Meantime on Market launches May 6 along the 900 block of Market Street, transforming vacant storefronts into a corridor of pop-up shops, exhibitions, cafés, and food destinations running through July 31. The project is a $1.85 million initiative funded by the City of Philadelphia and led by Meantime, the nonprofit founded by ISA principal Brian Phillips, in partnership with Center City District, Fashion District Philadelphia, and a joint venture between Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment and Comcast. Meantime on Market arrives at a moment when Philadelphia is actively reimagining Market East — and the pop-ups are designed to show what the corridor can become by putting something worth visiting there right now.

The Six Pop-Ups at Meantime on Market

Two Persons Coffee, the popular café based in the Bok Building, opens at 920 Market Street — extending its community-driven ethos to Center City. Almost Famous returns for its third Meantime on Market activation at 922 Market Street with upcycled clothing, vintage pieces, live artistic interventions, panel discussions, and music events reflecting the brand’s Black-owned, women-centered ethos. Rarify, the Philadelphia-based platform and gallery dedicated to collectible design and material culture, takes 924 Market Street with an exhibition spanning architecture, industrial design, furniture, interiors, and craft — celebrating the region’s design legacy across 250 years of Pennsylvania’s influence on the nation’s creative identity.

Clubfriends Radio and Records, founded by Alexa Colas, expands into 926 Market Street with an immersive evolution of the 2025 DesignPhiladelphia installation “I Turned My Living Room Into a Record Store.” The project serves as a platform for public programming developed in partnership with the Free Library’s Music Department, telling stories specific to Philadelphia through music, design, and shared cultural experience.

Art Philly takes 932-934 Market Street as a creative exchange hub featuring Jos Duncan-Asé’s Love Lab, an initiative from Love Now Media focused on empathy-centered journalism and storytelling. Siddiq’s Water Ice, the beloved West Philadelphia staple, debuts in Center City for the first time at 938 Market Street — bringing a neighborhood institution to one of the city’s busiest commercial corridors.

The Vision Behind Meantime on Market

Brian Phillips framed the initiative directly — Meantime on Market is about creating conditions for possibility by working with local businesses to activate a highly trafficked corridor that is a site of enormous potential. The project brings the vibrancy of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods into the heart of the commercial core, putting what makes the city distinct on full display.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker positioned the investment as delivering on a promise of new energy, new business activity, and new momentum on Market East while the long-term work of reviving the historic corridor continues. Center City District President and CEO Prema Katari Gupta noted that Market East was established over a century ago as Philadelphia’s high street, and the pop-ups demonstrate what is possible when partners come together.

Since launching in 2023 in response to COVID-era vacancies, Meantime has evolved from a design-driven experiment into a coalition of landlords, city agencies, real estate professionals, and community stakeholders working to reimagine commercial corridors. Past programming has included reopening a movie house vacant for more than 60 years and presenting at SXSW.

Philadelphia’s 2026 calendar is already positioning the city on a global stage, and Meantime on Market adds a ground-level cultural layer to that transformation — one block at a time, with local businesses and artists leading the way. Penn Praxis at the University of Pennsylvania has also produced a free zine exploring Market East’s commercial history, available at the sites. Meantime on Market runs May 6 through July 31 along the south side of the 900 block of Market Street.

Images: Irina Belashov, Rarify

About Post Author

Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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