Berwyn's Holiday Shopping Runs on Short Leases This Year

Eight small businesses now share one storefront at 812 Lancaster Avenue, between EmJ's Café and Surrey Consignment Shop. Each one rings up its own sales, and most of those sales go through Venmo. The shop is called Jingle & Co. It opened October 15 and closes January 15.

A second pop-up near Handel's will stay open through the end of January. Both are built to close when the season does. This season's one permanent addition to where Berwyn eats is about a mile and a half from the Avenue, on the second floor of a grocery store on Swedesford Road.

Why the new shops came with an end date

The organizer behind Jingle & Co. gave the reason directly. Maria Delany still runs her Louella shop in Avalon and wanted to keep a Louella presence on the Main Line. She explained the format to Savvy Main Line:

"Retail is tricky and unpredictable these days. I figured a pop-up operating during the holiday season made sense: It's when people are most likely to shop and rents are about a third lower for pop-ups."

That math explains how the shop is set up. A seasonal rent about a third lower, with eight vendors in one storefront for three months, gives each business a way into Berwyn without a year-round lease of its own. The space works like a farmers market under one roof. That is why checkout happens booth by booth, with no shared register at the front.

What's inside 812 Lancaster Avenue until January 15

The lineup covers the usual holiday gift list, plus a few things you wouldn't expect to find in a pop-up:

• Louella: women's fashion, hostess gifts and Eagles game-day goods
• The French Lemon: preppy-chic home décor, florals and gifts
• Just Ducky: custom "river tables" that set flowing resin into wood, plus coastal art and laser-engraved cutting boards
• Strid Table Mahjong: instructor-led group play and private parties at three tables in the back, by appointment, with evening times available
• Maison Flick: luxury women's footwear picked for comfort and style
• W. Hayman Vintage: antiques, vintage art and one-off finds from the duo who brought coastal antiques to Whitebrier in Avalon
• Farpost Collective: monogramming and custom embroidery done on site, plus curated gifts, from Grace Fiori and Holly Birnbaum
• No. 27 Collection: handcrafted jewelry by Shelly Rabuse

Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The shop is closed Monday and Tuesday, and it closes at 4 p.m. on its open days. If you're shopping after work, Saturday is the day to plan around.

Some evenings are booked for private sip-and-shop nights that benefit local nonprofits. The first was scheduled for November 5, the day this post goes up, in support of Main Line Meals on Wheels. Groups can book their own charity night through Delany.

One vendor here has already announced a next step. Maison Flick plans a Haverford store in February, after the pop-up closes. That is the pop-up model working as designed. The holiday storefront is the trial run, and the permanent store opens one town over.

The second pop-up, near Handel's

Holiday Vintage Popup follows the same logic with different stock. Everything is resale or vintage: eclectic designer clothing and accessories, vintage furniture and home décor. It is a collaboration between Theresa Brewer of TC House of Style in Phoenixville and Leslie Voth of Pickering Point Farm. Like Jingle & Co., it brings in owners whose main business is somewhere else and gives them a Berwyn storefront for the season.

It runs two weeks longer than Jingle & Co., through the end of January. For a shop that sells vintage furniture, those late-January weeks after the holidays may be the better time to go looking.

The addition that stays: upstairs at 254 Swedesford Road

Swedesford Road is where Berwyn's food news is happening this fall. The second floor of Hung Vuong Food Market at 254 Swedesford Road is now the Asian Hall Food Court. Savvy Main Line calls it the western Main Line's first all-Asian food hall. The publication counts at least 10 of 14 stalls leased and reports closing times of 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 p.m. on weekends.

Main Line Today put it at the top of its October dining roundup. The magazine described about 270 seats and a growing number of vendors, so diners can mix Vietnamese pho and bánh mì, Korean fried chicken, Chinese dumplings, Japanese poke bowls, grilled skewers and bubble tea in one meal. PhillyTalks described the upper level's garden-inspired seating, curved counters and lime-green armchairs.

For context, 270 seats is more than most sit-down restaurants on Lancaster Avenue hold. A household that can't agree on dinner can split up across four or five counters and still eat at the same table.

The operator is a regional grocer with long local roots. A 2024 profile in Produce Business describes Hung Vuong as a family business owned and run by Berry Liu. It started as a store of roughly 4,000 square feet in Philadelphia's Chinatown about two decades ago. Today the company lists stores in Berwyn, Delaware, Cherry Hill, Mayfair, South Philadelphia and Chinatown.

Since the food court sits above a working grocery, the two can share one trip. The market is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday. You can do the week's shopping downstairs and stay for dinner upstairs. With four stalls still unleased in Savvy's count, the vendor lineup will likely keep changing into the new year.

December, by end date

The pop-ups add new dates to the usual December calendar. Here is the season in order, with the date each piece wraps up:

The Surrey Holiday House Tour & Shops ties in with the Avenue in a small way. Surrey Consignment Shop is Jingle & Co.'s next-door neighbor, and Surrey's December 4 shop is free to browse without a tour ticket. The Tredyffrin tree lighting is free. It plans visits from Santa and Mrs. Claus, music, treats and a drop box for letters to Santa.

The station lighting is the one to watch for. The Berwyn-Devon Business Association describes it as an annual first-Sunday-in-December event. Last year it was held Sunday, December 7, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., with Santa and Mrs. Claus, performances, contests, snacks and hot chocolate. The 2026 date will appear on the association's calendar.

Jingle & Co.'s last day is Friday, January 15. Holiday Vintage closes at the end of the month. After that, the stretch around EmJ's Café and Handel's goes back to its year-round lineup, and the food court on Swedesford Road keeps its 270 seats.

If you own one of the storefronts these pop-ups are filling, or a Berwyn property you're thinking about repositioning, the seasonal lease model says something about local demand that a year-round vacancy doesn't. Collin Whelan and our Poplar Construction + Design team can walk you through what a space is suited for and what it would take to get it ready. Schedule a Consultation.