Philadelphia News Briefs 8.11.15

1.) Bloomingdales will finally have a presence in Center City. The upscale retailer will be opening an outlet store at The Shops at Liberty Place at 1625 Chestnut Street. The store will take over vacant space that was once a Warner Brothers store. The Bloomingdales outlet will be the 16th one in the entire country. The fact that the store is an outlet and not a full-priced retail store is seen by some as evidence that Center City can’t support traditional retailers the same way other downtown hubs are able to. In any case, shopaholics will undoubtedly welcome the news of the coming Bloomies with delight.

Center City was a hotspot for parking tickets.

2.) An Inquirer analysis of Philadelphia Parking Authority data was recently released, showing where the most parking tickets are issued in Center City. The PPA issued 1.8 million parking tickets in Center City, out of 4.8 million in Philadelphia over a three-year span starting in 2012, the time period covered by the analysis. In short, Center City drivers were more likely to get tickets than those in any other area of the city, with those poor souls parked on a few blocks in Old City the most likely to be ticketed. The 500 block of South 2nd Street was particularly vulnerable for PPA violations. The second worst strip for drivers is the cobblestoned 100 block of Chestnut Street.

3.) The news has been covering the Pope’s upcoming visit with complete fervor. One aspect of the visit that hasn’t been explored until recently? The reaction of locals to the three-ring circus that the papal visit is shaping up to be. CBS Philly recently ran a story on locals’ reaction to the papal visit and determined that many are treating the weekend of September 26-27 like a hurricane – stocking up on food and supplies so they don’t have to leave the house, and planning to get the hell out of Dodge if they can.