Morning Headlines: Joan Shepp Finds a New Spot for Her Eponymous Store


With so many Center City office buildings turning residential, many small business owners–particularly those in 1616 Walnut Street–have had to make other plans. The future Joan Shepp, one of Walnut Street’s most stalwart fixtures, has been the subject of intense speculation, as it was hard to imagine the store being anywhere else. Shepp herself has been rather downcast about the need to move, but a source tells us that she’s been paying something like $30 per square foot basically since she opened, and it was simply impossible to keep her at a much lower rate than every other tenant now that the building was changing hands.

According to PhillyChitChat, Shepp has finally hit on a new space–featured, appropriately enough, on the Philly-set movie Trading Places–in the Witherspoon Building at Broad and Walnut, quite close to her old shop. Her windows will face onto Walnut Street, and be much more of a showcase than her previous digs. Congrats, Joan.

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