Germantown's Coffee Map Is Being Redrawn Around a Grocery Store

"That's 1,000 people a day coming to the corner of Chelten and Morris that previously was exactly zero because the building was abandoned." Jon Roesser, general manager of Weavers Way Co-op, said this to The Philadelphia Inquirer in September 2026, describing the Germantown store the co-op opened in May 2024.

If you've changed your coffee route in the last year or two, that figure explains a lot. Germantown's newest cafes haven't spread out evenly along Germantown Avenue. They opened where people were already walking. One group sits on a single block of West Chelten Avenue, anchored by a grocery store. A second group is in Maplewood Mall. Uncle Bobbie's, the cafe and bookstore many neighbors date the corridor's revival to, is moving up the Avenue to a stretch whose own coffee shops have closed.

One block of West Chelten, built on grocery runs

Begin at Chelten and Morris. The Inquirer reported that the co-op's Germantown store has "exceeded projections since day one" and has roughly 2,400 Germantown members, though anyone can shop there. As of September 2026, Roesser put the store at about 1,000 transactions a day. The same Inquirer story named three newer businesses that opened nearby: Cupbearer Coffee, Das Good Cafe and Nutrition & Herbs Center.

Here's how that block looks by address:

Cupbearer's owners have said outright that the co-op drew them to the block. Pearse Pinch, who runs the shop with co-owner Sienna Trudnowski, told Germantown Info Hub how they chose the spot: "It was next to the [Weavers Way] Co-op, next to the train, next to the bus station; it's three blocks from our house." Both previously worked at La Colombe. Pinch said the seating mixes indoor and outdoor tables, with more group tables than solo seats, because he wants it "conducive to conversations and meetings." Info Hub's August profile listed hours of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, which works for a coffee before the train. His menu picks are a strawberry-basil lemonade matcha and a cold brew with vanilla cold foam.

Two doors up, Das Good Cafe serves a fuller meal. Owner Anh Vongbandith opened it with Southeast Asian and Hawaiian influences, including Vietnamese coffee, banh mi, Lao burgers, Massaman curry and loco moco, as the Inquirer reported in 2024. The cafe calls itself a full-service BYOB, and it held its grand opening on August 8, 2024, a few months after the co-op opened.

So the block's newest storefronts opened within about two years of the grocery store. People already come there for groceries, a train or a bus, and a coffee shop on that block is an easy extra stop.

Maplewood Mall built its own cluster, one old storefront at a time

The second cluster is a short walk east, on the pedestrian street off Germantown Avenue. Its anchor is d'griot at 51-53 Maplewood Mall. Owner blew kind, formerly of Franny Lou's Porch, opened the cafe on Jan. 3, 2026, as the second phase of a business she had run there as a gallery and herbal shop since 2023, Germantown Info Hub reported. The building was home to Maplewood Nutrition and Dietary shop for 58 years. kind called it "an inspirational afro-luxury funky space that helps people fly."

d'griot's website describes it as a cafe, gallery and herb shoppe, with hours of Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free Third Thursday jam and open mic is on the calendar for Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m.

Two other Maplewood Mall storefronts are worth a stop on the same walk:

• Lily of the Valley Cupcakery & Cafe, 26 W. Maplewood Mall, sells coffee and tea alongside its baked goods. Its website lists Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Printadelphia marked its new studio at 37 Maplewood Mall with an opening party and fundraiser on Oct. 10, according to Germantown Info Hub's events roundup.

Maplewood Mall is growing the same way West Chelten did. Each new business moved into a storefront next to others that people already visit.

Uncle Bobbie's is moving to a stretch that lost its cafes

The biggest change on the coffee map is a few blocks north. Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books has spent more than eight years at 5445 Germantown Ave., at Church Lane. On April 5, it announced a move to 6237 Germantown Ave., at Washington Lane, in an Instagram post that Germantown Info Hub reported with this caption: "Started in Germantown. Staying in Germantown. Can't wait to show you what we have planned. Fall 2026."

The Inquirer described the new space as about 3,000 square feet on the ground floor of a 47-apartment building, with room for more books, larger author events, a bigger cafe and more community programming. General manager Justin Moore told Germantown Info Hub that the larger space would also be fully accessible and better secured. He said staying in the neighborhood was "one of our biggest priorities."

The new address puts a cafe back on a part of the Avenue that has lost several. Info Hub's April story pointed out that the 6300 block has seen Umoja House at 6338 Germantown Ave. and Germantown Espresso Bar at 6369 Germantown Ave. close in the past couple of years. The building replaces the old Comer Paper & Party Supply Co., which operated at 6241 Germantown Ave. for more than 70 years before closing in December 2018.

You can follow the build-out in city permits. NW Philly's Permit Watch reported a fit-out permit on Oct. 16 for partial demolition, partition walls and accessibility work, then an Oct. 22 electrical permit for "a bookstore and cafe" and an Oct. 23 permit for first-floor ductwork, all at 6237-45 Germantown Ave. The shop's own channels are the best place to check where to find it this week.

This move matters to the neighborhood. In the September Inquirer story, Germantown resident Patrick Jones said the arrival of Uncle Bobbie's and its cafe in 2017 "started moving us in the right direction." The cafe that helped start that momentum is now taking it to the Washington Lane end of the Avenue.

What the places off the clusters say about foot traffic

The pattern shows up in the places outside the two clusters, too. Salam Cafe, at 5532 Greene St., serves coffee and hosts community events. Germantown Info Hub's calendars listed a Philly Vegan Gal Pals meetup there in September and a Wedeniche Art Studio paint-and-sip in early November. Its listed hours run Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., which makes it the latest-open option on this list.

Attic Brewing Co., at 137 Berkley St. near Wayne Junction, won gold at the World Beer Cup in May for its international dark lager, Common Nightjar. Co-owner Laura Lacy told the Inquirer that the location keeps the taproom out of the neighborhood's commercial heart and makes it less visible to people walking by. She said Attic started its own hot dog cart, Bad Nina's, because food trucks wouldn't come to the area. A business away from the clusters has to bring in its own visitors, while a cafe next to the co-op starts with people already on the block.

The plan to connect the clusters, and a winter route through them

Germantown United, the neighborhood's community development corporation, has finished a five-year plan to make West Chelten Avenue, Maplewood Mall and Market Square easier to walk between, with better lighting, cleaner streets and more greenery. Executive director Leo Dillinger IV told the Inquirer the CDC wants that change to come gradually, so the corridor doesn't fill "like a light switch" with businesses that don't offer affordable goods and services. The same Inquirer report said Indego bike share planned to add 10 to 12 stations in Germantown this fall.

A Saturday loop through the clusters could go like this:

1. Cupbearer Coffee, 308 W. Chelten Ave., from 7 a.m., with groceries next door at Weavers Way.
2. Maplewood Mall, with tea or coffee at d'griot or something sweet at Lily of the Valley.
3. Historic Germantown's Visitor Center, 5501 Germantown Ave., which opened in July and lists public hours of noon to 4 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays into December. Executive director Tuomi Forrest told the Inquirer that the neighborhood's historic sites draw about 125,000 public visits a year.
4. Germantown Avenue at Washington Lane, where the 6237 storefront is being fitted out for Uncle Bobbie's.

If you're tracking how Germantown is changing one storefront at a time, our team watches the same blocks. When a question about the neighborhood comes up, whether it's about a move up the Avenue or the building going up next door, Liz Clark and the team are glad to talk it through over coffee at any of the places above. Let's Meet.

Nov 12, 2026