On Ardmore's Cricket Avenue, the Biggest Changes Are Still Pending

Most of the Cricket Avenue news in 2026 has been about openings. Raffs Italian Cuisine arrived at 65 Cricket in April. Bored Trading Café held its grand opening at 43 Cricket in January. A wine bar is now aiming for October. All of that is real, but none of it will shape the street as much as three things that remain unsettled: when the empty restaurant space at 98 Cricket reopens, which version of Schauffele Plaza the township picks, and whether a delayed opening at 24 Cricket happens this month.

These questions sit inside a larger run of new businesses. Alec Hersh, executive director of the Downtown Ardmore District, told Main Line Media News that 10 businesses had opened in the district in 2026 as of July 20, compared with eleven in all of 2025. Cricket Avenue has more of that turnover than any other street. It also has the most of it left undecided.

The Street, Address by Address

Here is where each Cricket Avenue address stands as of late September 2026, based on local reporting and the businesses' own pages.

The table shows a pattern. The street's oldest business and its newest arrivals sit close together. McCloskey's has been on Cricket since 1934, as Main Line Media News noted when the tavern turned 75 in 2009, and the tavern's own site says it is still operating. Tired Hands on Cricket Terrace is also still pouring. Its Fermentaria menu page carries an update date of 9/22/26.

The Settled Part: 65 Cricket Filled In

The address that changed fastest is 65 Cricket, the Cricket Flats building. In 2025, Cork & Candles opened an Ardmore location there. CURE de Repos, a beauty and wellness spa in Suite 105, held its grand opening party on January 24, 2025.

Then, in April 2026, Raffs Italian Cuisine opened in the same building. It is the second restaurant for chef and owner Raffael Kupa, who also runs Buona Vita in Somers Point, New Jersey. Raffs is BYOB, serves traditional Italian food, and is open for dinner seven nights a week, according to the Inquirer. For anyone keeping track of where to eat on Cricket, that is the main addition this year. You can walk to it and bring your own wine.

Bored Trading Café at 43 Cricket covers the daytime. It is an all-day spot serving bagels, sandwiches, salads, wraps, smoothies, and burgers, and it held its grand opening in January.

The October Target at 24 Cricket

Vintner's Table is the next opening in line, but its date has moved before. Andrea and Marco Folino, who run Folino Estate Winery & Restaurant in Kutztown, are opening their third Vintner's Table here, following Phoenixville and Wyomissing. The Inquirer describes it as an Italian-inspired wine bar, salumeria, and lifestyle boutique.

The Inquirer's fall forecast, published September 9, puts the Ardmore opening in October without a specific day. The Lower Merion Times reported that the bar had previously aimed for early August and missed that date. The Ardmore page on the Vintner's Table website lists hours, a menu, and a reservations link, but it does not say whether the bar has started serving. Until the doors open, treat October as a goal, not a confirmed date.

The Open Question at 98 Cricket

The address that matters most on Cricket Avenue right now is the one with nothing operating in it. John Henry's Pub closed permanently on February 28, 2025, after its owners announced they were retiring from a 39-year career in the restaurant and bar business.

The planned replacement has a strong reputation. EMei, owner Dan Tsao's Chinatown Szechuan restaurant, is expanding to both South Philadelphia and Ardmore. Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan called it a "Szechuan feast with few peers in Philly."

The timeline is the uncertain part. In July 2025, the Inquirer reported a target of August or September 2026. By July 7, 2026, the paper reported that the expansion had been pushed back because of permitting and architecture problems. No new date has been published. So for now, the biggest restaurant arrival planned for Cricket Avenue has no date attached.

The space a few doors up has been empty longer. The Living Room & Cricket Cafe at 104 Cricket announced it would close at the end of April 2024, Main Line Today reported.

Where Cricket Meets Lancaster, Nothing Is Decided

The largest undecided item on Cricket Avenue is a public space. Schauffele Plaza sits at Lancaster and Cricket Avenues next to Parking Lot 6, a 72-space lot. The 2023 Ardmore Master Plan made redoing the plaza a priority because the commercial district has little open public space.

In March 2026, Lower Merion commissioners voted to receive two conceptual designs. Assistant township manager Brandon Ford was clear about what that vote did and did not do:

"We are asking the board to receive the plan designs, nothing more, nothing less. There are no decisions regarding the actual project itself."

The two options share some features and differ on others:

• Both options: Cricket Terrace would be narrowed and get streetscape improvements, and parking would be added in Lot 5, the smaller lot across the street.
• Option A: All parking in Lot 6 is removed, for a net loss of 56 spaces. The work happens in five phases, starting with Cricket Terrace. Estimated cost is $9.38 million.
• Option B: 18 spaces are kept at the southern end of Lot 6, for a net loss of 38. The green space is smaller and the work happens in three phases. Estimated cost is $9.28 million.

The two options are about $100,000 apart in cost, so the real choice is green space versus 18 parking spaces. Business owners have raised concerns about losing parking. Ford said that once the new train station opened and the Piazza site on Lancaster Avenue is redeveloped, the township expects more than 1,000 parking spaces in the business district over the next two years. Cricket Terrace, home to Tired Hands, would change under either plan, and Main Line Media News reported that the township already has about $2.5 million in funding lined up for the Cricket Terrace portion.

Trolley Way, the third piece of the plan, gets its name from a former trolley line that ran from Ardmore into Havertown. Today, much of that old right-of-way is used by SEPTA buses, walkers, and cyclists.

What's Happening Around Cricket in the Meantime

While the plaza design waits, the current plaza is still where downtown events happen. Aki Matsuri, the Japanese fall harvest festival, took place there on September 12. Here are the dates coming up near Cricket Avenue:

1. October 5: Taco Heart opens at the Ardmore Farmers Market, 120 Coulter Ave. It is Nano Wheedan's first location outside Philadelphia, serving Austin-style flour-tortilla breakfast tacos.
2. October, no date set: Vintner's Table's target opening at 24 Cricket.
3. October 17, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Ardmore Day and the Ardmore Business Association's 75th anniversary, held at Schauffele Plaza and around downtown. The free event includes the Ardbark Dog Parade & Contest, a classic car show, a Children's Spooktacular Parade, and a candy scavenger hunt.
4. By the end of 2026: Five pedestrian wayfinding kiosks along Lancaster, Anderson, and Cricket Avenues, paid for with a $68,000 state grant.

The kiosks are the one change on this list that physically adds something to Cricket Avenue this year without waiting on a vote. EMei's date, the October opening at 24 Cricket, and the choice between Option A and Option B are all still open, and each will decide more about the street than anything that opened in 2026.

If you own near Cricket Avenue and want to know how these pending changes might affect your block, from the plaza decision to the restaurants lining up along the street, Nora DeCristofano keeps up with downtown Ardmore and is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.