Help End Nuisance Businesses in Brewerytown
- Patrick Sherlock
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
The Park to Broad District team are aware of “nuisance businesses” whose operations have a negative impact on our community - typically due to connections with drug-dealing, violence, illegal and non-permitted operations, code violations, and anti-social behavior by customers.
Help us end nuisance businesses; read the op-ed at the bottom of this page, and take action:
Share your Concerns
Contact the community officials below, feel free to use this script:
Hello, my name is (your name) and I am a concerned resident/business owner at (share your address) in the 5th Council District. I am calling about (specific store name/address) in the neighborhood. I have had consistent negative encounters with the business that include…
(Include all that apply and add your own)
Regularly witnessing the sale of drugs, drug paraphernalia, and tobacco
Being harassed by the store’s customers
Excessive noise, especially late at night
Feeling unsafe walking by the store
Illegal parking and blockage of the traffic lanes
What new steps will the city take to prevent this business from harming our community?
When should I expect to see a change?
Please follow-up with me to share updates regarding this business
Officials to Contact
(215) 686-3442
Keith Dial, Manager (267) 496-1240
Outside of the 5th Council District:
Thank you for your help strengthening our community!
Op-Ed, written March 23, 2026
We saw a ray of hope last week when contractors began disassembling the flashing sign at a 24-hour "convenience store" that has been the source of innumerable complaints from residents for drug-dealing, violence, illegal and unpermitted operations, code violations, and anti-social behavior. "It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad," my colleague lamented later the same day when we realized that the store (and flashing sign) was simply moving one block down, to flee the citations it earned at its prior address, and will continue victimizing our neighborhood.
The organization we lead supports economic development and the small business community in Brewerytown, Fairmount, Spring Garden and Francisville, but our efforts to grow the local economy have increasingly been hampered by the effects "nuisance businesses" have on our commercial corridors. Our business district has recently seen the opening of a new stationery shop, childcare centers, clothing retailers, a gift boutique, accounting firm, water ice stand, and new restaurants specializing in Filipino cuisine, Vietnamese coffee, and Sichuan food. All complement the hundreds of long-time neighborhood businesses that reliably help make the surrounding neighborhoods safe, vibrant, convenient, affordable, and pleasant places to live. Community businesses have been preparing to serve visitors for major 2026 celebrations, but their years of investment are being crowded out by 24-hour “convenience stores” that detract from the neighborhoods they’ve helped to build. In addition to the already established nuisance businesses in the district, there are plans for five more of these identical storefronts opening soon nearby.
Our peer community development organizations have confirmed this is a shared and growing issue for commercial corridors citywide. The Inquirer has written about the products and practices of these businesses as well, while local officials have told us the proliferation of these businesses has likely been caused by New York City's success limiting bad operators who are now moving south. At times we have been encouraged by the Philadelphia Police Department’s response to this challenge and by Mayor Parker’s initiatives to catalyze new businesses and job creation, but more often, we feel the City’s approach, from curfews to outright bans on categories of businesses, is disjointed and insufficient to address the problem. We see a lack of coordination and gaps in responsibility for enforcement, which means we are being outflanked and frustrated by a limited, but persistent set of actors who are turning our commercial corridors into spaces people avoid rather than flock to -- robbing communities of the opportunities that many others have labored to build.
Something needs to change. With our 2026 events now underway, we call on Philadelphia leaders to commit to supporting our commercial corridors, apply interventions that have proved successful in other cities, and mount a proactive and collaborative drive to close exploitative businesses citywide:
enforce existing laws and regulations;
hold property and business owners are responsible for operations that harm neighborhoods;
ensure cooperation between Law, Police, Health, Licenses & Inspections, and Commerce Departments so that bad actors cannot exploit loopholes and gaps between agencies.
We hope neighbors and allies will make a point of continuing to patronize the small businesses that bring positive activity to our community, and visit parktobroad.org/takeaction to lend your name to our campaign to end nuisance businesses in Philadelphia.
