10 Years ago today (October 22nd, 2004) we officially opened our doors after something like 6 months of renovations and filling out paperwork, standing in lines, getting inspections (and more inspections). The neighborhood was a different place back then but you could get a sense that things were changing.
Liz and Nancy, childhood friends from Jenkintown had decided to join forces earlier in the year. Nancy was working at Bleu on Rittenhouse Square at that time and Liz had just finished a 3 year stint running a cafe in Sydney and had just recently moved into the neighborhood and immediately saw its potential. Believe it or not, there were very few store vacancies. South St Blues (now where La Va is) had recently closed but required significant upgrades but it wasn’t until we spotted a For Rent sign at a Psychic Readers shop and jumped at the opportunity.
Fast forward 6 months and doors open to a steady stream of locals who had been strolling by, eager to check us out. We’re sure there were kinks that needed to be ironed out in those first few days but they’re a distant memory. Fast forward 10 years more years and we continue to serve an ever-changing neighborhood via a philosophy that we stole all those years ago from the Aussie cafes where simple, fresh and tasty are top priority.
We’ll keep going as long as we enjoy coming into work every day. We’re as excited about the neighborhood as ever and still feel that potential that we sensed 10 years ago to be there and there’s no question it’s making inroads. We look forward to being a part of that.
