Meantime on Market Extended Through the Fall, With a New Business Incubator on the Way

Contact

Sara Griffin, ISA, 917.656.6348, saragriffin@is-architects.com
Leo Manning, Center City District, 215.440.5508, pr@centercityphila.org

PHILADELPHIA (August 18, 2026) — Meantime, the Philadelphia nonprofit urban activation initiative founded by architecture and design studio ISA, today announced that Meantime on Market is being extended and that a new retail incubator program will launch this fall, creating a pathway for the next generation of entrepreneurs to help reimagine the corridor. The seven storefronts that make up Meantime on Market are being made available by the joint venture formed by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) and Comcast, which owns the properties on the south side of the 900 block of Market Street.

The small businesses that participated in Meantime on Market this summer were offered the opportunity to continue operating in their brick-and-mortar locations on Market Street at deeply discounted rates while HBSE and Comcast continue to evaluate long-term development plans for the site alongside the Mayor’s Market East Advisory Group. Of the businesses that took part in the summer pop-up program, four will continue, including Almost Famous, Clubfriends Radio & Records, Love Now Media, and Siddiq’s Water Ice.

“We are so grateful to the owners and leaders of HBSE and Comcast for working with Meantime and the Center City District to make the creative and entrepreneurial work of neighborhood businesses visible to all of Philly and beyond,” said Brian Phillips, founder of Meantime. Since launching in May, the results have been immediate: in its first three weeks alone, the storefronts drew nearly 3,300 visitors and generated close to $50,000 in sales across participating businesses. That momentum extended to the corridor as a whole — foot traffic along the observed stretch of Market East rose approximately 10 percent from May to June, outpacing growth in surrounding areas and signaling that the programs were doing more than filling empty storefronts. They were helping draw people back to the corridor itself and building new communities around event attendance and workshops.

“Our vision for the Market East Revival has always included both the large-scale investment that can transform this corridor and space for small, local businesses from communities across Philadelphia to help shape its future,” said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. “I am grateful to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, Comcast, Meantime and Center City District for working closely with our Commerce team to create an incubator for new ideas and a gateway to economic opportunity. A diverse group of businesses began here as summer pop-ups. Now, four will remain beyond the summer, and the new incubator will open the door for more entrepreneurs to follow. We look forward to continuing to collaborate and innovate so businesses large and small can build, grow, and be a part of the future of Market East.”

Meantime on Market also includes the Philadelphia City Planning Commission’s in-person engagement hub, MY Market East (930 Market Street), where anyone can go to learn about the Market East Revival, talk to a city planner, and give feedback about the revival.

“In May, we welcomed several beloved neighborhood businesses onto Market Street ahead of this summer’s celebrations,” said Prema Katari Gupta, President and CEO of Center City District. “We’re thrilled to move beyond proof of concept and to welcome a new slate of locally grown, diverse businesses into the heart of Center City while providing residents, workers and visitors a sample of what our business community has to offer.”

As those remaining businesses settle into their new leases, Meantime is opening the remaining vacated storefronts to a new group of entrepreneurs through its rotating retail incubator. The new businesses had expressed interest in participating over the past year, and Meantime is continually matchmaking spaces with programmers across the city via its website, meantimephl.org.

“Almost Famous has benefited immensely from the opportunity to operate a storefront on Market Street, made possible through the support of the HBSE, Comcast, and the City of Philadelphia,” said Melasia Pinder, founder of Almost Famous. “This partnership has given us the platform to provide reliable, accessible space for local creative entrepreneurs to showcase their work, connect with a global audience, exercise their creativity, and grow their businesses.”

Entrepreneurs selected to participate in the pilot incubator program will receive three months of free retail space to activate a vacant storefront and test their concept in one of the city’s highest-traffic downtown corridors. At the end of the trial period, incubator businesses may be offered the opportunity to stay — following the same path that allowed Almost Famous, Club Friends, Love Now Media, and Siddiq’s to have so much success at the site this summer.

“We are so proud to have made our site available for Meantime’s Market Street East pop-up shops this summer, where so many incredible small businesses and artists made Philadelphia’s downtown vibrant and welcoming to the tens of thousands who visited the city this summer,” said David Gould, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for HBSE. “We look forward to working with Meantime as the Mayor’s Market East Advisory Committee continues its work reimagining the area.”

“This summer has been incredibly meaningful,” noted Siddiq Moore of Siddiq’s Real Fruit Water Ice. “After 30 years in business, being able to share our water ice and represent Philadelphia through this experience has been truly special. I’m extremely proud to be a part of it and grateful for the opportunity to showcase a piece of Philly that I’ve spent three decades building. It’s been an incredible and beautiful experience for our business, and I’m excited to carry that energy into the fall extension. I’m truly grateful to HBSE and Meantime for allowing us to be a part of something so special, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

More details will be released as plans for the corridor evolve and the city, Center City District, HBSE, Comcast, and Meantime work together to envision a vibrant future for the site.

About Meantime

Meantime is a nonprofit initiative that emerged from Interface Studio Architects (ISA), a Philadelphia-based architecture and research practice engaged with urban systems. Founded by ISA principal Brian Phillips to activate vacant storefronts across the city, Meantime is inspired by the importance of face-to-face interactions across cultures and communities, encouraging and incubating an analog approach to city building in an increasingly digitally connected world. Partnering with artists, entrepreneurs, and creatives on participatory pop-ups, Meantime strengthens neighborhood streets and supports local economies by transforming underutilized spaces into platforms for commerce, cultural programming, and community exchange.

Founded in response to the surge of vacancies following the COVID-19 shutdowns, Meantime began as a design-driven effort to develop tools for activating vacant spaces. Since its first iteration in 2023, the organization has evolved into a coalition of landlords, city agencies, real estate professionals, and community stakeholders working together to reimagine the future of neighborhood streets.

Programming has included reopening a movie house vacant for more than 60 years, partnering with local students to envision neighborhood futures, and contributing to national conversations about urban innovation, including at SXSW. By promoting flexibility, experimentation, and collaboration, Meantime advances a broader cultural shift in how cities value and program their commercial corridors—reinforcing the idea that vibrant streets are essential to civic life and everyday urban experience. Media contacts

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Center City District, partner to property owners and downtown stakeholders, is the steward and advocate for a clean, safe and thriving Center City Philadelphia. Find us at www.centercityphila.org.