Around Phoenixville

As has been speculated in some of the comment areas as well as the Forums , Starbucks will not be opening up in the old Fountain Inn. --- The international coffee roaster and retailer has withdrawn from its agreement with Pineville Properties LLC, the developer of the planned Starbucks/Walgreens corner at Nutt Road and Bridge Street. ... The company's Phoenixville plans fell through as a consequence of the same corporate pressures that led to the announcement by the company July 1 that it would be closing some 600 stores nationwide. Included in those closings, scheduled through the last half of this year and into the first quarter of 2009, are 21 stores in Pennsylvania, from Plymouth Meeting to Pittsburgh. --- The owner of the property, Pineville Properties LLC, is currently in the process of finding a new tenant. For more, including information on the opening of the Walgreens which shares a parking lot with the former Fountain Inn, see today's article in the Phoenix .

The Phoenixville Area School District will be hosting four Open Forums over the next school year at which residents will have the "opportunity to share ideas and concerns regarding any aspect of the school district, including facilities, curriculum or finance, with representatives from our Board of Directors." The forums will be held at the High School Library from 7:00 to 8:00 PM on the following dates: September 24, 2008 November 24, 2008 January 26, 2009 April 27, 2009 For more information, see the announcement on the PASD website .

The annual Kimberton Community Fair kicks off today and runs through Saturday. The fair is open from 6-10pm during the week and from 12-10:30pm on Saturday. For more information, including a complete schedule of events, please visit the fair's website at www.kimbertonfair.org .

No updates for a week or so as my family and I are going on vacation. If anything news worthy (at least as it relates to topics generally covered by the blog) happens, please send me an email to info@bridgeandmain.com . I will post it when I get back. Thanks. Jim

The ninth annual BlobFest starts tonight with a free party at the Colonial Theatre . This year's BlobFest commemorates the 50th anniversary of the release of The Blob and promises to be bigger than ever. For more information, see the following links: The Colonial Theatre's BlobFest website The Blob Ball - After the running out re-enactment, head over to Tyler James for the first annual Blob Ball featuring The River's Rockability Trio. Sponsored by Steel City Coffee House. Phoenix article on BlobFest Phoenix article on the Blob Ball Inquirer article on the BlobFest

Reader Bernadette K. wrote in to tell me about Camphill Cafe which is a part of Camphill Village Kimberton Hills . Writes Bernadette: --- At Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, we have a Café that is open from Tuesdays – Saturdays from 11 am – 2 pm . The café features homemade soups, sandwiches, entrees and delicious desserts made with organic and biodynamic and locally grown ingredients. Most produce is grown in the village garden and breads and cookies are made in the village bakery. Join us for lunch! Outdoor seating is available on the terrace. 610-935-3599. --- More, from the Cafe's website: --- Come to our oasis at the top of the hill for a warm welcome and a delicious lunch, featuring soups, sandwiches, entrees (usually vegetarian) and delicious desserts. All the food is homemade using organic and biodynamic ingredients. We support local businesses and growers such as Kimberton Coffee Roasters, Sweetwater Bakery and Sankanac CSA. Our recent café renovations include sus

As readers of this blog may remember, Hipster Home moved to a new location recently, taking up residence at 237 Bridge St. as of July 1st. Assisting with the move were 20-25 local residents who offered to lend a hand out of the kindness of their own hearts. Owner David Friday wrote me an email to express his thanks to these volunteers and I am reprinting it below: --- I thought I would just share this great story with you about our move to our new location (I don't know if it's news worthy but just to show the kind of people that live in Phoenixville). As you know we moved our store from Main Street to 237 Bridge Street and since we have never moved a retail store (even though small) we had no idea what to expect. We had planned to move everything ourselves (my girlfriend and I) and totally underestimated the task at hand. People in town (Phoenixville) asked if we would like help and our response was "well, if you feel like it just stop in on Sunday (June 29th) and you

The Phoenix Diner, located in the Acme shopping center at the intersection of Starr St. and Nutt Rd., is set to open on July 14th. For more, see today's article in the Phoenix .

Reader Matt Y. wrote in this morning to say that it appears that PJ Ryan's was open for business last night. Can anyone confirm/deny? Thanks to Matt for the tip!