Living in Collingswood: A Neighborhood Guide
South Jersey’s most happening suburb didn’t happen by accident.
Collingswood’s charming downtown. / Photograph by Jeff Fusco
Housing First
Haddon Avenue in Collingswood has become a model Main Street over the past two decades. Every day, shoppers and diners stroll its sidewalks, passing busy restaurants and eclectic boutiques. Some of those strollers live over these establishments. Yet just a block or two off the avenue are homes ranging from modest to grand, complete with yards.
This is what mayor Jim Maley, who moved here from Northeast Philly in the 1980s (he was first elected mayor in 1987), likes about the town: “It’s like the city, but it’s suburban, with grass and trees. And people throw block parties like in the city.”
Farm-Fresh Every Saturday
The farmers’ market right under the PATCO Collingswood station from May to Thanksgiving is South Jersey’s longest-running and has been called one of the best in the state. One must-visit stand: Springdale Farm, run by the last working farm in Cherry Hill.
Diner’s Delight
Collingswood has also become South Jersey’s dining destination, with 37 establishments offering fare from a global menu. Sagami (37 West Crescent Boulevard), long one of the region’s best Japanese restaurants, has been joined by acclaimed New American Hearthside BYOB (801 Haddon Avenue), family-friendly Pop Shop (729 Haddon Avenue), Li Beirut (619 West Collings Avenue), and Sabrina’s Café in the former Woolworth’s (714 Haddon Avenue), just to name a few.
Build It and They’ll Come
Maley says what sparked Collingswood’s renaissance was the 1996 rehab of the half-vacant Parkview apartment complex, which led to a downtown residential building boom. And Patric Ciervo, who runs hometown brokerage Keller Williams Main Street Realty, says the party’s not over yet: The Collings at the Lumberyard (595 North Atlantic Avenue) is adding 170 more apartments.
Published as “Living in Collingswood” in the November 2021 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
