ruh roh: interior design firm from malvern (really frazer) outed by 6abc, police on their trail.

Well it really and truly IS a bring the popcorn week in Chester County, PA. Yesterday a friend texted me and said they just saw a teaser on 6 ABC about am interior design firm in East Whiteland. I though to myself, “could it be?” and sure enough it was! M. Kaplan Interiors right on Lancaster Ave in Frazer. They call it Malvern, but it’s Frazer.

Troubleshooters: Criminal charges filed against Main Line furniture store owner
By Nydia Han and Heather Grubola WPVI
Friday, February 17, 2023 6:02AM

MALVERN, Pennsylvania (WPVI) — Criminal charges have been filed against the owner of an interior design and furniture company on the Main Line.

This comes after an Action News Troubleshooters investigation led by our Nydia Han who talked to consumers and East Whiteland Township police.

The Troubleshooters began investigating after multiple consumers reached out to us about M. Kaplan Interiors, a husband and wife team with a storefront on Lancaster Avenue in Malvern, Chester County.

On Thursday, Matt Kaplan was charged with crimes that include theft by deception as well as fraudulent business practices, and a warrant was issued for his arrest….The criminal complaint filed Thursday is on behalf of Kerr and three other customers whose allegations are very similar.

The East Whiteland Township police detective wrote in the arrest warrant, “Matthew Kaplan knew he was unable to honor the sales agreements he entered into with the above four victims yet he took their money.”

Remember it is best to pay for big purchases with a credit card and not to pay in full, upfront.

I went in there ONCE. It was to look for a sofa for our then new house. The woman inside was rude. I left. I found an antique sofa at then Resellers which I liked better and they were nice enough to do a local delivery. I found out later that was wife of husband and wife who run the joint. I reupholstered the sofa and it sits in my living room today.

I am not an interior designer or interior design showroom person by nature. Occasionally I have visited these places over the years, but except for Sheffield right in Malvern Borough, I have never found the people who work in these places well particularly friendly. Friendly at furniture stores, but showrooms? Meh.

A couple of years ago, a friend had a bad experience. She had to persist and persist and finally visit with her spouse to get a refund. Other friends had similar tales of no credit cards, only cash or check and husband was pleasant, wife who is the “designer” not so much.

I had actually wondered if they were actually still open recently. Every time I drove by there were no cars except for the occasional car parked crookedly that I figured belonged to an employee or owner.

I went and perused reviews today:

I also perused court dockets. It makes you wonder how they have stayed open so long? Here is the current docket mentioned on the news:

They also received a mention today in Philadelphia Magazine :

Main Line Furniture Store Owners In Hot Water

Thursday was also a bad day for Matt Kaplan, owner of M. Kaplan Interiors, a furniture store and interior design company in Malvern. The 15-second version is that the store took thousands of dollars from customers for pricey furniture that never materialized. According to 6ABC investigative reporter Nydia Han, Kaplan claims he didn’t do anything wrong and blamed the whole thing on supply chain issues. The Chester County District Attorney’s office would seem to disagree, since the office charged Kaplan on Thursday with 16 felony counts of theft, receiving stolen property, and deceptive business practices.

Oh, I also think they go by a second business name or it is related somehow? See screen shots below.

If you are someone who had unpleasant dealings with this company and they owe you goods/services/money, please contact East Whiteland Township Police Department. Email is pdoyle@eastwhitelandpd.org or call 610-897-4262. This is an active criminal investigation.

the site might be more cleaned up, but the ruin of ebenezer on bacton hill road doesn’t have much time.

November, 2016

I have not written about the ruin of Ebeneezer AME Church on Bacton Hill Road in East Whiteland for a couple of years now. It’s not my party any longer, and truthfully there are members of East Whiteland’s Historical Commission whom I am sure would prefer I not have an interest in this site. I guess it doesn’t matter that I did a lot of work for this site, some of my friends did a lot of work for this site, and years ago when no one was paying attention I did the placement for the media coverage which was local and regional.

But I do have an interest in this site. It spoke to me years ago, and today I listened again. In 2016 a structural engineer reviewed this historic site and warned about not addressing the bowing of the longer north and south facing walls. There were also warnings of the use of heavy equipment on and close to site. Well today I got a couple of photos from the road because of what I saw a couple of weeks ago that disturbed me.

The walls are coming down. No, no one is taking them down, the years and years of neglect leave no other option for old walls.

November 13, 2022

I think this is tragic and really upsetting. But it’s not within my power to change it. It is still within the power of the AME Church, unless they have suddenly transferred the property to another entity. I also think East Whiteland Township could try to do a little more.

I asked someone for an update on the site in June and never heard a peep. OK fine, they aren’t interested in conversing with me, but now I am saying I told you so. If they want to preserve any part of the ruling of that church, they need to move a little more quickly. They also need to preserve the graves that are in the graveyard.

Ebenezer represents a heck of a lot of history and there are freed slaves, black Civil War Soldiers, and ancestors of people who still live in the area today. This site deserves respect. Respect just isn’t a historical marker, respect is a better degree of historic preservation. You can read about my coverage of Ebenezer by doing a search on this site or CLICK HERE.

#ThisPlaceMatters

contrasts in frazer

There had to be brand spanking new apartments built and perched on Lancaster Avenue in Frazer.

They look like every other No Tell Motel architectural style apartments that are going up everywhere.

But one would think they would care about other housing that’s pre-existing along the same stretch of highway right?

Here is your contrast below. The photos of certain houses, which are apparently also cloaked with invisibility. It’s a shame those renters can’t live in thought to be swanky apartments, or even properties that are maintained decently, right?

have you been to frazer antiques lately?

Have you been to Frazer Antiques lately? I had not been since right before COVID19 hit. Well today we went and it was so much fun!

I took a bunch of photos and I am sharing them with all of you.

#ShopLocal #ShopSmall

Frazer Antiques. 351 Lancaster Avenue, Frazer, PA 19355. (610)- 651-8299. Open 10AM – 5PM.

always love for loch aerie

My friend Catherine Quillman, who is a Chester County artist, author, and historian sent me a note the other day. Yes , she is one of those people like myself who occasionally sends real notes. (Only hers are always so much better because they usually involve a little piece of her art or a cartoon she has drawn.)

Anyway she sent me this old art advertisement she came across and it’s about Loch Aerie. It was done for Chester County artist Christopher Schultz in 1994 when he was selling a print he made of Loch Aerie that was slightly fanciful.

What makes this old advertisement so special is I don’t think Catherine knew I used to own one of these prints! I had bought it off a yard sale group and it lived on my guestroom wall until I found a C. Phillip Wikoff print I liked better. (I also found that print on a yard sale group.)

So when I heard the current owners of Loch Aerie (the Poiriers ) had rescued her, I decided I would give the Loch Aerie print to them as a housewarming/welcome to the neighborhood kind of thing. And I did just that. But this advertisement is part of the provenance of the print so I will give them this too!

Local history and local artists are always intertwined and this is just a cool thing! Thanks Catherine for always thinking of me!

is caring for the earth pumping water out of a creek in east whiteland township?

The photos I am posting were sent to me this afternoon. They are not altered in any way. They were taken on Frame Avenue, Malvern/Frazer in East Whiteland.

I have no idea who the contractor is but how is it they are using a creek as their water source? Did they have permission? Is this part of the Little Valley Creek? If so isn’t Little Valley and its tributaries supposed to be protected around here and are trout streams or something?

Again, I did not take these photos. A resident of Frame Avenue took these photos and sent them to me at 3:30 PM this afternoon. I forwarded them to East Whiteland Township because I am somewhat astounded and do not think I have ever seen a landscaper or a contractor use a natural water source for their work. Any contractor or landscaper that I have ever seen has either transported their own water to a site, or they use the water on a customer’s property as in they hook up to a hose outlet or something.

This is a little odd to me so I am posting. I also don’t know it over there so well so that is all I have got. I know there has been development around there, but I have no idea for whom this landscaper would be working.

I apologize if I am being alarmist, this just doesn’t seem normal or even kosher to me. I am unfamiliar with this company as well as noted on the truck and can’t find a website.

Any information would be welcome here. I am at a loss and I can tell you if I saw some random truck pumping water out of a local creek I would be pretty upset. It seems neither right nor normal. Please note on the truck it mentions erosion control. Oh the irony, right?

days gone by…frazer

Sometimes it’s just lighting. But it sets a mood.

I stopped to take pictures of the laundromat and car wash in Frazer, East Whiteland that are now closed and frozen in time. Eventually the wrecking ball will come a calling, but right now I can take some photos so one day when someone asks what was there, we remember.

A car wash and a laundromat. Things people still use. But not sexy enough when it comes to development and the future, right?

Enjoy the photos.

just another disgrace in frazer

Christmas 2016 there was a nasty fire adjacent to the Wawa on Planebrook Rd and Lancaster Avenue in Frazer. Here we are the last week of September, 2020 and that ramshackle and what visibly appears to be a structure quite unsafe.

What is going on with this structure? Everyone said that it would come down but it hasn’t so what’s up? We all of course also thought about it again when the human trafficking story broke in East Whiteland.

Anyway, I think the building is continuing to deteriorate, don’t you? Does it also give a whole new je ne sais quois to the term slumlord as well?

file under: bad luck or cursed?

IMG_E8086We all have been waiting for Stove & Tap to open their Frazer, PA (Malvern) on Route 30 in Lincoln Court Shopping Center.

But it has taken for-ev-er.  A local quipped a few months ago that the Sistine Chapel was done is less time.  I don’t know. But what I do know is I noticed a couple of weeks ago when I was over in Lincoln Court that they finally looked almost ready. And people really want them to open around here.

But…then someone said the other day a truck had gone through the front. And not just any old truck apparently, but one with a tanker full of blacktop goop and WHAAAAAT???

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Bad luck or cursed, you have to feel for these restaurateurs. And I know Rome wasn’t built in a day but ya know we first heard about them coming to Chester County at some point in 2018.  Then all of the buzz started in early 2019

Vista: Stove & Tap Preparing for Grand Opening of Second Location  

Posted By: Kimberly McGuanePosted date: February 21, 2019

Stove & Tap, a popular restaurant and bar in Lansdale, is preparing for the grand opening of its second location, the Lincoln Court Shopping Center in Frazer, writes Kenneth Hilario for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

This is the fourth joint venture of business partners Justin Weathers and Chef Joe Monnich. In addition to the original Stove & Tap and the forthcoming one, the two restaurateurs also operate The Bercy in Ardmore and Al Pastor in Exton.

The new restaurant and bar at 215 Lancaster Avenue will span 7,500 square feet and generate five full-time jobs and 55 part-time positions. The owners also said there is potential for more positions after it opens.

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PA Eats: We’ve Got the Scoop on the New Stove & Tap in Frazer, PA by Emily Kovach on Mar 7, 2019

A new restaurant is headed to Frazer, PA: a second iteration of the wildly popular Stove & Tap in Lansdale. This new location, which will be about 35 miles southwest of the original (and just 8 miles north of West Chester), will bring the same rustic American dining and great bar atmosphere, and will certainly be a favorite new gathering spot for locals…. The 7,500-square-foot space, which was secured by restaurant real estate rock stars James Pinckney and Tess Scott of ZMCRE, was renovated under architect Joe Lombardi and interior design firm Boulange Designs (which also designed The Bercy). The aesthetic will be “rustic Americana” with plenty of reclaimed wood and metal and vintage wallpaper.

 

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Inquirer: Stove & Tap to open a location in Chester County
by Michael Klein, Updated: February 14, 2019

….Opening is projected for April.

Both are Starr Restaurant alums: Weathers as a manager at various locations and Monnich as a chef at The Dandelion and Parc.

Well….I think we are past April…..it’s September …and someone told me the blacktop truck well…. MADE A HUGE MESS.

Is this the universe telling East Whiteland Township there are enough beer pub kind of places around here already?

Lincoln Court is a weird place at times and in my opinion they have one of the WORST parking lots around.  Who hired the blacktop truck I wonder?  How did that truck slip?

Seriously, you just have to feel for the owners of Stove & Tap.   When will they open in Malvern/Frazer? In August the Inquirer said September/October, but given what I saw today, well who knows? I don’t know who does their publicity but maybe less playing possum and a little more being straight with the timeline might be in order? Especially with what happened?

I look forward to trying the place when it does finally open even if I don’t really drink beer ever. If anyone has the scoop here, feel free to leave a comment.

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