Mostly Stuff on the Lower Main Line
I can't identify the colors on this one, so I'm assuming it finished out life selling independently. Prior to that, I want to say this was a Sunoco bases on the canopy's rounded corners. The building is now M&M Lube & Automotive
This center was built on the site of a golf course that closed in the early 2000's. The center spent many years in the planning stages. They built the center's access road and Wegman's in 2011, however the rest of it didn't open until 2017.
Going by the appearance of the building, I want to say it was a movie theater originally. If it ever was one, I can't find anything on it (read: Cinema Treasures doesn't have a page on it.). As of 1946, it was operating as a Woolworth. I'm not sure when it closed, but from what I could gather it made it through the 70's at least. Afterwards it became a Petco, which relocated to Wynnewood after only a couple years here. It then became Party Land which, judging by the neon stripes they used to have in the windows, probably opened in the 80's. They went out of business in 2017, but reopened as The Party Place under new ownership the following year.
According to the same atlas I found the Woolwoth in, this was operating as Llewellyn Drugs in 1946 (if you couldn't tell by the name or the fact Ardmore's between Bala Cynwyd and Bryn Mawr, this place has a lot of Welsh heritage). RadioShack opened here in the 80's or 90's, and closed down in mid-2017. It's now a chocolate shop.
I think this is my first picture of the store since its conversion. It took ACME a while to remodel it to their décor, but they finally got around to it in late 2017 I think.
Thrift Drug was an original tenant to the shopping center. Through a series of mergers has become Rite Aid. I think the current façade was put on by Eckerd, behind it there's still the original shingle-roof façade. It was fixed up a little when the center remodeled in 2014.
This is where they moved from the old Woolworth seen a few photos back. The vacant space two stores to the right was most recently Buca Di Beppo, which closed in 2013. They seem to have had a hard time finding a new tenant for it. It was originally a theater.
This store is one of the still sorta rare ones to have converted their service center into a Pep Boys. Unfortunately that also came at the expense of their convenience store which shared the building with the garage.
This station dropped the Getty brand in 2018, but continues to operate namelessly. They're still listed as Getty on Maps, but the signs have all been painted over or removed on the actual building.
One of Commerce's standard-design locations. I think this one opened in the late 90's.
I think this would have made a very nice conversion had they not added that block-shaped addition in front. The roof here looks good at least.
Up until after this picture was taken, this location looked more or less identical to when it first opened in the late 60's or early 70's. In 2017, it was given a total renovation to their current design. At this point, the original silo had already been removed- but don't worry, they put up a new one. Despite that, it still retains the old logo roadside sign pictured here. The Broomall location ironically still has its 60's design but has received the new logo.
Char-Lee's opened up here in 2007, totally redoing the old gas station. I believe this was their second location, since Lionville (which I've already documented on here, you might know it better as the old Taco Maya) opened up a couple years before and those are the only two locations I can find stuff on. After they closed, it became Tony Roni's, a local pizza chain with 9 locations and one of the kitschier names around.
This pharmacy opened in 1984, making it by far the oldest freestanding CVS I know of. I think the only exterior changes were replacing the signs in a 2000's remodel. You can still see the box behind the wall signs that once held the flat-panel sign. I'm sure they're planning on relocating this at some point.
I'm quite certain that I'm totally butchering all those Welsh names whenever I try to pronounce them in my head.
ReplyDeleteBeing totally honest, I have no clue how you're supposed to say that pharmacy's name. As for the other ones, Bryn Mawr is pronounced more or less just like it's spelled (Brin-Mar). Bala Cynwyd is a little more difficult, there's a couple acceptable ways to say it but most say it "Balluh Kinwood".
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