NextFab is a membership-based makerspace that provides shared workshops, education, and mentoring in woodworking, metalworking, laser cutting, 3D printing, textiles, jewelry making, and digital manufacturing tools. With over 500 members, NextFab offers a supportive community where you can learn new skills, build products, and explore making as a professional pathway. By choosing a handmade gift
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The winter slump had set in for ice cream sales in late January, and Kianu Walker, the force behind Vannah Banana, was dreaming of the summer—picturing himself not on a beach, as many people do, but instead in an ice cream truck. After starting the city’s first Black-owned, vegan ice cream business in 2020, Walker
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Connecting local dining establishments and grocery stores with eco-minded and bargain-hunting customers, Too Good To Go—an app designed to decrease food waste—will be available to Philadelphians starting February 23. Founded in Copenhagen in 2016 and currently available in 15 countries, Philadelphia marks the app’s third U.S. city expansion, following its rollout in greater New York
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When Emily Rodia and Jason Rusnock began pursuing a low-waste lifestyle, they started small. They replaced single-use items in their lives—trading up for things like reusable water bottles and bamboo toothbrushes. Before they knew it, the amount of plastic they put out on the sidewalk each week had dwindled. Three years after starting their zero-waste
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A decade in the making, the South Philly Food Co-op (SPFC) has opened its doors. Leigh Goldenberg, one of the first 100 member-owners at the co-op in 2011, joined before it had even begun searching for store locations. To Goldenberg, investing in the co-op early on was a commitment to a future vision of a
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Before Melissa Torre brainstorms new scents and ingredients for skin care products, she thinks about food. Prior to founding Vellum St. Soap Company, in 2016, Torre spent about five years running her bakery, Cookie Confidential, as well as 10 years managing Tattooed Mom, on South Street. She credits her experience as a chef with sparking
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Far from any port in North Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood are four massive shipping containers, retrofitted with doors and windows. North Philly native Chikrock Gonzalez ,42, converted two 20-foot and two 40-foot shipping containers into a tire shop after the pandemic forced him to close J&C Tire Shop. “The whole idea was, I had a tire
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In February 2019, a group of nine creative engineers, researchers, artists, and designers who had been working and playing together for years founded the Philadelphia Packaging Company. United around attributing value to objects of all shapes, sizes, and traditional economic worths, the collective began telling the stories of businesses that engage in packaging or selling
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Hard times have been felt throughout the Reading Terminal Market. “The bar does 5 to 10% of what it normally does, and produce is down 50%,” says Jimmy Iovine, co-owner of Iovine Brothers Produce and Molly Malloy’s Pub. Tootsie Iovine, owner of Tootsie’s Hot and Cold Buffet had to shut down her operation entirely. “I
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As Philadelphia enters its second lockdown due to increased cases of COVID-19, local business owners are buckling down for hard times under the expectation that most Philadelphians will remain inside unless on essential trips until Jan. 1. Rebecca Aronow, founder of the event company House Cat, is worried about the impacts of the second shutdown
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When covid-19 hit, Soy Cafe owner Alice Leung was forced to close. It was a stressful time for everyone, especially for small-business owners. However, Leung kept her cool and brainstormed how to support her staff. “We’re still going through it, and it’s such a sad and hard thing to cope with,” says Leung, “But somehow,
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