The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is moving its Fine Wine & Good Spirits store near Reading Terminal Market into the long-vacant former Melting Pot restaurant space at 1219 Filbert St., a storefront that has sat empty since the fondue chain closed its Philadelphia location in 2015. The new shop will be about 4,300 square feet, roughly the same footprint as the current windowless store at 5 N. 12th St. A PLCB spokesperson said the new location is expected to open in the first half of 2027.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the new store will sit between a Chili’s Grill & Bar and a 7-Eleven, directly across from the Marriott Hotel. The PLCB spokesperson also confirmed the relocated shop will be classified as a standard store rather than part of the agency’s upscale Premium Collection line. The current store at 5 N. 12th St. opened in 1998 and has operated without windows for nearly three decades.
A Storefront Emptied Since 2015
The Melting Pot had operated at the Filbert Street address for 10 years before it closed in 2015, when the chain relocated to Maple Shade, New Jersey, according to the Burlington County Times. The property sits beneath a parking garage owned by Parkway Corp., alongside other ground-floor commercial tenants including Maggiano’s Little Italy, per the same Inquirer report. Robert Zuritsky, president and chief executive of Parkway Corp., said the company had not previously had an empty storefront on the block until the Melting Pot shut down.
Zuritsky said several restaurant deals for the space came and went over the years before the pandemic put a longtime crimp in leasing efforts. “We were open to all sorts of ideas. The PLCB came in, and they wanted to do it,” he said, per the Inquirer's report. Paige Jaffe of Square Retail Consultants represented Parkway in the deal that finally filled the long-dark storefront.
Echoes of an Earlier Reading Terminal Revival
The soon-to-be-vacated Fine Wine & Good Spirits store at 5 N. 12th St. was itself part of a late-1990s push to revitalize the Reading Terminal train shed and headhouse, a wave that also brought the Hard Rock Cafe to 12th and Market Streets and the short-lived Red Bell Brewpub to the 1100 block of Filbert Street, the Inquirer reports. Nearly three decades later, the relocation lands amid a fresh round of efforts to reshape the surrounding Market East corridor.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has launched a master plan initiative aimed at revitalizing the former shopping district, according to WHYY. That effort includes encouraging private investment, pursuing road and infrastructure improvements, and considering changes to the city's zoning code. Separately, the Philadelphia city government has outlined beautification work along the corridor that includes planting more than 40 trees, installing 10 temporary murals, and refurbishing transit headhouses and bus shelters, per the City of Philadelphia.
Other Market East Deals in Motion
Elsewhere along the corridor, Comcast and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment jointly purchased commercial properties at 920-938 Market Street and 1000-1024 Market Street, WHYY reports. The partnership plans to demolish the vacant storefronts at 1000-1024 Market Street, including the former Robinson department store building, with work expected to start by the end of the year and wrap up by summer. The Greyhound bus station at 10th and Filbert Streets, closed since Greyhound vacated the building in June 2023, is also expected to reopen as part of the broader corridor changes, according to the same WHYY report.
For now, the most concrete sign of change remains the quiet one: a decade-empty fondue restaurant space finally getting new life as a state-run wine and spirits shop, set to open sometime in the first half of 2027.
