Rittenhouse Lost Its Starbucks Corners. Here's Where the Morning Coffee Went.

At 18th and Spruce, the sage-green blade sign of Blank Street now hangs in front of the church spire. Inside the old Starbucks there are curved banquettes, terrazzo tables flecked with green and pink, and a window bar that faces 18th Street. The Starbucks held that corner for eleven years before it closed in September 2025. According to Rittenhouse Ramblings, it was also where the block's dog walkers met around 8 a.m.

The corner has coffee again. Across the rest of the neighborhood, though, the coffee has come back in different places and on different schedules than before, and it has not come back to every block. Since September 2025, morning coffee in Rittenhouse has moved off the Market Street commuter stretch and into cafés built for staying a while. Many of those cafés keep hours set by small operators, and those hours don't always match a 7 a.m. workday.

Five closures in two Septembers

The first round came in September 2025. Starbucks closed four stores in the neighborhood: 1801 Spruce St, 1709 Chestnut St, 1500 Market St, and 1900 Market St. The citywide total was six. The second round came last month. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Sept. 25, 2026 that Starbucks was closing the store at 2201 South St, along with one in Northern Liberties and one in Willingboro, N.J. Those three were among roughly 250 locations the company was closing nationwide.

The Comcast Center Starbucks at 1701 JFK Blvd is also gone. Here is what each former location looks like now:

The rows follow a clear geographic pattern. The residential corner at 18th and Spruce got a replacement within about a year. Both Market Street spaces were still empty at the end of September. Rittenhouse Ramblings described those two stores as packed during the week and fairly quiet on weekends, which made them commuter stores. Those weekday commuters have no direct replacement yet.

The one chain that came in was built for sitting

Blank Street began in 2020 as a single coffee cart in Williamsburg. It now has more than 100 locations, and its reputation rests on small, mobile-order cafés where customers are in and out in about four minutes. For 1801 Spruce, the company gutted the old Starbucks and built a room with oak paneling and a warm plaster ceiling. The banquettes curve around the room so that most seats get a view of the windows. The company is also building a 3,500-square-foot café at 3603 Walnut St in University City, which will be one of its largest stores in the country.

For early risers, Blank Street's locator lists the Rittenhouse shop as opening at 6 a.m. The menu covers brewed coffee, espresso drinks, matcha, signature drinks, and seasonal items.

The bank on 17th Street followed the same idea. The Capital One Café at 135 S. 17th St reopened after a renovation that added communal seating and smaller tables and moved the checkout counter to the side, so the room feels more like a café and co-working space. The pup cups are back.

The independents filled in the middle blocks

Most of the new coffee opened between Chestnut and Spruce, and it arrived in the same months the Starbucks leases sat empty. Each of these places has its own character and its own schedule.

Bar Cicci, 1620 Sansom St. Ellen Yin's Italian-style bar soft-opened Aug. 18 after its opening slipped from June to July to August. Mornings bring espresso, cornetti, and Pizza Bianca sandwiches. At 4 p.m. the counter turns into an aperitivo bar with about 20 small plates, spritzes, and wine. Its OpenTable listing shows morning hours from 8 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 9 a.m. on Saturday, with no Monday or Sunday hours listed.

Haraz Coffee House, 1822 Chestnut St. Haraz took over a storefront next to Boyds that had been empty. The menu has Yemeni drinks such as Mofawar, Adeni tea, and Jubani, along with espresso, matcha, pastries, and desserts. The shop plans to extend its hours into the evening gradually.

Somedays Artisan Bakery & Café, 1601 Walnut St. Somedays was open by early October. It is the brand's first location outside New York and New Jersey. It sells hand-laminated croissants, cookies, soft serve, Greek frozen yogurt, coffee, and specialty matchas. Planned hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with an 8 a.m. opening on Saturday.

The Coffee Club at The Coloroom, 201 S. 22nd St. The Coffee Club is an espresso and matcha counter inside a Walnut Street salon, and you don't need a salon appointment to order. It is open Wednesday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

These four also have something in common. Not one of them is a straight replacement for a grab-and-go chain store. One is an espresso bar that turns into a wine bar in the afternoon. One serves Yemeni coffee and tea. One is a bakery that also sells soft serve. One is a coffee counter inside a salon. They give the neighborhood more variety than it had in 2025, and they also keep a wider spread of opening hours.

Summer added more, and took one away

The July openings fit the same pattern. Mad Cat Brewtique opened at 2036 Sansom St, Moment Gelato & Coffee opened at 129 S. 18th St, and Sandpiper Cafe opened at 1640 South St. Sandpiper serves breakfast, lunch, and coffee from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Mad Cat now also has Page Burners, a bookstore focused on romance, on its lower level.

The summer also had a loss. In June, Le Pain Quotidien closed its location at 1425 Walnut St.

At the Comcast Center, the former Starbucks space now sells flowers. Robertson's Flowers is a family business that is nearly 100 years old and started in Chestnut Hill. This is its first Center City shop, and it opens on Saturdays. Café Click is next door, but it does not open on Saturdays. On a weekday, someone working at 1701 JFK can still get coffee on the ground floor. On a Saturday, they can buy orchids there but not coffee.

What is still on the way

Three projects could change the map again, and none of them has a firm date.

• PopUp Bagels, 1709 Chestnut St. The Philadelphia Business Journal reported in August that the bagel chain had signed a lease for a Rittenhouse Square location. According to Rittenhouse Ramblings, the shop is headed for the former Starbucks, and as of late August its opening date was listed as TBD.
• KYN, 1807 Chestnut St. This Korean coffee and dessert shop was nearly finished in August and waiting on an inspection. It had been aiming for early October.
• Gather Athletic Club, 1900 Market St. The gym opened in August with its entrance on 20th Street. It offers strength training, treadmill classes, and boxing, and it plans an in-house café. It shares an address with one of the vacant Starbucks spaces. The café will mainly serve members after workouts, but it would add the first new coffee counter at that address since September 2025.

The bagel shop and the Korean dessert café are both on Chestnut, a block apart. If both open, Chestnut will have done more to replace the old chain coffee than Market Street has done so far.

A Rittenhouse coffee week, by morning

Based on the hours listed for the places above, the earliest options look like this:

1. Earliest listed: Blank Street at 1801 Spruce lists a 6 a.m. opening. Sandpiper Cafe at 1640 South St opens at 7 a.m. daily.
2. Weekdays: Somedays at 1601 Walnut opens at 7 a.m.
3. Tuesday through Friday: Bar Cicci at 1620 Sansom opens at 8 a.m.
4. Wednesday through Saturday: The Coffee Club at 201 S. 22nd opens at 7:30 a.m.
5. Saturday: Somedays opens at 8 a.m. and Bar Cicci at 9 a.m.

The list is fullest in the middle of the week and has the fewest options at the start and end. Mondays have fewer listed choices than Wednesdays, and the Sunday hours for several new cafés have not been published. Sandpiper lists the same hours every day. For the rest, check the café's own page before you leave, especially in a shop's first season, when hours are still changing.

The Starbucks at 18th and Spruce was a neighborhood fixture for eleven years. Five Rittenhouse-area Starbucks have closed since September 2025, and the replacements so far are one larger café at 18th and Spruce and several small independents on Walnut, Sansom, Chestnut, and 22nd. The two Market Street spaces were still empty at the end of September.

If you live near one of these blocks and wonder how the changes on your street affect the building you live in, I'm glad to talk it through. Neighborhood knowledge at the block and building level is the core of my work with buyers and sellers around the Square. Let's connect with Barbara Sontag Feldman.