Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
An unusually visible collection of Philadelphia-area restaurant institutions is reaching a turning point at the same time \u2014 with some closing for good and others seeking buyers as a generation of longtime owners reaches retirement age.<\/p>\n
At Kelly\u2019s Seafood<\/a>, the end is definite. The Northeast Philadelphia<\/a> restaurant will close this month<\/a> as its owners retire, ending a run spanning three generations of the Kelly family. So will Steve Stein\u2019s Famous Deli, whose history in the Northeast also reaches back nearly 70 years.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the outcomes are less certain.<\/p>\n The Pub<\/a>, the sprawling Pennsauken steakhouse known for its open hearth, medieval decor, and thousand-plus seats, is on the market<\/a>. The restaurant, which dates to 1951, is not closing: It is on its customary summer break and is scheduled to reopen Sept. 18.<\/p>\n The owners of Cherry Street Tavern<\/a>, the Logan Square bar that has operated for more than a century, are looking for a buyer<\/a> after 50 years of stewardship by the Loughery family. The buildings that housed Mamma Maria\u2019s, the East Passyunk<\/a> Italian restaurant that opened in 1992, went up for sale this month<\/a>. Aldar Bistro in Bala Cynwyd<\/a> has been sold after 34 years<\/a> and will give way to an Italian restaurant called Bruzi.<\/p>\n McGlinchey\u2019s<\/a>, the Center City<\/a> dive that closed last year after nearly 90 years, is back on the market<\/a> after a prospective buyer walked away from a deal for the building.<\/p>\n And the nearly 40-year-old Jake\u2019s & Cooper\u2019s Wine Bar in Manayunk<\/a> is being marketed for sale<\/a> as owner Bruce Cooper looks toward retirement.<\/p>\n Restaurants have always turned over, and the recent activity does not appear to reflect a restaurant market in retreat. The Inquirer counted 86 Philadelphia-area restaurant closings in 2025<\/a>, while more than 100 new restaurants and bars were on the drawing board for 2026<\/a>. What distinguishes many of the businesses now closing or being sold is their longevity: They survived for decades, weathering the pandemic and recent increases in food and labor costs, before their owners reached retirement.<\/p>\n \u2018The gray wave\u2019<\/p>\n People in the restaurant, liquor, and real estate businesses say the turnover is part of a broader generational transition among small businesses as longtime owners reach retirement without children interested in taking over.<\/p>\n Jim Creed, handling Jake\u2019s listing, calls it the \u201cgray wave.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got operators who have been in business 40 or 50 years, and they don\u2019t have heirs who want to take over the business,\u201d said Creed, a senior vice president with CBRE.<\/p>\n His father, also Jim Creed, knows the issue from the other side. He opened Creed\u2019s Seafood & Steaks<\/a> in King of Prussia<\/a> in 1982 and, at 78, has no immediate plans to sell. \u201cI go to the restaurant every night,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually fun.\u201d But when he does decide to close, he said, his children don\u2019t want to take over.<\/p>\n For the counterexample, consider McGillin\u2019s Olde Ale House<\/a> in Center City. Open since 1860, it has survived through generations of owners; the Spaniak family has run it since 1958, with Chris Mullins Jr. now the third generation involved. There are no plans to sell. \u201cIt\u2019s part of my DNA, part of our customers\u2019 DNA, part of our staff\u2019s DNA,\u201d Mullins told The Inquirer this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ed Taraskus has watched generations of restaurant and bar owners come and go over 50 years of practicing liquor licensing law. He could not say whether the current number of sales and closings constitutes a statistical trend, but said the succession problem is familiar.<\/p>\n \u201cThe parents retire and the children don\u2019t want to get into the business \u2014 because it\u2019s a hard business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Taraskus said the hours can be punishing for small family operators. His clients also complain about finding employees willing to work nights and weekends. Drinking habits have changed, he said, and some businesses are still feeling the effects of the pandemic.<\/p>\n Taraskus knows the succession question personally. His South Philadelphia<\/a> family owned a small restaurant and tavern, but his father discouraged him from entering the business. When his parents retired in the 1960s, they sold.<\/p>\n Real estate on the line<\/p>\n Retirement can present a second question for operators who own their buildings: What, exactly, are they selling?<\/p>\n A restaurant may have value as a going business, but decades of appreciation can make the underlying real estate a substantial part of an owner\u2019s nest egg. Sometimes the economics favor a different restaurant \u2014 or an entirely different use.<\/p>\n Douglas Green, a principal at commercial real estate brokerage MSC, said the value of restaurant real estate is closely tied to the sales a location can support and, consequently, the rent an operator can afford.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more volume they do, the more rent they can pay,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n That means a location can be worth more to another restaurateur if the existing operator is underperforming. And in some cases, Green said, a restaurant may no longer be the property\u2019s most valuable use at all.<\/p>\n \u201cAt some point, perhaps the building becomes obsolete,\u201d Green said. \u201cPerhaps the highest and best use of the real estate is no longer a restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n Those possibilities are playing out among the region\u2019s longtime establishments.<\/p>\n At the Pub, the Gelman family is seeking a buyer for the restaurant and its roughly 6.3 acres on Kaighns Avenue near the former Airport Circle. The family has operated it since Marc Gelman bought it in 2000.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s one thing in general why we\u2019re selling, but it\u2019s time for a new steward \u2014 if you will \u2014 of the business, or the property,\u201d Marc\u2019s son David Gelman said.<\/p>\n At Cherry Street Tavern, at 22nd and Arch Streets, the Loughery family hopes to find a buyer who understands what generations of regulars value about the place.<\/p>\n McGlinchey\u2019s illustrates the other possibility. Its nearly 5,000-square-foot property at 259 S. 15th St. is listed for $2.45 million, including the liquor license, bars, and McGlinchey\u2019s name, as either a turnkey bar and restaurant or a redevelopment opportunity.<\/p>\n Decisions for buyers<\/p>\n Creed said longevity itself can tell a prospective buyer something about a restaurant property.<\/p>\n \u201cAnytime you have operating longevity, that speaks to the real estate,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you have a concept that has been in operation for 40 years, clearly the real estate has something to do with that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n The retirement of one operator does not necessarily mean the end of restaurant use.<\/p>\n Mixto closed July 12 after nearly 24 years at 1141 Pine St. Within weeks, restaurateur Lori Penrose bought the property<\/a> and announced plans to revive her former South Philadelphia sports bar, Toll Man Joe\u2019s, there.<\/p>\n Emei owner Dan Tsao<\/a> has pursued that strategy on a larger scale. Over roughly a year, he acquired or leased four landmark restaurant properties: the former John Henry\u2019s Pub<\/a> in Ardmore, Marra\u2019s on East Passyunk Avenue<\/a>, the former Irish Pub in Rittenhouse<\/a>, and the Old Original Bookbinder\u2019s\/Olde Bar property<\/a> in Old City<\/a>. All four are intended to remain in hospitality use.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are pros and cons to both,\u201d Tsao said of taking over an existing restaurant rather than starting with a new space. \u201cBut with an existing restaurant space, especially a legacy restaurant, it already has a place in the neighborhood, and a place in the memories and hearts of generations of customers.\u201d<\/p>\n Such properties may also have much of the expensive infrastructure required to operate a restaurant.<\/p>\n But for Tsao, the attraction isn\u2019t purely economic.<\/p>\n \u201cI also like the idea of preserving some of that history,\u201d he said, \u201cwhile giving the space a new chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min An unusually visible collection of Philadelphia-area restaurant institutions is reaching a turning point…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[113021,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-268126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-older-philly-restaurants-closing-for-sale","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}