On Saturday, Dec. 5, craft vendors will set up at the corner of Cricket and Lancaster avenues for the Ardmore Holiday Market. A wine bar that opened in October now sits on that corner. That wasn't true last December. Downtown Ardmore has shifted toward Cricket Avenue over the past year. The Lancaster Avenue block that used to hold car dealerships is now a construction site. Most of the year's new arrivals cluster on Cricket Avenue and in Suburban Square, and the business district running this season's market has a new name.
Vintner's Table Now Sits Where the Market Sets Up
Vintner's Table opened in Ardmore in October, at 24 Cricket Ave., according to Patch. It is the third location for the Italian-style wine bar and restaurant, after Phoenixville and Wyomissing. The wine comes from the family's own vineyard, Folino Estate in Kutztown.
The family's story runs back four decades. Rodolfo and Lidia Folino came from Calabria, Italy, in the 1980s and opened their first restaurant, Valentino's. Rodolfo later bought 54 acres in Kutztown intending to build homes. When that plan fell through, family members helped turn the land into a vineyard. The first vines went in in 2014. Andrea Folino, Rodolfo's daughter-in-law, founded Vintner's Table, and its first location opened at the estate in 2015.
Savvy Main Line describes the Ardmore location as a wine bar, restaurant, salumeria and boutique run by Andrea and Marco Folino in the former Twenty One Pips space. The room has a main dining floor plus a mezzanine that can be booked for private gatherings, which matters during holiday party season. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and on Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Since Saturday hours run to 9 p.m., a market visit on Dec. 5 can end with dinner on the same corner.
A Renamed District Runs This Season's Calendar
This is the first holiday season since the group formerly called the Ardmore Initiative became the Downtown Ardmore District. MainLineMediaNews reported the change in July. The district covers Lancaster Avenue and the downtown streets next to it. It has installed 24 benches at Ardmore bus stops and expects pedestrian-scale wayfinding signs by the end of 2026.
The district's own event page for the 2026 Ardmore Holiday Market lists Dec. 5 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the intersection of Cricket and Lancaster avenues, with more than 20 local craft vendors and live music. Art Star Bazaar is curating the market.
The season starts a week earlier with a different organizer. The Ardmore Business Association's Holiday Tree Lighting is Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving, at 6 p.m. at Schauffele Plaza. Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive by firetruck.
The Season at a Glance
| Date | Event | Location | Organizer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 27, 6 p.m. | Holiday Tree Lighting | Schauffele Plaza, Ardmore | Ardmore Business Association |
| Sat., Dec. 5, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Ardmore Holiday Market | Cricket Ave. and Lancaster Ave. | Downtown Ardmore District, curated by Art Star Bazaar |
| Sun., Dec. 6 | Narberth Dickens Festival | Downtown Narberth | Narberth business association |
Narberth's festival falls the day after the Ardmore market. The Narberth business association lists the Dickens Festival for Sunday, Dec. 6, 2026, on downtown streets. It is free, and the detailed schedule will be posted closer to the date. That gives the first weekend of December a Saturday in Ardmore and a Sunday one borough over.
Suburban Square Has New Names on Coulter Avenue
The other half of the shift is a few blocks away. According to The Inquirer's May report on Suburban Square, New Balance, Patagonia, PopUp Bagels, Rhone, Skin Laundry and Sugared + Bronzed all opened at the center between February and April 2026. In early August, the high-end bedding brand Boll & Branch opened at 40 Coulter Ave., The Inquirer's Lower Merion newsletter reported.
Counting only those retailers, that makes seven Suburban Square stores that were not there for last year's holiday shopping. Two more are listed on the way. The center's directory shows Arhaus at 71 St. James Place and On at 46 St. James Place, both marked "Coming Soon."
Food has moved along Coulter Avenue too. Taco Heart owner Nano Wheedan announced a location inside the Ardmore Farmers Market at 120 Coulter Ave., and Taco Heart now appears in Suburban Square's dining directory.
Back on Lancaster Avenue, the Lower Merion Times September business roundup listed Pure Green Juice Bar at 56 E. Lancaster Ave. and Calm & Strong Pilates and Yoga at 46 Rittenhouse Place. It also listed two health-related arrivals farther down the avenue, VEG ER for Pets at 167 W. Lancaster Ave. and Solis Mammography at 171 W. Lancaster Ave.
The Lancaster Avenue Block That Won't Be Retail Until 2028
The new businesses cluster on Cricket and Coulter partly because of what happened to one block of Lancaster Avenue. In May, officials broke ground on The Piazza at Ardmore. The 3.5-acre site runs along Lancaster Avenue between Ardmore and Greenfield avenues. It used to hold two Piazza car dealerships, an IHOP and a car wash, according to MainLineMediaNews. Lower Merion's project page gives the address range as 100 to 198 W. Lancaster Ave.
The finished project will have 270 apartments and 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The developer plans a mix of food and beverage, health and wellness, and specialty retail tenants. Construction is expected to finish in February 2028. That means this holiday season and the next one will both go by without stores on that stretch.
The plans will also change the street around the site:
- A landscaped island on Lancaster Avenue designed to slow traffic
- An extension of Athens Avenue through to Greenfield Avenue
- About 480 parking spaces, of which 108 will be open to the public to serve nearby businesses and visitors
At the groundbreaking, Downtown Ardmore District executive director Alec Hersh called the project "a defining characteristic of our downtown streetscape." For now, that block is a construction site.
Parking for the First Weekend of December
The Saturday market and the Sunday festival fall under different parking rules. Lower Merion's Parking Services Department enforces meters and kiosks Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and parking is free on Sundays. The Ardmore Holiday Market runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a Saturday, so it falls entirely within enforced hours. The tree lighting starts at 6 p.m. on a Friday, right as enforcement ends. Narberth is a separate borough, so the township's Sunday rule doesn't cover the Dickens Festival.
The meters themselves may change. As of The Inquirer's Aug. 6 report, township commissioners were deciding whether to replace the aging meters or phase them out entirely and rely on parking apps, and they had not yet voted. The 108 public spaces at The Piazza are part of the 2028 plan and won't be available this winter.
For a broader look at how Lower Merion, Radnor and Tredyffrin compare, see our Main Line neighborhoods guide. For a similar downtown planning story one township west, read what Wayne's new downtown plan found under the parking complaints.
Downtown Ardmore will look different again by 2028, when The Piazza's storefronts open, and a home's value depends on which blocks it is closest to. If you own near Lancaster Avenue and want to know how that shift could affect your timing, Reid Rosenthal & The Rosenthal Group can walk you through it. Schedule a Free Consultation.
