Drive-By Photos 30
Not much had changed since the last time I was here. The bar looks like it is pressed a little closer to the wall, and there might be a couple new things on the scrap pile.
This is a pretty bad location. The store is tiny- maybe about 1000 square feet. It also doesn't have any windows. It is easy to miss, and a lot of people don't even know it is here. If they were to relocate, I imagine they could easily triple their profit margin. Update: Closed Summer 2017, now a dentist's office.
I feel like the work here went exponentially faster the closer they got to finishing. The building was finished within the next month.
The same can be said for Dunkin' Donuts. All of their area restaurants have been redone in the past year as well, this included. Work started on this 2005-built location over the summer.
Both Burger King and Taco Bell had the front counter perpendicular to the doorway, although Starbucks changed the layout. The kitchen is now much smaller; the dining area takes up about half of its original allocated space.
Kegs. Somehow, I doubt they are going to be returned to Yuengling. This looks like it's bound for the scrapyard.
Hechinger/ACME/Hobby Lobby, Exton, PA
A little over 2 years of ACME's closure, I noticed a construction company sign hanging on the former Exton ACME. Naturally, I had to check it out.
The building was built in 1989, but Big Lots didn't open until 2011. I can't remember what was here originally. Correction: Was originally Marshall's before they moved to the old Clemens.
This church used to advertise a 1726 opening date, although the cornerstones on the building say it was founded in 1812, with the current building having been built in 1862. I'm a little confused, but I'm assuming the congregation was formed in 1726, the original part of the church was built in 1812, and the part seen here in 1862. The church closed in 2014, and has been repurposed as a convention hall, and is sublet to another church on Sundays.
I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this field is. They never keep any animals on it, nor do they grow anything.
Mechanical room off to the side.
Some badly rotten beams. There were some decently sized trees growing inside.
New TV's over the deli. I can't get over how good the new remodel looks!
Geese look so docile. You would never guess how nasty they are.
This was an Inn originally, but was turned into an orphanage in the early 1900's. It became a restaurant with a bed & breakfast in the 80's, which closed in the early 2000's. Now, it is a popular wedding and banquet venue.
This barn was built in the 1700's, and repurposed by PAFA as an art studio in the early 1900's. They added the hideous skylight to the front. Although PAFA became less involved over the years, a local organization has taken the reins. They are still having art classes here.
This served as the Chester Spring post office until a new one was built in the late 50's. Afterwards, it was repurposed as part of the PAFA art studio.
This was originally built in the 1860's, and spent the last several years as a rental property. There was a massive fire here in 2005. The charred shell of the building sat abandoned until 2014. The wooden part of the building was understandably demolished, the stone foundations were fixed up, and they built a new house on top of that, matching the original structure. The original owner wasn't able to afford rebuilding it, so they gave it to Mr. Haly under the condition that he built the new house in the style of the old one.
Originally a barn, this building was purchased by the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts in 1904, and used as a country retreat studio for the next few decades. In the 1950's, Good Times Productions, a Christian movie studio, took over the building. Their big hit was 1958's "The Blob," filmed in the area. They used sci-fi thrillers to raise money, that they would then use to produce their Christian films. They went out of business in the 1970's, and the property was then passed on to the Yellow Springs Institute, a performing arts collective. They used this space as a theater, but relocated to Philadelphia in the 90's. The building was taken over by the township, and converted into the new town hall in the late 00's.
This was a cornfield at one point, but it hasn't grown anything but grass for a while. The house on the corner is used as a storage shed by the man who owns the property.
Labelscars from both stores remain. I'm surprised Pathmark never bothered to clean or repaint the façade in the decade or so they were operating here.
Super G opened in 1998, and was the only one that wasn't closed after the Ahold merger. It went out of business not long afterwards, though. It was then divided between a PetSmart and Linens N Things. LNT closed with the chain, and was taken over by Big Lots in 2011. Both Big Lots and PetSmart were evicted in early 2016, when Floor & Décor bought the lease. They completely gutted the place and rebuilt the façade. "My recollection is that this store was under development when the merger was announced and then started construction around the time the merger went through so the FTC allowed it to open as a Super G. I was thinking that if the store did well Ahold would somehow convert it over to the Giant-PA format. The store obviously didn't do well and it was closed. I have to wonder how Ahold would have handled the union issue if this store was converted as I proposed. I visited this store several times while visiting a friend when he lived near the store. This store was a weird hybrid between the Giant-MD and Giant-PA formats. It had the produce and service department layout of Giant-PA but the center aisles followed the Giant-MD layout. The front end was Giant-PA like with the cashier facing the customer. You could tell both Ahold and Giant-MD had a hand in this store. I found the Super G stores fascinating because it was like being in the DC area except you were in PA, NJ or DE. It is too bad the Super G stores didn't work out. Giant-MD when it was locally owned was a far superior grocery chain than it is now under Ahold. They used Giant-MD decor. I think it was the 1990s neon style but with beige/brown walls instead of the red and silver metal reflective wall treatments that were common in the neon package."-Michaels Retail Photos
This was built in 1998. I used to come here occasionally before they opened the Exton location.
This was built in 2008. They have very few freestanding locations, and most of those they have were picked up from PSFS. This is the only one I know of built by Citizen's.
This was my first Red Lobster experience. I was pleased. The restaurant was originally built in the 80's, although it was heavily renovated in 2010.
They hadn't built the new vestibule yet, so I was able to walk right up to what are now the interior windows. The demolition phase is complete, and the new interior is taking shape. It looks like they preserved the original drywall ceiling, which was covered up by a drop ceiling in the 80's or 90's. It was covered up again before the store reopened.
The remodel is slowly progressing on the exterior. They kept the inside operating until they were almost done with the exterior, before closing so they could gut the place. The stone facing along the bottom of the store was removed, even though it will be replaced with more stone.
Unlike the llamas, this little guy seems to like to keep his distance from people. He's also wearing a muzzle.
About three years after my last picture of this place, not much has changed. Chances are, it will be demolished before too long. It sits on the same property as the Giant, and is likely included in the center's redevelopment plans. Update: Now a Verizon store as of early 2017.
This opened with the center in 1978 as an Eckerd, which was sold to Thrift Drug in the 80's. In a strange turn of events, Eckerd later bought Thrift Drug and reinherited this store. It was sold to Rite Aid in 2007, which relocated across the street last January. It will be demolished before too long to make way for Giant's expansion.
This opened with the shopping center in 1978, and is one of the last ones in Chester County. Like most in the area, it has not been updated recently.
This Wawa opened in 2007, replacing a now demolished location down the road. I thought I had heard this one was slated for remodeling, but it isn't listed on their website.
This opened in the early 2000's, and is one of the newest non-replacement Sunocos in the area. The A-Plus store in this one is very nice.
This closed in October, 2015, and was replaced by a new store across the street. It originally opened in the 80's, I believe.
All of the front offices and vestibules have been pulled out. Rather than keep the entrances on either side, Hobby Lobby is moving them to the middle of the store.
Swann's has been operating here since the 90's, but still has not bothered to replace the Marchwood carts, which I would assume date back to the 70's.
This building has to have started out as some kind of department store. I can't find anything on it, besides that Crossfit opened in 2014.
This is a fairly small, older hardware store. Nonetheless, it has a better selection of screws and bolts than Home Depot. Last year, it won the title "Best Hardware Store in Chester County".
This store first opened in the late 60's or early 70's, and was closed around New Years for a replacement down the road. This whole block is in the process of being redeveloped, so I would assume this building is not going to sit empty for long.
This mansion was not so fortunate. It still sits abandoned after 40-ish years, although there as been some attempt to keep it from falling down. It would make a nice restaurant, but would cost a fortune to restore. You used to be able to get inside, but that was blocked off.
When Main Street at Exton was first built, it was put on the site of a recently closed pharmaceuticals factory, which was built on a former farm. They kept the farm buildings up, albeit abandoned. They somehow managed to outlive the factory. Nothing was done with them when Main Street was developed. In 2008, a custom iron works company called Wendell-August restored the barn, but they did not stay in business for very long. It sat vacant yet again for a while, before a restaurant named World of Beer moved in in 2016.
Almost a decade later, nothing has moved in yet. It is a beautiful building in a great location, so I'm not sure what's holding them up. Update: As of early 2019, PLCB is moving into the third of the building closest to Walmart.
I figured it was about time for a daylight shot. :P
This was a new-built location that opened in 2006. I believe this one has a rear entrance, too. Update: Remodeling late 2018.
This was a fairly large 60's station. It was expanded downhill a little bit, doubling the side of the service station. It closed in 2015, and appears to have been sold recently. Update: This has been demolished and rebuilt as an Exxon, who surprisingly reused the canopy and roadside signs.
ACME, Wilmington, DE
Compare to my 2013 photo.
This location opened in the 60's as a pitched-roof store, but was demolished/rebuilt in 1991. It was remodeled to their current décor last year, and is beautiful inside!
Genuardi's/Whole Foods, Concordville, PA
Genuardi's opened here in 1990, and was among the first in the chain to close, ceasing operations in 2010 along with Chesterbrook, and two that were sold to Giant prior to the rest of the chain. Whole Foods opened shortly thereafter, completely redoing the building.
This bank was built around 2005 as a Commerce Bank. They used a modified stone design to fit in better with the area, although that would be hard to do with a building shaped like this. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful bank building. I wish they used this design in more places.
This is one of the newest, if not the newest, Wegman's. It was built as part of a large shopping complex in 2015.
This opened in the early 90's with the shopping center. It has the older Wellness remodel, but still manages to look pretty dated.
The hotel's exterior is still about midway through the renovation. Stone facing will be put up on the tower to the left, and new signage will be installed. Over a year after construction started, I think they may be finished with the exterior, finally. There's still some construction equipment in back, making me think they are still doing the rooms.
This location was built in the late 90's, and would have originally looked like this. It replaced an older store down the road. They were doing a lot of property surveying here last year, making me think this was on the remodel list. Nothing has amounted from that yet.
I'm assuming these are corn sprouts starting to stick up through what remains of last year's harvest. I believe there are plans to build houses on this field at some point, but the developers are being held up by zoning restrictions.
As the development of Eagle Farms progresses, the end part of it is being totally replaced, rather than widened and paved. After this new section opened, the hill was cut back here.
Barn
I thought this place looked interesting. The stone arch almost gives it a medieval fortress look.
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