Market East, like many commercial corridors in Philadelphia and throughout the nation, has seen an increasing amount of empty storefront.
With e-commerce becoming a more prevalent entity, it’s forcing those in the retail industry to find new ways of thinking about retail.
This summer, six pop-up storefronts will be opening up at Market East as aim to revive long-vacant storefronts along the commercial corridor, writes Inga Saffron for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The effort is being led by South Kensington architect Brian Phillips, founder of ISA Building Lab.
A few years ago, Phillips started to notice a trend in which the apartments he had designed would fill up quickly, while the storefronts surrounding them would often remain empty.
As commercial rents fell in some neighborhoods, many developers no longer felt it was worth finding retail tenants.
In 2022, Phillips created Meantime, a nonprofit that allows pop-up businesses founded by artists and makers to temporary fill empty storefronts until a long-term tenant came along.
“It was a way for developers who aren’t retail savvy to fill the ground floors,” Phillips said. “We shouldn’t just accept vacancy.”
With successful efforts in Fishtown and University City, Phillips and Meantime is hopeful the pop-ups on Market East can help change perceptions surrounding the commercial corridor.
Read more about Brian Phillips and his effort to revive Market East in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
_____
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA.Today in May 2026.
