"A very difficult thing to recruit for." That's how Jeanne Angell, executive director of Discover Haverford, described a multi-vendor market in a September Philadelphia Inquirer report on the township's newest consumer survey. Her reasons were plain. It takes a large space and a lot of funding.
That matters because the multi-vendor market is near the top of what Havertown asked for. Discover Haverford ran its twice-yearly survey in July and got 601 responses. Nearly 80% said they would like an indoor farmers market, and nearly 60% wanted a multi-vendor marketplace. So one of the township's two most popular market ideas is the one Discover Haverford calls hard to land, and no one has announced plans for the other, an indoor farmers market.
What fills that gap this winter is a mix. A national grocer is moving into a space that has sat empty for years, small operators are opening on West Chester Pike, and an outdoor market is adding December dates. None of them is the indoor market people asked for. Together they show how the survey actually works in Haverford Township. It doesn't deliver the whole wish list. It nudges openings along one storefront at a time.
The Survey Already Picked a Bookstore Once
The survey has a track record, and Eagle Road is the proof. An earlier Discover Haverford survey found that residents' top wish was a local bookstore. When Lorianne Moore brought Angell her idea for a Havertown storefront, Angell steered her toward that result, according to the Inquirer. Moore Books opened in September 2024. Joe Singer, Moore's husband and the store's manager, told the paper, "I don't know if we would have landed on bookstore without Discover Haverford, but once [Moore] started talking with them, it just made sense."
That's the model. The survey gives a would-be owner data that makes a risky lease look less risky. A bookstore needs one storefront and one committed owner. An indoor market with many vendors needs a building, money, and a long list of tenants all at once. The survey can do a lot for the first kind of project and much less for the second.
Moore Books, at 28 West Eagle Road, is now one of the places the survey's other wishes show up in practice. Its Eventbrite listing advertises a Midnight Release Party for a Sarah J. Maas book on Monday, October 26, from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., with games, snacks, and prizes. Respondents also asked for more evening options. A concert venue drew 43% interest, and a bar, pub, or live music spot drew 51%. A late-night bookstore event isn't a nightlife district, but it's an evening reason to be on Eagle Road.
Llanerch Gets the Grocer It Waited Five Years For
The biggest change is on West Chester Pike. Sprouts Farmers Market has signed a lease for 29,500 square feet at Llanerch Shopping Center, 403 West Chester Pike, with an opening targeted for the first quarter of 2027, Delco Today reported in July. It will be the chain's first Delaware County store and its 13th in the Philadelphia area.
The space has a strange history. Amazon signed on years ago to put an Amazon Fresh store there, and it never opened. Fred Snow, president of Berwyn-based Brandolini Cos., which owns the center, said Amazon kept paying rent for the entire five-year lease. When Amazon stepped back from the Amazon Fresh concept in January, Brandolini moved to end the lease and find a new tenant. Snow said the space drew strong, competitive interest. That same January decision to shut all of Amazon's Amazon Fresh and Go stores also covered the Amazon Fresh in Broomall, which was one of six Philadelphia-area Amazon Fresh locations that had closed by February.
The overlap with the survey is real but partial. Sprouts bills itself around fresh produce, bulk goods, and specialty items for gluten-free, plant-based, and other diets, and its stores are laid out farmers-market style with produce up front. It's a single grocery chain, not a hall of independent vendors. Still, it's the closest thing to a year-round indoor produce market that Havertown has a signed lease for. One caveat on timing: the Q1 2027 date comes from the July announcement, and no later construction or opening update has surfaced. Treat it as a target.
Sprouts will join Goodwill, which is already at Llanerch. The July report also noted that a former doctor's office in the center was still available.
Smaller Answers, A Few Doors Down
On the same stretch of West Chester Pike, the response to the survey is coming from smaller operators. Breakfast and lunch spots drew 52% interest, and coffee shops drew 46%. Havertown Cafe opened in July 2026 at 1254 West Chester Pike and serves breakfast and lunch daily. Farther along the same road at 1304 West Chester Pike, PrimoHoagies reopened on July 15 under new corporate ownership in a refreshed store.
Here is how the top of the survey compares with what has actually arrived:
- Indoor farmers market (nearly 80% interested): No indoor market announced. The Oakmont Farmers Market adds December winter sessions, covered below.
- Bakery (71%): None of the openings in this research is a dedicated bakery.
- Family restaurant (67%) and Greek or Mediterranean (63%): No new opening matching either has been reported.
- Movie theater (65%): Angell told the Inquirer that space constraints make a theater hard to pull off.
- Multi-vendor marketplace (nearly 60%): Still the "very difficult" item. Sprouts at Llanerch is the nearest relative, targeted for Q1 2027.
- Breakfast and luncheonette (52%): Havertown Cafe, open since July 2026.
The list leans one way. The wishes that need a big room and a lot of money are still open. The ones a single owner can take on in an existing storefront are getting filled.
The Market Residents Already Have Is Staying Open Longer
Until there's an indoor market, the Oakmont Farmers Market is the closest thing to one. It runs Wednesdays from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Grace Chapel parking lot at 1 West Eagle Road, according to the Discover Haverford community calendar, with the main season ending November 25. After that, the market has scheduled winter sessions, so the gap between the outdoor season and a possible Sprouts opening isn't empty.
Here is the cold-weather calendar on Havertown's commercial strips, from today forward:
- Monday, October 26, 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Midnight Release Party at Moore Books, 28 West Eagle Road.
- Wednesdays through November 25, 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. The last weeks of the Oakmont Farmers Market main season at Grace Chapel.
- Saturday, December 5, noon to 7 p.m. The 5th Anniversary Havertown Holiday Festival on Brookline Boulevard near Brookline and Darby Roads, with a holiday marketplace, vendors, and food trucks. The rain date is December 6.
- Wednesday, December 9, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Oakmont Farmers Market winter session at Grace Chapel.
- Wednesday, December 23, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Oakmont winter session, the Wednesday before Christmas.
The Holiday Festival is the closest Havertown gets to the multi-vendor marketplace respondents asked for. It lasts one Saturday on one boulevard, but it's many vendors in one place, which is what nearly 60% of respondents said they wanted.
These dates build on a fall of Discover Haverford programming that has already happened. An Oakmont Village Love Local Night on September 18 included 25% off hardcover books at Moore Books and live music at the Kelly Center. A Brookline District Love Local Night on October 7 included a Plant Roots and The Bookery pop-up with live music and a book signing.
What the Survey Says About the Streets Themselves
The survey's written comments point to something no single tenant can fix. Several respondents raised traffic safety and asked for more walkable town centers, safe bike lanes, and pedestrian crossings. Some said parking hassles and costs keep them from shopping in the township, and others wanted older storefront facades updated.
That helps explain the overall pattern. A bookstore on Eagle Road, a cafe on West Chester Pike, and a grocer at Llanerch can each sign a lease. A walkable district with a shared indoor market depends on the space, the crossings, and the parking around those storefronts, and that's the slower project. The full 2026 Community Survey Report is public for anyone who wants to read the rest of the township's list.
If you're wondering how a new anchor like Sprouts at Llanerch could change daily errands on your side of Haverford Township, or what a West Chester Pike address might look like by spring 2027, The Collective Real Estate follows these corridors closely and is happy to talk it through. Contact Us.
