into. I might add.
Oh, and the 30 apartments? 31 bedroom units and if you’ve seen most of the one bedroom apartments being built today, they are very urban style. In other words there’s not too terribly much room for you to even change your mind. Nothing is affordable because God forbid you have affordable units as an affordable housing. It helps create and keep a more transient society, which isn’t good for overall areas because people don’t know the history they don’t care about the history they come and they go depending on the rent increases. Ask people in the Summerhill development in West Whiteland for example, ok?
Of course this evening is the public hearing in East Whiteland that you can zoom or attend in person about the repurposed office building over on Swedesford. It is another live work, play fairytale and it’s 220 units.
You know it would be really nice if these municipalities especially when they are in the same school district would actually work together better on how many development units were coming. Between the municipalities and a couple of school districts you have to wonder when Great Valley School District in particular is going to end up like West Chester Area School District , or Downingtown…or huge. And in the case of Great Valley, it’s kind of like Tredyffrin. Where are they going to put more schools? Oh wait in Tredyffrin they repurposed one of these godforsaken obsolete office parks into plans for a school!
So all the people without reading comprehension are going to just say once again I am anti-development across the board. And that’s not it. I am anti-bad planning and I am anti-ugly developer profit driven cram plans.
Communities need to allow for some development to keep moving forward. The problem in Pennsylvania is it’s too much development because the municipalities planning code hasn’t been updated since 1969.
See that photo? This is today as in just a little while ago in Malvern Borough. In their parking lot.
This white Tesla is not showing a handicap tag or a handicap placard, but they just took two handicap parking spaces so they could run into the building and then come out. The parking lot isn’t jammed. Far from it.
Two days ago it was a blue Tesla. Again Malvern Borough, two spots. Two handicapped spots. The person who sent me the photo at the time told me they sat there and watched literally as two people got out of the Tesla, and “jogged” into the building. No handicap tag, paper temporary tag, or handicap hanging placard.
So is this another Tesla ignorance thing? I say a Tesla ignorance thing, because personally near where I live, I have seen a particular white Tesla run the light at a VERY problematic four way intersection instead of coming to a stop when the light is turning. so is this behavioral characteristics of people who buy the car or just plain old, ordinary ignorance?
And then you just have to wonder about Malvern Borough. Do they have security cameras that watch the parking lot? I do know for a fact that the person who took the photos has turned them over to the police department there. So my suggestion to Malvern would be if they don’t have a security camera that is trained on handicap spots, they might want to add one. That way those not entitled to handicap parking can pay for their privilege and misplaced sense of entitlement.
Obviously, something needs to be done if you’re seeing this in the same parking lot within two days of each other. Maybe once you could say it was a mistake, but with the second one in the same week, it’s like it’s a pattern isn’t it?
It’s not necessarily particularly easy to get a handicap hanging placard, or a handicap plate. I remember years ago when I lived on the Main Line I had a neighbor next-door, who literally kept his mother’s handicap placard for years after she was dead. He had no handicap, but he kept it so he could get parking spaces where he wanted. It was appalling.
Eventually, my neighbor from years ago got caught because there was one time when he parked somewhere and I forget what he was driving at the time (he used to like fancier cars), and anyway wherever he was he had not only parked in a handicap spot, but he wasn’t particularly neat about his parking, so he was partially in another spot, and his plates got run along with the handicap hangtag in his rearview mirror. Let’s just say it was like the PennDOT version of the cuffs don’t match the collar.
I also remember when someone I once knew became more ill with cancer, and they had to go through the hoops to get a handicap hanging placard because it made it easier for the person and person driving them getting in and out of a car and into places after a while. I also remember how offensive it was when they would be going to park somewhere and getting ready to pull into a handicap spot with the handicap tag in full display and somebody without any handicap tags would just steal the spot.
Another place where I see people doing this all the time is in the center of Wayne on N. Wayne Ave. Some of the rather entitled, nouveau Main Liners think that the handicap spots are for their convenience…along with taking multiple spots at a time.
Anyway, don’t be jerks out there. Please leave the handicap spots for the people who actually need them. And if you’re familiar with Malvern Borough you know that because the library is in the same place with the township building, etc. that there are a lot of senior citizens, who go there to use the library who are entitled to those spots.
Thanks for stopping by.
By the way, so I don’t get comments about this, as this occurred in a public parking lot and as such there is no reasonable expectation to privacy in a public space so this photo is very much allowed.
I stumbled upon this. From what I can tell Malvern Borough released information on employees, former employees, police or someone Malvern Borough was using did?
The Borough Council meetings don’t seem to have comprehensive recordings so I can’t view them for myself. But apparently they have been a free for all full of explosive behavior and George Carlin’s 7 dirty curse words.
I spoke to Bill Rettew. He doesn’t actually decide what stories run. His editor does. And The Daily Local is an eviscerated newspaper owned by a hedge fund which doesn’t really give a crap about any of the papers they own. So whomever CMR Concerned Malvern Residents are, maybe try NOT acting like a bunch of loons. There is other media in the area other than the Daily Local. Go to investigative reporters at 3/6/10/29 but be advised even if reporters talk to you, their is zero guarantee that their producers or station manager will let them run with the story. Same with The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine as far as the editors go and what the writers can do.
And whatever this is, actually it does seem ugly and although I am being pretty fair with this post, I will undoubtedly get hate messages and comments. To which I say STFU y’all wanted this out there didn’t you?
The sad thing is these people raising the alarm on this are NOT wrong. They aren’t. These leaks can be as bad as hackers stealing data. If this truly happened, no matter how brief the exposure was, these people should be offered year of Experian or LifeLock monitoring.
Do I believe anyone’s lives are at risk? Honestly no, but if some of those people are law enforcement I am also not qualified to comment either way.
If this incident really happened, Malvern Borough should own it. They should publicly state what happened, what they did, and what any consequences might be or should be. Maybe it was no harm, no foul in the end. But there should be public answers to this, I do agree with that 100%.
But CNR Concerned Malvern Residents need to know how to behave. They are lucky they haven’t been ejected from meetings, or maybe they have. Who knows. But what they are trying to say is getting lost in bad behavior. In the end if they don’t hone their message all people will remember is they screamed at public meetings.
Maybe it is also time for Malvern Borough to be more sunshine friendly and record their meetings and load them on YouTube. Any 5th grader can show them how.
I can’t comment on whether or not the Malvern Borough Manager should be removed and any of the Borough Council or the Mayor. Again, given the lack of transparency as far as zero found meeting recordings and other things makes it hard to decide in an educated and informed matter.
And whomever it was on Borough Council who basically said they had never heard of the F.O.P. or whatever, I only have this to say: COME ON MAN. SO DUMB.
Honestly….you just can’t make this stuff up if you tried. The latest tempest in a misplaced sense of entitlement teapot in Willistown Township, Chester County is because the township is essentially calling for resident decorum at township meetings. Basic Roberts Rules of Order, truthfully.
Shock and horrors, the overly entitled meeting savages are being told that people have to act like grown-ups. You would think someone was being put in a pillory wearing a scarlet letter. It’s hysterical.
“We are not most places.” That, dear readers, sums it all up. Utter misplaced sense of entitlement and we are all peasants by comparison.
So now we know the natives are restless once again in Willistown Township.
I had to laugh when I started to read this commentary above because this is kind of the way a lot of municipalities operate. And the reason this is happening in Willistown is because sometimes the residents are so incredibly rude when they are speaking.
I completely understand being passionate about something, but you have these people in Willistown that literally monopolize the meetings and have misplaced sense of entitlement.
And in the same vein, they are horribly rude to the manager and other staff at the meeting as well as the supervisors.
Now, I totally get being terse addressing elected officials as some of them can just make you crazy, but they take it to a whole new level.
And some of the former main sewer rats, whom you thought would sort of calm down after the sewer sale was yanked, still monopolize every meeting and they don’t just speak once or twice they go on and on, and on a lot of the time. They interrupt, they interject, they act like they run that township, and they do not. Whatever points they’re trying to make get lost in translation every meeting and if you’re watching the meeting you just sit there thinking it would be more fun sticking needles in your eye.
At some point towards the end of 2023 they were incredibly vile to the new township manager. I forget which meeting it was, but it was on a recording and it was just terrible so this is a Roberts Rules of Order they reap what they sow.
I will tell you what bothers me honestly is the fact that Willistown is in temporary meeting spaces for I don’t know what reason – I guess they’re having work done on the township building – and they’re not going to be recording meetings or offering Zoom. I find that in particular a problem and truly anti-sunshine, because there is so much technology out there today that they could indeed at least record the meeting and put it up on YouTube or something. Especially because they are in schools and most schools have recording equipment right?
Recently I unplugged and took time for myself. I wanted to try something artistic I had not done before, so I took a stained glass class. It was so much fun!
I had learned about the class from a stained glass artist who has studio space in Gallery 222 in Malvern. Her name is Jill Huentelman and her business is Huentelglas. I actually know her a bit and one of her stained glass Christmas ornaments has hung on my Christmas tree a few years.
I love stained glass. I have since I was in elementary school and we took a field trip to a glass blowing and stained glass place. I wish I could remember where it was. I bought a pear stained glass light catcher that I still have today. I have light catchers all over. A bunch from my childhood that my mother gave me, some I found, and a bluebird that belonged to a mother of a friend once upon a time.
Before we started to work on what I was going to create, I learned about a bit of the history of stained glass. Then in with the history came to safety aspects of how to behave in the studio, and how to act around the glass for lack of a better description. Jill is a wonderful instructor and I loved every minute of my time in her studio.
So in the end, I decided I wanted to make a bird instead of a pear. Jill will choose a pear with people to make because that way it is a simple design and not extraordinarily complicated for the first time working with glass like this.
I drew my pattern. Next came choosing the glass.
Jill has so much glass and it’s so cool. There’s plain glass and glass that has pattern and almost texture to the top of it. The glass I chose was reminiscent to me of slag glass I have seen in church windows in Chester County.
Wow, I was learning to cut glass for stained glass! First, I learned how to cut straight lines. Then I learned how to cut curves, and then I was ready to cut out my pattern. It was fun! (And nerve wracking because I didn’t want to make a mistake!)
After I cut out my glass, we did the grinding to smooth any sharp edges and make the design look more like what I wanted. After it was cut out and ground, it got a quick wash off.
Next comes this copper foil. Wound and worked around the edges and rubbed smooth with a special stick which has a name- I think it’s a burnisher, but I think it also has other names.
Next comes the soldering. And soldering involves this stuff that looks like dark Vaseline called “flux.” It makes the soldering stick.
After the soldering and the gluing of the bird’s little eye came another bath and rubbing it down and shining it up with a finishing compound. It keeps the soldering silver and made the glass shine more. It’s a shine and buff.
My class was actually a few hours long and it flew by so quickly it seemed like it was half an hour.
The classes are reasonably priced. You can find everything on her website. The price of the class includes all your materials and there is also a waiver to sign before you enter the studio. Another thing that I should’ve mentioned before is that at various times during this creative process, you rinse your hands off with a special soap that pulls metal and things out of your skin because we’re touching things that contain metals like lead.
It was SO much fun and I think my bird turned out great! So far the classes are just a one off, but if Jill did a series, I would totally sign up! If I took another class, I would like to learn how to make those cool stakes that you can put in your flower pots.
Also, while I was there, I got to see what was hanging on the walls of Gallery 222 in Malvern, which is such an awesome place.
Having art in your life, and the ability for creative outlet is something I’ve always found to be important. Much like gardening, it’s just good for your head and soul.
She’s baaaaacccccckkk! Gail Newman international woman of idiocy and failed politician is back. She’s hosting political meet-ups now. And apparently she’s doing it at local businesses too? She would be as welcome as ants at a picnic one would think, right?
On the face of it, it’s actually hysterical because although she doesn’t know how to win, she is past master of annoy thy neighbors and intrusive behavior isn’t she? She was such a bad candidate she made Kristine Howard look good and now Kristine thinks she should be a judge but that’s another conversation for another day. Oh and Gail still has her state rep page up, so obviously she may try again?
Part of what bothers me with this is did the National Bank of Malvern approve this being posted at their bank? Will they allow other political persuasions to post things now or is this just Gail doing whatever? However, if the bank is getting selectively political, that is kind of problematic isn’t it? I mean they say they are not for sale but define for sale?
The other part of what bothers me is Gail Newman is attempting taking over the tranquility and friendliness of Julie Anne’s Place in Malvern Borough. My guess there is she did NOT ask permission or pay for space because well, girlfriend wants a meet up on March 1st and the favorite breakfast and lunch spot for so many is on vacation until March 3rd, so what’s up? Are they going to meet on the sidewalk March 1st? I mean, why couldn’t Gail just meet on the sidewalk in front of the Wawa like the teenagers and Malvern Borough?
Maybe Gail Newman is just being kind of exclusionary ? Maybe everyone should start going to her gatherings and takeover her meetings? Or be sure to pack Julie Anne’s on days she says her group is going to be there? After all at the end of the day, it is not OK to co-opt someone’s small business like that is it? And a lot of small businesses don’t want groups like this which have an edge for one political side or the other taking over their small floor space because that’s a turn off to other customers, isn’t it?
Gail, have the meetings AT YOUR HOUSE! Show more respect for local businesses.
Since they opened (or since I became aware of them which was pre-COVID, maybe 2018) I have been trying to go in and see what local Chester County business Thiers Custom Framing and Fine Art Gallery located next to where Sheffields is all about. Their address is 223 E. King Street in Malvern Borough.
I love galleries and I have friends who are framers, but I also just love to look at art and I love to look at frames because it always gives you an idea of how to reframe something or perhaps an inspiration. And I also like to support small businesses. So although I would probably never use this business for framing, I would have been totally interested in seeing what art they had. Art is a wonderful addition to any community, and for example I love Gallery 222 also in Malvern Borough. Gallery 222 is fabulous as a matter of fact.
Anyway back to Thiers. I can’t tell you how many times since I became aware of them that I have tried to stop by and go into this gallery/framer. They never ever seem to be open! I understood not being open during COVID, but other than that I’ve never understood it because I know it is not an inexpensive proposition to have a retail store front.
I actually used to think it was just me hitting Thiers at off times. I was just never around when they were open during Malvern Business Association activities like the Malvern Stroll, etc. and when they were open for one Malvern Christmas I was aware of, I just forgot because the street was so busy with all these other things going on that I just never got there. I figured I’d have another opportunity. Well I never did.
So I saw with interest a post that appeared on a local page today (and it was the second one posted – the other post was in June ) :
I subsequently went and looked on the Thiers business page on Facebook. This is all I found:
This business hasn’t posted anything since April. Now that in and of itself is not necessarily unusual because a lot of businesses are not up on social media. And I can certainly sympathize with a small business having family emergencies. However that seems to be the only thing since April, so I have to ask is it still a viable business? Are they still open? Does their landlord or the Malvern Business Association have any input for people? Who is their landlord, because I am told they don’t own their bricks.
I did go to the person who posted and they were kind enough to message me and let me know that they have been emailing and calling for months. So what they would like to know is if there are any other people out there waiting to get what they purchased or pick up items they left for framing?
No one, myself included, wants to do a local small business dirty. But there comes a point in time where you have to communicate with people. People understand life presents challenges, I think we can all agree that since COVID entered our world, we have all experienced challenges.
But it is time for this business in Malvern Borough to do the right thing. They should give this person back their family artwork because that has special sentimental value. They should also connect with anyone else they have anything outstanding with.
Since I first started digging around to see if I could find anything posted whatsoever about this business and what is going on (this morning), something interesting happened. What is that you ask? I was blocked by this business on Facebook. This afternoon. Why on earth would a business with nothing weird going on do that? And is it possible they may have also blocked actual customers trying to connect with them on Facebook and in other ways? I asked a person I know from out of state if they could pull up Thiers and they did:
Thiers needs to understand that NO ONE means them any ill will, people just want to know what happened to them. And customers waiting on framing, want their property back if the business is unable to complete what they had contracted with customers to do. I am not getting into the who is owed money of it all, that is not an appropriate conversation for me to have and above my pay grade.
Now why did I take an interest in this? Well first of all I took an interest because it was a place I always wanted to visit and they’ve never been open every time I have gone by since 2018 (I think that is when I first noticed them) and I’m in that area a lot. Secondly I took an interest because once upon a time, long before I lived out here I took my grandmother’s little writing desk to a furniture maker/repair person whom my parents always had used. Sadly that little desk had been left in pieces when this particular furniture maker and crafts person who had a warehouse in Ardmore died (2006 I think.) Now at that time I was lucky I got my piece back because my mother had several antiques that just flat out disappeared and essentially were presumed stolen. We never knew or found out who took the pieces. It totally bummed me out because these were things my parents bought when they were married, and my father had died in 2005, the year before the furnituremaker died. So this was truly upsetting to my mother back then, and was like another loss.
But I never actually saw my little desk that was my grandmother’s completely put back together. I took it then to yet another furniture maker/repair person after the prior one had passed away. This person subsequently moved a couple of times within the area and I just never heard from them again. So I don’t know what ever happened to the desk or if it was ever repaired. And I remember how that made me feel, which was a little sad.
So that is why I am putting this out there in the hopes that this business in Malvern gets in touch with their customers. Life happens, and if they communicate, it makes life easier on them and customers, right? I am also putting this out there in the event that there are other people waiting to hear from Thiers in Malvern.
Now given that people seem to bitch about everything, they may bitch about this post too. But this is a cool old house in Malvern Borough, and it looks like repairs and restoration are happening. I think that is awesome if so.
A lot of the old houses everywhere just rot, so when you see this it gives you hope that people still care about old houses. Thank you to whomever is bringing this old house back to life.
Today I met a friend for coffee. We went to The Malvern Buttery where I had not been since before COVID19 upended our world. It was nice to be back!
The set up is different still, and no inside seating. You have to wear a mask inside and it’s like one long counter now.
There are all the old favorites plus some new things and grab and go galore. We had an early lunch and my friend had an iced chai latte and I had an iced matcha latte.
It was lovely sitting outside. A lot of the tables have umbrellas. Some people were there with dogs and I saw the most spectacular English Setter!
I have missed The Malvern Buttery and if you haven’t been in a while, go check it out. And they have this fabulous new to me croissant with rhubarb I also highly recommend!
The Malvern Buttery is located at 233 E. King Street in Malvern Borough. Again, right now takeout only Wednesday- Sunday 8 AM to 2 PM.
Eastside Flats in Malvern Borough. Still don’t like them how many years later, although I do support the businesses. So who owns Eastside Flats now because I am uncertain at this point who owns the development and who manages it? It’s not the original developer.
Does everyone remember a couple of different things that put Eastside flats in the news early on? The amazingly and shockingly low amount of ratables Malvern Borough would receive for approving a development still out of scale and character for the Borough of Malvern? And the other kerfuffle when The Whip Tavern said no to Eastside Flats in Malvern Borough?
But then everyone heard Christopher’s was coming to town. It was like that one thing changed a lot of perception about this behemoth of a development. I have always felt like Christopher’s was a kind of anchor that drew people to Eastside Flats and other people and other businesses quite possibly. I know they are what initially made me personally give Eastside Flats a chance.
Christopher’s made Malvern more of a destination, which in turn benefited other businesses and the borough itself. And if there was a community event, Christopher’s in Malvern was right there for the community the way Christopher’s in Wayne always has been.
And for years Christopher’s did things like featured local artists on their walls. And they had wonderful staff. If you told one of the Christopher’s waitstaff you had a particular food allergy or a series of food allergies, they all knew the menu so well that they could bring you a flawless order that wouldn’t make you sick. They did this for a friend of mine one time when we went in for lunch. She had a lot of food allergies and they took care of her so perfectly. (it’s because of all these things that I will continue to go to Wayne once life returns to a more normal pattern.)
Recently, Christopher’s closed their Malvern location thanks to the COVID19 of it all, to return solely to a Wayne which leaves a giant, gaping, empty hole in the streetscape,and also, well they will be missed. In addition to being a wonderful business, Christopher’s offered food that wasn’t formula pub food and you didn’t just go there because it was a bar. You went there because it was a restaurant and it was a nice experience for all ages. It wasn’t huge or cavernous and cold as a space it was kind of just right. But can you imagine what the rent nut was to cover in Eastside Flats?
COVID-19 has caused America’s hospitality industry from coast to coast to take a direct and brutal hit. The largest in history for that industry. Restaurants and other hospitality industry businesses are closing left and right from coast to coast. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that not only are they getting no assistance, it’s the rents they are being charged.
But I have to ask, what kind of rent do these commercial landlords think they will get? After all, we are in a struggling in the present economy at a minimum, and nobody wants to look at what the other potential downside is, correct? I also think overall the economy has not been as strong as we have been led to believe. And people will argue with me about that but that’s just how I feel.
Malvern’s charm is in it’s history and size, much like the village portion of Berwyn and similarly scaled small towns and villages. Berwyn is in Easttown Township and a present is suffering from potential development implications of its own, but I think they need to look at what’s going on in Malvern Borough right now.
These new developments come in and even with old developments they will offer a lower rent to get somebody in the door. Then those rents get jumped over time to the point that the businesses have to look at their own financial viability and decide if they want to put food on the table of their families and staff or food on the table of whoever the commercial landlords are.
I know plenty of people who have over the years owned other restaurants or brick and mortar stores in various communities who had to make the painful decision to close because after their initial honeymoon when they first came to town and did business with their respective commercial landlords, they couldn’t justify the rents any longer.
And commercial property owners don’t really necessarily care about the empty storefronts in our communities, it’s about what they can make. So they won’t look at continual lease turnover the same way a community might. If one of their property sits empty, I am told they apply those losses to the bottom line of profits from other properties, so for them, it’s business as usual if a place is empty, right? Greedy is as greedy does right? And a lot of these commercial landlords aren’t local. So they don’t get what happens locally nor do they really care do they?
So now we are here in 2020. In October 2020 which has to be one of the most stressful and heartbreaking years a lot of us have experienced in our lifetimes. And a global pandemic known as COVID-19 is bringing the economy down like a house of cards, card by freaking card isn’t it? Drive Route 30 alone from further west to east to the city line. You really see the empty store fronts. This is no joke.
When it comes to local restaurants, not all of them have the space to put things outside and not all of the communities have the wherewithal to let the businesses put tables outside. And because this virus is not under control, and there’s no shot for it, everything is two steps forward and seven steps back is what it feels like. We are in the midst of additional outbreaks now. Which of course then makes businesses fear they will have to shut down again.
Someone said to me that essentially politics is driving all of this. And you can’t just blame it on one party or the other. Especially out here in these smaller municipalities. They don’t really have political savvy or Wiley Coyoteness. And yes, in Philadelphia they do (cue Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and the giant mess there), but out here? The politicians don’t necessarily run much, they are kind of run, aren’t they?
So when I heard about Christopher’s closing, I mentioned it to a chef in search of a space. And they didn’t want just any space they wanted the right space. And this is a chef who will blow a lot of culinary minds. They have the international and national credentials, they have the knowledge base and experience. So I told them about Eastside Flats. Selfishly, I want them to open a restaurant in our area. A lot of people do. They are also the kind of person who would bring people to the community just the way Christopher’s did and say Alba and General Warren do. It would be win-win to our communities and existing fine dining.
I asked this person the other day whatever had happened with them investigating Eastside Flats. And I think suffice it to say, unrealistic rents on the part of the commercial landlord happened. Did I mention this is a person with business experience? They essentially told me that what was being quoted for rent wouldn’t be sustainable during a normal period, let alone a global pandemic. Essentially, a business needs to sustain itself and with what whomever over there at Eastside is currently thinking, it just wouldn’t happen, that they wouldn’t even be able to break even. It’s a typical commercial property dilemma, and the dilemma is the only party who would be making a profit would be the commercial property owner and what small business in their right mind wants to assume that risk?
I am not an economist, but I remember hearing somewhere once that most restaurants only start to turn a profit in the 3 to 5 year mark if they are lucky and survive that long. Profit is revenue minus costs, both fixed and variable, right? Starting a restaurant is fantastically expensive correct? Also what fits into the equation is also not confusing profitability with revenue generating, yes? Even if a restaurant is generating high revenue, they’re not necessarily reflecting a similar profit, correct?
So I think Malvern Borough and other municipalities need to wake up. Stop just bending over for absentee commercial landlords and developers. Recognize that compromise is something that they have to negotiate so we get quality non-formula and not just chain or franchise businesses in our communities. We need a retail mix that has better planning, essentially. In a lot of other areas municipalities have retail coordinators who help recruit businesses to the communities in which they work and help the negotiation process between potential businesses and commercial landlords. Even business district authorities and business associations will do this. And the simple reason for that is nobody is as invested in the community as the community itself.
Eastside Flats is kind of looking like a ghost town. And they just let a huge opportunity for our community and for them walk away because of unrealistic rent expectations. They might not like my opinion but the first amendment allows me to have it.
So that is your food for thought so to speak for the day. How are your communities being impacted by commercial landlords during COVID-19? And how will the hospitality industry survive and what will it look like after this? And when you are formulating your response try to leave the politics out of it because politicians and political parties come and go but these are our local businesses.
Also if you are interested Bon Appétit Magazine has a terrific article from the end of September on how you can help those in the restaurant industry.
