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Cover design by Tricia Hoadley
Cover photograph by Jie Deng
Exploring the many facets of the Kennett Square community
Letter from the Editor:
This issue of Kennett Square Life looks at many facets of the Kennett Square community, ranging from history to art to business to recreation.
We take you for a visit to the Treetops Kitty Cafe in Kennett Square, where fans of felines can go to have a snack, read, or work online while they enjoy the company of cats that are available for adoption.
We profile Jeff Bell, a local artist who started as a race car driver, learned the automotive trade, and has now used those skills to create artworks and functional metalwork for area homes.
We write about how the Chalfant House at 220 North Union Street in Kennett Square has been reborn as the new real estate office of Jayne Bair and Century 21 Pierce & Bair. In addition to this new purpose, the former William Chalfant mansion underwent an extensive restoration and rebuild that was planned out by Bair and her husband, David Francis, after a devastating fire ripped through the house nearly three years earlier, on Nov. 19, 2014.
This issue includes a story about R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc., a commercial real estate development management, leasing, and brokerage firm that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The firm has to date developed over 3.6 million square feet of retail space, and centers under their management contain over 385 national, regional and local tenants that achieve over $800 million in annual retail sales.
We also talk to members of the Kennett Square Beautification Committee about the efforts to beautify Kennett Square. It’s obvious to anyone who visits the town that those efforts are working. The Kennett Square Beautification Committee was recently honored with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Garden of Distinction Award for 2017, and members of the committee traveled to Philadelphia to accept the award in November.
We also feature a story about Bike Kennett Square, a volunteer-led bicycling advocacy group. We talk to Josie Marsh, who started the group in August of 2016.
We hope that you enjoy this latest collection of stories about Kennett Square and its people. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for future stories, and we look forward to bringing you the next issue of Kennett Square Life, which will arrive in the summer of 2018. Happy holidays!
Sincerely,
Randy Lieberman, Publisher randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553
Cover design by: Tricia Hoadley
Cover photo: Steven Hoffman
Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553, ext. 13
I“Jayne and her crew returned the Historic District’s most iconic building to its former glory.”
~ Lynn Sinclair
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
n August, the Chalfant House at 220 North Union Street in Kennett Square was reborn as the new real estate office of Jayne Bair and Century 21 Pierce & Bair. In addition to this new purpose, the former William Chalfant mansion underwent an extensive restoration and rebuild that was planned out by Bair and her husband, David Francis, after a devastating fire ripped through the house nearly three years earlier, on Nov. 19, 2014.
Century 21 Pierce & Bair is in its 40th year of providing real estate services to the community. They were able to celebrate the completion of the large renovation project and the opening of a new home in August.
“Our open house was so much fun,” explained Bair, who has been a real estate professional since 1991.
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Photos by Steven Hoffman
Left: The Chalfant House at 220 North Union Street in Kennett Square is now reborn as the new real estate office of Jayne Bair and Century 21 Pierce & Bair.
Right: Jayne Bair with her husband, David Francis, and her mother, Louise Bair, at the Chalfant House in October.
Chalfant House
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The Chalfant House has been owned by the Bair family since the mid-1980s. Jayne’s parents, Richard and Louise Bair, originally purchased the building to use as their real estate office, but for various reasons, the timing was never right and they never got around to converting the house to that use. Instead, the home was rented out to several tenants at a time, some of them staying year after year. Richard and Louise Bair never felt that the time was right to make a change with the house.
“They were going to sell it a few times, but they never did,” Jayne explained. It’s easy to understand how someone could form an attachment with the building.
The Chalfant House was beautifully restored after a devastating fire in 2014.
The Chalfant Mansion, which was originally built in 1884, is an example of Queen Anne architecture. William Chalfant was the original owner of the mansion, and it was designed by renowned architect Frank Furness. Furness designed more than 600 buildings, most of them in the Philadelphia area, throughout his 45-year career. He was known for his bold and diverse style. Among his most important surviving buildings are the University of Pennsylvania Library, which is now
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After the restoration project, there are plenty of beautiful, open spaces in the house.
Chalfant House
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known as the Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia.
When the Chalfant House caught fire sometime after 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2014, one of Kennett Square’s most historic and architecturally significant buildings was threatened. When the blaze couldn’t be put out with fire extinguishers, fire companies were called and responded to
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Courtesy photos
Surveying the damage after the fire in 2014.
Chalfant House
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the scene. Before long, fire companies from surrounding communities also responded. The good news was that no firefighters were hurt while battling blaze, although one tenant suffered minor injuries. The bad news, however, was that the building itself suffered significant damage—estimated at more than $350,000.
After the fire, Jayne Bair and David Francis, decided to purchase the property from her parents and started developing a plan to restore it. Jayne really liked the idea of utilizing the building as the home of the real estate business—just as her parents had originally planned.
“We thought about it for about a year,” Jayne explained. She and her husband purchased the property in February of 2016. The restoration work took place over the course of the next 16 months.
Kennett Square architect Dennis Melton was enlisted to oversee the architectural work, while Mobac, Inc. handled the contracting work on the project.
The results of the restoration work on the Chalfant House are stunning. They paid attention to the smallest details. Ornate doors were installed to match the original style of the house. The original chandeliers, which were completely blackened, were meticulously cleaned
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Chalfant House
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and repaired by a company specializing in this kind of work.
The restoration work was more than what the owners had initially anticipated, but now that the project is complete everyone is pleased with the results.
“The restoration of the Chalfant House is really top notch,” said Lynn Sinclair, a longtime member of the Kennett Square Historical Commission and a protector of local history. “Jayne and her crew returned the Historic District’s most iconic building to its former glory.”
Sinclair lauded the owners’ efforts to maintain the historical integrity of one of Kennett Square’s finest buildings.
“The attention to detail in the replication of the charred woodwork is amazing,” said Sinclair. “The modern systems, not to mention insulation, will extend the life of the building another 100 years.”
Bair, whose work office is now on the second floor of the Chalfant House, said that she’s excited about the new home of Century 21 Pierce & Bair.
“It’s very good to have the project finished,” she said. “We’re so excited to be in town and to be in this historic building.”
To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@chestercounty. com.
One of the Kennett Square historic district’s most iconic buildings has been restored to its former glory.
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Jenny Chen Pediatric and Family Dentistry:
enny Chen Pediatric and Family Dentistry is a multispecialty dental practice with a highly visible location at Old Baltimore Pike and Guernsey Road in West Grove. The practice offers pediatric, family, and cosmetic
dentistry, and has specialists in orthodontics and implant dentistry.
“From the moment our patients rst arrive here, our goal is to provide them with a comfortable, relaxing experience,” said Dr. Jenny Chen, who provides top-quality care along with her husband, Dr. Michael Lemper, and their team at the West Grove of ce and their of ce in Willow Street. For a decade, they have built a thriving practice that has seen long-term loyalty from parents, children and grandchildren.
Dr. Jenny, as she prefers to be called, was a dentist in Beijing, China, before coming to America 20 years ago to pursue a Ph.D. in experimental pathology at the University of Texas. After earning her degree and preparing to be a scientist, she decided that she wanted to pursue her rst love, dentistry. She then obtained her DMD from the University of Pennsylvania school of Dental Medicine, where she met her husband, Dr. Mike.
After several years of honing her skills as an associate in busy Philadelphia practices, Dr. Jenny came to Chester County to open her own practice. Dr. Jenny is skilled at all aspects of general dentistry, including cosmetic dentistry, root canals, crowns, bridges, and restoring implants. The aspect of Dr. Jenny most loved by her patients, however, is her friendly, humorous, easygoing manner, which often calms the fears of the most severe dental-phobic patient. Many patients who have avoided seeing the dentist for years out of fear have come to Dr. Jenny and now will receive dental care from no one else. She truly treats her patients as part of the family.
all ages, and to this end has both a board-certi ed pediatric dentist and board-certi ed orthodontist on staff. It is unusual for a dental practice to provide this kind of specialized care for everybody in the family. Dr. Ahmad F. Charkas is the orthodontist, and he provide comprehensive orthodontic care for children, adolescents, and adults. Dr. Charkas is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and is Invisalign certi ed. Dr. Jenny’s husband, Dr. Mike, is the pediatric dentist, and is trained and experienced in providing dental services for all children, including those with severe dental disease, anxiety, behavioral issues, and special health care needs. Dr. Mike is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.
A unique feature of Dr. Jenny’s practice is that it provides comprehensive dentistry for
Almost the entire staff speaks Spanish, Dr. Jenny said. “People appreciate that you try to communicate in their language,” she said. “We have brochures and information in Spanish to explain everything about a procedure.” About half of the service’s clients are Spanish-speaking, she said. A very warm and welcoming environment exists among staff and patients. “The staff treats each other as family, and we treat our patients as family,” says Dr. Jenny.
Many people avoid the dentist due to barriers involving insurance and economics. At Jenny Chen Pediatric and Family Dentistry, they try to make dental care available to as many people as possible. “We take a wide range of insurance and coverage through almost every network.” Among the many insurances accepted are the full range of PA Medical Assistance and CHIP programs for children. “We want to help the children who need us most”, Dr. Mike says, “and we want
Dr. Charkas (Orthodontist) and Daniella Guzman (Receptionist)
(L to R) Tracy Nino - EFDA, Lindsey Mccabe - EFDA, General/ Ortho Asisstant, Dulce Villagomez - Ortho/General Asistant.
Expert Dental Care for the Entire Family
to erase the typical barriers to care that many children face. All children have the right to see the dentist and have happy and healthy teeth”.
In addition to accepting a wide range of insurances Dr. Jenny is willing to work with you to implement the best treatment plan for your budget. “Some dentists examine a patient and give them a very expensive treatment plan, which is either all or nothing, and no other options. This naturally scares the patient and prevents them from undergoing much-needed dental care. We work with a patient within their budget or insurance limitations and prioritize. You can get a few teeth xed this year, and a few next year” Dr. Jenny says.
Another aspect of the practice that Dr. Jenny is proud of is her willingness to squeeze in emergencies. A wide range of emergency dental services are offered, and often people can be seen on the same day as they call. Tooth pain can be very serious, and we want to help as much as we can. To this end, the practice offers convenient hours including evenings and Saturdays.
The practice stays up-to-the-minute with technology as well, Dr. Jenny said, including the i-CAT, a three-dimensional dental imaging tool that allows the doctors to examine teeth and surrounding structures with amazing accuracy. Because the i-CAT allows the staff to view a patient’s oral structures from different angles on a monitor, the doctors can create more comprehensive treatment plans. This is extremely useful for implant placement, and the practice has an implant specialist
for complex cases, including multiple implants for denture stabilization. “This advanced x-ray system allows us to take 3-D photos, whereas previously we were only able to diagnose from 2-D images,” Dr. Jenny said. “With this technology, we have a better understanding of the patient’s anatomy and dental problems, and can more accurately recommend procedures. Very few general dentists have this technology. Everything’s very advanced in our of ce. We’re constantly looking for new technologies.”
Jenny Chen Pediatric and Family Dentistry is open Monday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, visit www.SmilesInPA.com.
www.SmilesinPA.com
Jenny Chen Pediatric and Family Dentistry
West Grove, PA • 610-869-0991
207 N. Guernsey Road
For our friends in Lancaster County: Lancaster County Pediatric and Family Dentistry
Willow Street, PA • 717-464-0230
325 Carol Lynn Drive
Se habla Español
Front row (L to R) Dr. Ahmad Charkas, Dr. Jenny Chen, Dr. Michael Lemper. Second row (L to R) Dulce Villagomez, Vicky Zhu, Tracy Nino, Diana Fraticelli, Paula Williams, Andrea Mireles, Lindsey McCabe. Third row (L to R) Dalila Padron, Daniella Guzman, Edgar Beltran.
From its humble beginnings, the company that Bob Waters began a quarter century ago has stuck to a very simple working philosophy: Cultivate a business that emphasizes quality over quantity
Photos courtesy of R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc.
R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc. founder and Chief Executive Officer Robert J. Waters.
R.J. Waters at 25: Smart growth, simple principles
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Now in its 25th year, R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc. in Kennett Square is a commercial real estate development, management, leasing and brokerage firm that has to date developed over 3.6 million square feet of retail space. Centers under their care and attention contain over 385 national, regional and local tenants that achieve over $800 million in annual retail sales.
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R.J. Waters
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Trace the history of nearly every successful company back to where it began and chances are that its beginnings do not come from the incubation of great fortune. Most of the time, they are the very definition of what ‘humble’ means, and in the case of R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc., they began at an A&P grocery store in Claymont, where Bob Waters worked as a bag boy.
Born near Lake George, N.Y., Waters moved to Delaware when he was ten with his parents and five siblings, when
his father, an accountant with the Scott Paper Company, took a job transfer to Philadelphia and moved the family to Claymont. From the time he was old enough, the young boy always seemed to have a job. He would mop the floors and clean the toilets at the local Knights of Columbus. He took a paper route. He worked at Gussie’s Sub Shop along Philadelphia Pike, and when he was old enough to drive, he worked as a delivery man for Chicken Delight.
When he was 17 years old, Waters began a job at the local A&P, and continued to work there part-time when he was in college. After graduation, he accepted a full-time job at the store.
He loved the grocery business, and absorbed every facet of it, much to the delight of store management, who placed Waters in a management training program, where he learned the business beside meat department managers and store managers.
In the early 1970s, Waters took an internship in A&P’s Corporate Real Estate offices in Philadelphia, and later accepted a full-time job in the department. He eventually left A&P to take the position of Real Estate Director at Charlie Brothers in Greensburg, Pa., a division of the Super Valu grocery store chain.
From floral gardens to signage, R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc. adds aesthetic features to its centers.
Vice-President Kevin Lahn unveils plans for the Shoppes at Belmont.
In 1982, now a married father with two small children and another on the way, Waters moved back to the eastern part of the state as the Vice President of Real Estate and Construction with Giant Food Stores near Harrisburg. Giant had been purchased by Royal Ahold, a company that worked with the Leo Eisenberg Company, a Kansas City-based national shopping center development firm that helped Giant expand in Easton, Reading and Thorndale, and helped acquire new sites in Winchester, Va., as well as in Yardley and Warminster.
“The folks I knew at Eisenberg told me that they were looking to open up an office somewhere near Philadelphia, so I decided at the time that I had spent 12 years in corporate real estate finding supermarket sites for corporations and I knew the leasing business,” Waters said. “So I told my wife Denise, ‘I can do this. I’m going to throw my hat in the ring and see if I can get that office. I’m 36 years old, and this is my best shot. If it doesn’t work out, I know I can always get a job in corporate real estate.’”
In late 1984, the Leo Eisenberg Company worked out a partnership arrangement with Waters to open the Philadelphia office, and told him that he could place his office anywhere in Pennsylvania east of Harrisburg.
“I decided to put it in Chadds Ford, because my wife’s ancestors were from Chester County, and both of our families were still in
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Company President Joe Waters speaks at the groundbreaking for the 70-acre Shoppes at Belmont, located in Lancaster County and scheduled to open in 2018.
R.J.
Waters
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Delaware, so it was like coming home,” he said. “I began the business in my house. I bought a desk and I put it in my kitchen and worked there, with my small children running around me.”
A few months later, Waters moved his office to the second floor of a real estate firm in Mechanicsburg. He received a call from Eisenberg people, informing him of a young intern from Long Island who was going on college break. They asked him if he could work with Waters for a few weeks. He agreed.
The young man, whose name was Kevin Lahn, began working with Waters -- searching for locations, conducting research, absorbing information like a sponge -- and when he got back to Eisenberg’s offices in South Carolina, he called Waters and told him that he wasn’t going back to college to finish his Master’s.
“Could I work for you?” he asked Waters. That was 32 years ago, and Lahn has been with Waters ever since.
“I was doing an internship in South Carolina, and they had me putting dots on maps and identifying trade areas,” said Lahn, vice president at R.J. Waters & Associates. “I was looking for a challenge, and when I began with Bob, we hit the ground running and he worked with me like I had been there for years. He also treated me like a son.”
“Kevin had the same work ethic I did,” said Waters, “and over the years we grew to complement each others strengths.”
Fran McDonnell, residing locally in Pocopson Township, is another long-term member of the organization, handling leasing duties for almost 25 years.
Over the next 15 years, Waters and Lahn -- with help from office manager Nancy Talley, who, like Lahn, has been with the company for the past 32 years and is now a partner -- developed ten shopping centers that made up more than 1.5 million square feet of new retail space.
In the early 1990s, the real estate market went into a downslide. Banks weren’t lending to developers. Several developers went bankrupt or were on the verge of it, while others sought refuge in joining real estate investment trusts. In the midst of this calamity, coupled with the news that the Eisenberg Company was selling off some of its assets, Waters saw it as an opportunity to go into business on his own.
In May 1992, Bob changed the name of the company to R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc. and set up shop in Chadds Ford, later moving the office to Kennett
Square in 1994. Since that time, the company has become one of the Northeast’s leading providers of commercial real estate development, leasing and property management, and has developed and now manages 23 shopping centers in three states. Those closest to Kennett Square include The Shoppes at Longwood, the Shoppes at Dilworthtown Crossing in West Chester, Goshen Crossing in West Chester, Fairfield Place in Exton, and the Shoppes at Jenners Village in West Grove. Each center supports tenants that sound like a roll call of nationally-known names: Starbucks Coffee, TJ Maxx, Famous Footwear, Giant Food and Hallmark, as well as hundreds of locallyowned businesses.
With every project, R.J. Waters & Associates incorporates the Smart Growth model of development that creates retail opportunities based on consumer need; targets those opportunities in areas convenient to existing communities; and develops attractive-looking centers that incorporate architectural details and natural landscaping that compliments the surrounding area and enhances “curb appeal.”
Waters said that one of the keys to the company’s success is to be able to identify opportunities early, through studying demographics
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Vice President Kevin Lahn has been with the company for 32 years.
R.J. Waters
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and determining need versus existing supply. Sometimes, the keys are right in front of you, he said.
“In the planning that became the Shoppes at Longwood Village in 1987, for example, I lived in Pocopson Township,” Waters said, “so it was easy for me to look at the growth in the area, and after living there for two years, I knew that people needed to go to the other side of town or all the way out to Concord Pike in Wilmington just to do their grocery shopping.
“Often, it comes down to determining whether an area is over-stored or understored. The Kennett Square area at the time was vastly under-stored.”
Lahn said that the Shoppes at Jenners Village was developed out of the same need.
“We realized that area didn’t have any
flexibility in its retail choices, which was forcing nearby residents in the area to go all the way out to Oxford and Kennett Square to do their shopping,” he said. “We looked around and found a location that made sense on Baltimore Pike and Route 796. At first, some of the potential
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The grand opening to the Shoppes at Longwood Village in Kennett Square.
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R.J. Waters
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tenants were reluctant to come on board, because all they saw was farmland. We drove them around for five hours to see the number of new developments in the area, and then we took them up in a helicopter, which gave clear evidence that this would be a prime location for them.”
Like his father, Joe Waters spent the better part of his younger years putting the strong work ethic he inherited from his father into practice. He worked at the Arby’s in Painters Crossing, at Molly’s Ice Cream, at the Hartefeld National Golf Course as a valet parking attendant, as a landscaper at J. Franklin Styer Nurseries, and as a laborer for a general contractor in New Jersey. After college, Joe spent nearly seven years in Washington D.C., which included four years at PricewaterhouseCoopers and two years at the private equity firm the Carlyle Group. Although his father never pushed him to join the company, “he may have hinted at it and shared his knowledge of the real estate industry,” said Joe, who joined R.J. Waters & Associates 12 years ago, and is now its president. “In
the back of my mind, I always figured that I would come back home and work with my father. I put my time in and learned a lot in Washington, D.C., but after seven years, I realized that it was time to come back. It started as one day a week, and one day turned into three days a week,
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R.J. Waters & Associates’ centers contain over 385 national, regional and local tenants.
R.J. Waters
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and eventually, there I was, working full time.”
Bob said Joe joined him at an ideal time and brought management and technology skills that they really needed to move them into the 21st century.
Bob and Joe are far from the only family members to work for the company. Bob’s brother Dan, the company’s CFO, has also been with Bob for 25 years, while his wife Denise works part time as director of marketing. Prior to starting families of their own, his niece Jessica worked in lease administration, while his daughter Michele worked in property management and leasing. In the last year, Joe’s second cousin Kevin started with the company as well.
Managing 23 shopping centers is a constant challenge, one that dovetails with a population that has embraced the computer as the “go-to” form of shopping. The comfort factor in tapping a few keys has effectively killed off two former top players in the shopping center market: bookstores and video rental locations, and new online grocery order and delivery services has made grocery shopping
more convenient and sometimes less expensive.
These surging trends have left companies like R.J. Waters & Associates re-imagining the use and purpose of the shopping center, a matrix that Joe said the company has put a lot of effort into.
“We’ve always focused on neighborhood and necessitybased shopping centers that provide convenient food stores, pharmacies and dry cleaning businesses, that are to an extent recession proof, and less affected by the internet, rather than rely on tenants/concepts that ride purely on the ups, and downs of the economy,” he said. “Because people’s lifestyles are changing, we’ve also added more restaurants, lifestyle tenants, and medical uses to our centers as well.
“The future of the shopping center is to create them in a way that they become mixed-use destination points that give consumers an experience at their shopping destination, which may include live, work and play. We’re
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R.J. Waters
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always looking for ways to incorporate a mix of uses while constantly evaluating the synergy of the tenants. Outdoor gathering spaces have also become a focus as they compliment the changing face of a traditional retail center.”
The 70-acre Shoppes at Belmont, located in the vibrant commercial center of Manheim Township in Lancaster County and scheduled to open in 2018, is a prime example of Joe’s description. In partnership with B&F Partners and Charter Homes & Neighborhoods, R.J. Waters & Associates is transforming a commercial-zoned tract of land into a dynamic Main Street-like setting of retail stores and restaurants and residential housing, with a central plaza with a small stage, a bus stop, a 50-foot-tall water fountain, several restaurants with outdoor seating, and multimodal accessibility for bicyclists along an intricate trail system that connects residents and shoppers to downtown Lancaster and other trails in the township.
Perhaps most importantly, the Shoppes at Belmont will preserve several areas of the historic property, including the renovation of an historic home and the inclusion on the historic registry, a
relocation of the main barn, and the renovation and preservation of several lime kilns which once serviced the three–acre quarry on the property. Through the Manheim Township Transferrable Development (TDR) program, the project will also be preserving farmland in Lancaster County through the purchase of 77 TDRs, which equates to approximately 40 acres of preserved farmland. As the company begins its second half century,
The Shoppes at Longwood Village
it does so with an eye toward continued Smart Growth, and while it continues to look for opportunities for development, it is also looking for opportunities to bring their breadth of knowledge and experience to lease, manage and maintain the day-to-day operations of existing shopping centers for other third-party owners and operators.
“Ten years ago, we were creating a development project every other year, but now, there is increased competition, less opportunities, and obtaining entitlements are taking longer while the cost of these projects are becoming more and more expensive,” Joe said. “While we continue to seek development opportunities, the reality is that we’re not predicting the same growth in the next 25 years as we did in our first 25 years.”
“We tell our staff that if we’re going to handle a shopping center for another company or owner, we’re going to treat it like we own it,” Bob said. “People can feel, sense and touch our existing centers, but the same is true for those we help to manage. We want those who visit them to be proud of them, and it’s our job to make them look appealing and take care of them.”
R.J. Waters & Associates’ reputation has been built on being smart but also very choosy; rather than pitch its development tents in several locations, it has chosen to develop a finite number of shopping centers in markets where the need is at its greatest, and the location is second to none. It’s a long-term view of real estate that has served the company well, Lahn said.
“Most of the real estate companies who started when we started are no longer around,” he said. “They either went out of business or were bought out by real estate investment trusts, but we’ve persevered, which is a testimony to Bob and the many people in our company.”
Bob said he has been fortunate to have several mentors in his life, as well as some great long-term partners. Among those has been Denise, his wife of 43 years, who he said has believed in him and supported him as he developed the business. Now beginning its second half century, R.J. Waters & Associates, Inc. has been a family of several generations, connected from one to the next, and beyond.
“I am grateful that the next generation is ready to carry on the business, but the credit for this really goes back to my parents, and my grandparents before them,” he said. “We haven’t done the most of any real estate developers in the world, but what we have done has been done with quality, while also fulfilling a community’s need. We’re a fairly conservative company, and that’s one of the reasons we’re still around today.”
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@ chestercounty.com.
Biking the
community
By Nolan Morris Staff Writer
“There’s just something about being outside with your neighbors -- with people in your community. It just feels good,” said Josie Marsh, of Bike Kennett, after a morning bike ride last month.
Marsh spoke excitedly about the many changes happening around Kennett Township. One of the projects is the Kennett Greenway, a proposed 12-mile loop trail that will connect residential areas, parks, Continued on Page 46
Biking
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shops, restaurants, breweries and other local amenities.
“In my mind, we can’t get the Kennett Greenway built fast enough,” Marsh said. “I just think people are going to love it.”
While completion of the Greenway remains a future goal, some completed portions are already open to walkers and bicyclists in and around Kennett Township. “It’s great for everybody to get out and just enjoy what we have to offer here. It’s gorgeous,” Marsh said.
Bike Kennett, a volunteer-led bicycling advocacy group, was started in August 2016 by Marsh in answer to a call from a handful of residents. “I was going to have to start organizing rides again,” she said. “When I started the rides in the spring, I had no idea [what the interest level would be].” Through word of mouth and an active Facebook presence, word spread about the new group rides, which were held on Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings. “On nice days, we had 10 or 15 people showing up every week,”Marsh said.
Over the course of the year, Bike Kennett was part of community events, and led fundraisers and youthcentered rides.
“It’s been amazing seeing how excited people are to get involved,” Marsh said. “It’s pretty cool to know that
Members of Bike Kennett stop at Anchor Life & Fitness
there are a lot of people that want what we’re working towards.”
Many of the volunteers at Bike Kennett’s events first got involved through the group rides held earlier in the year. “It makes me feel really good about the effort put into the rides -- how that’s actually helping with the advocacy part,” Marsh said.
“Bike Kennett is that bridge between the community, the township and the borough,” she said of the role as the conduit for connecting the Kennett Square public with “the people who can make the changes. We’re asking people, ‘Where do you want to walk? Where do you want to bike?’“
“At our fundraising event at the Creamery and at the Anson B. Nixon Rock the Park event, Alta Planning + Design was there with their maps,” Marsh said. The company is in charge of the Kennett Active Transportation Plan, a project initiated by Kennett Square Borough and Kennett Township to improve walkability and bikeability of the area’s roads.
“Part of what Bike Kennett did is give feedback on that plan, saying, ‘Here’s where we want to be able to go,’” Marsh said. “That was fantastic. It gets people excited.”
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Bike Kennett schedules several local events each year.
Moving DE location in the Spring 1 block down
DELAWARE LOCATION
84 Governor Printz Blvd. Claymont, DE 19703
302-798-8696 Wed-Thurs12noon to 5p, Fri 10a-5p, Sat 11a-4p
PENNSYLVANIALOCATION
PennsburyAntique Mall
Route 1 ~ 1.6 Miles South of the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford 302-798-8696 Thurs-Mon10a-5p www.wyethprints.com
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step further during one of the highlights of the group’s first year, when Marsh put together about 45 volunteers and participants of all ages for a Community Ride on a beautiful Saturday in September.
“We rode from the park, down Broad Street, down South Street to Herb Pennock Park, and went back up Walnut Street to Nixon Park,” Marsh said. The policeescorted ride served to test possible routes for an area bike network being developed by Kennett Township and Kennett Square Borough.
In discussing some of the biggest challenges Bike Kennett faces, Marsh said, ”Our society was built for cars, roads were built for cars -- everyone wants to get around in cars. I have friends who live in the south side of town, and they don’t even own bikes because they’re too scared to ride anywhere.”
Safety in numbers is one of Bike Kennett’s greatest strengths. By connecting people with shared interests in bicycling, Marsh is helping cultivate a safer, more enjoyable environment for riding.
“There were people who said to me afterwards, ‘I feel more confident now. I feel like I can ride on the roads, she said. “Just getting people out there to do it is confidence-building. These group rides have brought people out who otherwise would not come out.”
Marsh constantly seeks other avenues for gathering the thoughts and ideas of the community.
“We are having a meeting with La Communidad to talk about how we can help with mushroom workers being safer and having better ways to get to their jobs,” Marsh said. “These are people who are using bikes as their only form of transportation. It’s a big part of what this community is about, and we want to support that.”
Marsh is sometimes frustrated by the slow pace of long-term projects like the Kennett Greenway and Kennett’s Active
Transportation Plan, but short-term benefits have not been hard to find.
“It’s exciting to see the kids out there having fun,” Marsh said of Bike Kennett’s Kids Ride & Helmet Safety event held at Anson B. Nixon Park in August. “We did two
different loops around the park and they’d come back, shouting, ‘I want to go again!’ That’s how we can make a difference in the future -- to get more kids to ride.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ BikeKennett.
Community rides organized by Bike Kennett draw both participants and volunteers.
Kennett Square Beautification Committee lives up to its name
The group recently won an award for its efforts to beautify the business district
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
The Kennett Square Beautification Committee was recently honored with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Garden of Distinction Award for 2017 for their efforts at beautifying historic Kennett Square’s
business district. Members of the Kennett Square Beautification Committee traveled to Philadelphia to accept the award in November.
Joann Donlick, the chair of the Kennett Square Beatification Committee, said that they were selected as the recipient of the award from among approximately
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All photos by Steven Hoffman
The Kennett Square Beautification Committee members Sandy Marshall, Prissy Roberts, Denise Klein, Barbara Kurowski, Jane Bazzano, and Joann Donlick are pictured by one of the container gardens in downtown Kennett Square. The Kennett Square Beautification Committee recently received the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Garden of Distinction Award for 2017 for their efforts at beautifying historic Kennett Square’s business district.
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350 entries. The committee is comprised of members of the Four Seasons Garden Club and the Spade and Trowel Club, including Donlick, Prissy Roberts, Barb Kurkowski, Beth MacMillan, Jane Bazzano, Sandy Marshall, Denise Klein, Diane Cannon, and Marge Brant.
The work of the Kennett Square Beautification Committee is on display throughout the business district. Approximately 50 container gardens have been planted around town.
The committee members themselves volunteer hours of their time planting the flowers and tending to the plants. The beautification committee members have put in a lot of work
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Container gardens and hanging baskets are on display throughout the business district.
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planting and tending to flowers and plants for the Genesis Walkway in the center of town, which is a popular spot for people to gather. The Kennett Square Borough Public Works Department helps keep the flowers and plants watered on a regular basis.
“It’s really a team effort,” Donlick said. “We are greatly indebted to Bill Reynolds, the owner of Pratt’s Greenhouse. His plants are beautiful. Without him, this would not be
Santa Claus Express starts Saturday, November 25 12:30 & 2:30pm Back BurnerDinnerTrain
December 7 at 7:00pm
Holiday Lights Express starts Friday, December 8 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9pm
The work of the Kennett Square Beautification Committee is on display throughout downtown Kennett Square.
possible.” Reynolds brings the flowers to the beautification committee, and coordinates the hanging baskets for the group.
The Kennett Square Beautification Committee began in the mid-1960s. At that time, Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of 36th president Lyndon B. Johnson, called for Americans to help beautify and clean up the country’s neighborhoods. The Kennett Square Beautification Committee has been hard at work doing just that ever since. Some prominent local citizens were involved in the formation of the committee, including Everitt Miller, who was then the director of Longwood Gardens Designer, Anne Scarlett, the creator of the “Critters” ornaments that decorate the Christmas trees at the Brandywine River Museum every year; and Wally Taylor and Ruth Marshall. An early mission to beautify downtown Kennett Square with trees was accomplished with the help of Longwood Gardens. Joe Carston of the Horticulture Department, Landon Scarlett,
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Beautification
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and the committee sought permission from the business owners and homeowners to begin the tree planting. Honey Locust trees were used because of their minimal shedding.
Year after year, the beautification efforts continued. Spring in downtown Kennett Square saw window boxes and containers filled with pansies. Summer would arrive with annuals blooming, and chrysanthemums and flowering kale would spring up in the fall. Christmas wreaths and roping were sold to the merchants at cost for the storefront holiday
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Kennett Square’s appearance is enhanced by the flowers and plants.
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decorations. All planning and plantings were carried out by local garden club members and volunteers from the community.
In the early years, the Kennett Square Beautification Committee started holding very successful annual plant sales that continue today—they are held on the last Saturday in April at the Genesis Walkway.
“Without that sale, we wouldn’t be able to buy the plants,” Donlick explained. “That’s the community helping to support what we do. It’s really just a wonderful thing.”
In 1979, Bill Thomas, who was then the chair of the Kennett Square Beautification Committee, initiated a tree giveaway program where homeowners were given trees with instructions for care. Approximately 400 trees of many different species—Yellowwood Maples, Hornbeam, White Ash, Kentucky Coffee, and Carolina Silverbell, among others—were donated to the community.
According to Donlick, the retirement of Bill Thomas around 1994 saw many changes of leadership for the
committee, but through all the changes the committee has always strived to accomplish the mission of beautifying historic Kennett Square’s business district.
Donlick said that many people have commented that the plants and flowers in town make them feel better. Also, some of the businesses in town, like Anchor Fitness, Kennett Square Inn, Mala Galleria, Philter, and Portabello’s Restaurant, have joined in and created their own beautiful displays to enhance the appearance of downtown.
Donlick said that helping to beautify Kennett Square is very rewarding.
“We are improving the quality of life for our community through the art and science of horticulture,” she said.
To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.
Beautifying downtown is the mission of the Kennett Square Beautification Committee.
A purr-fect place to
to spend some time Treetops Kitty Cafe provides a welcome spot for feline/human interaction
IAll photos by Jie Deng
By Natalie Smith Staff Writer
magine nestling into a comfy chair, holding a cup of steeping tea and wrapped cookie, anticipating the show that’s about to begin. You don’t have to wait long. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch a flash of gray, closely followed by a streak of black shooting across the floor and up, up, up a cat tree -- two kittens giving one another chase in the way only tiny felines can. Then, more slowly and deliberately, a black-and-white cat strolls by like he owns the place. A few minutes later, a curious black kitten, intrigued by the movement of your pen on a notebook, jumps onto your lap to play, and later curls up in the crook of your arm, purring as you scratch her ear.
What is this place? For cat lovers, it’s a little bit of heaven. Treetops Kitty Cafe in Kennett Square is a place where fans of felines can go to have a snack, read or work online if they choose, and watch, pet, cuddle and generally hang out with the adoptable kitties roaming throughout the premises.
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“It’s a great place for stress relief,” said cafe manager Kim Ferko. Patrons also sometimes come just to visit a favorite pussycat, or they might swing by if they can’t have a cat themselves because of allergies or home rental constraints.
“People come here for a lot of different reasons,” agreed Treetops owner Laurellen Treisner.
Treetops is modeled after establishments that started in Japan and have been gaining popularity internationally. There are a few in the U.S., but Treisner said she believed there were only two others in Pennsylvania—in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Treisner stressed that Treetops is more of a cat cafe than a regular cafe; underscoring that food and drink are secondary to the experience of spending time with the cats. Of course, having the kitties wandering around means Treetops isn’t licensed to prepare food, but you can get drinks and snacks.
Also, “We encourage people to buy food from
local businesses and enjoy it here with the cats,” Treisner said.
The cafe cats are on site under the auspices of TreeTops Animal Rescue, which Treisner founded with her husband, George. The Landenberg couple started the foster-based rescue about 10 years ago. Although the rescue is no longer fostering dogs, the cats still “come from all sorts of places,” Treisner said. Some are brought up by transport from high-kill shelters in the South and some come to the rescue as strays.
Those who believe cats are so independent that they can’t get
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After41yearsinbusiness,December31,2017willbeourfinaldayin st operationasEldrethPottery.We’vebeenblessedtohavesuchwonderful artistsandstaffwithuswhohavebeentheheartofthiscompany.Inaneffort tokeepthemworking,theEldrethfamilyissupportingourproduction managerandstafftoproducesimilarpotteryunderthenewname,HartRoad Potters.Wearegratefulthatourstaffcancontinuedoingwhattheylove. Wegenuinelythankallofourcustomersfortheirbusinessovertheyears!
The cafe provides several climbing opportunities for its tenants.
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Those who believe cats are so independent that they can’t get along with others would be very surprised at the feline interaction at the cafe. While there is an occasional hiss by an irritated kitty, the majority of the cats get along well.
“These cats were specifically chosen as ones who would get along,” Treisner said.
Having the cats relate with each other and many different humans does wonders for their sense of tolerance and adjustment, Treisner said.
Many of the felines that occupy the cafe space are kittens, Treisner said, because those are the ones that are considered highly adoptable, but not all. Two-year old Summer, for instance, is a lovely orange-and-white tabby. A shy girl, she has a very sweet temperament and is learning to get used to all the activity around her. The cafe staff suggests she would do best with a “warm and patient owner.”
Then there’s Eliza, also two, a sweet calico who loves people.
Carlos is a ginger-and-white cat. He has a tipped or notched ear, which suggests he was picked up in a “scoop;” that is, a stray who
was caught, sterilized and released. An energetic kitty, Carlos is “a wrestler,” Treisner said, and would do best in a home without young children. Then there’s Panda, a black-and-white kitty who is the official “cafe cat.” He likes to look out the window, but isn’t going anywhere.
Occasionally Treetops will get in a special breed like a Siamese or Persian, but most of the
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Many of the cats arrive at the cafe as strays.
Kitty Cafe
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cats are domestic shorthair – pretty much your gardenvariety cat. All of the animals have had their needed vaccinations and, if old enough, are spayed or neutered.
The cafe space had previously been the Treisners’ pet store, Paw & Claws, where they also had cats from the rescue, outside of cages. The transition to the non-profit has allowed the monies brought in to go toward the rescue as well as to maintaining the kitty cafe.
Like many non-profits, the cafe is fortunate to have a long list of volunteers, along with the two full-time employees and a couple of part-timers.
Treetops also supports groups that support animals. Through November, Treetops will be collecting pet food and supplies for Henry’s Cupboard, started by Sen. Andy Dinniman in honor of his late poodle. Run by the Brandywine Valley SPCA, the cupboard provides needed supplies for pet owners living below the poverty level.
Although the cafe itself is a very relaxing and casual spot, there are rules. Fees to spend time with the cats range
‘These cats were specifically chosen as ones who would get along.’
-- Treetops owner Laurellen Treisner
from $5 to $50, depending on time and number of people. Please don’t bring a cat with you, the staff asks, either to leave or to “test how it gets along” with a cafe resident who catches your fancy.
Also, they don’t adopt out cats directly from the cafe. All adoptions are handled by the rescue, and forms are available online. As of early November, 35 cats had been adopted since the cafe’s August opening.
Chris Fields, was in the cafe one recent day visiting her daughter Amanda Axe, who is a volunteer.
“This is such a great thing,” Fields said of the cafe. “[It make you realize] there’s a place for every cat.”
More information about Treetops Kitty Cafe is available at www.treetopskittycafecom.
Natalie Smith may be contacted at www.DoubleSMedia@ rocketmail.com or www.DoubleSMedia.com.
Photos by Jie Deng
Jingles, left and Martin, like most cats and kittens at the Treetops Kitty Cafe, were recently adopted.
A bulletin board, changed daily, shows which cats and kittens are being featured to customers that day.
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Treetops Kitty Cafe staffer Olivia Allred snuggles with Penelope, who then flocks to cafe volunteer Roberta, lower right.
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For a small donation, guests at the Treetops Kitty Cafe can relax in comfortable chairs and couches, sip a warm beverage and enjoy the company of cats and kittens who are seeking forever homes.
Treetops
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In addition to cuddling and petting the cafe’s primary tenants, guests can browse through a library of books dedicated to cats.
The “29” on the bulletin board indicates the number of cats and kittens who had been adopted from the Treetops Kitty Cafe at the time the photograph was taken in October. To date, that number has risen to more than 40.
Photo by John Chambless Artist Jeff Bell outside his studio, with his sculpture, ‘Three Moons.’
Courtesy photo
By John Chambless Staff Writer
In Jeff Bell’s hands, cold and unyielding metal becomes sinuous vines, elegant gates and animal sculptures so realistic they almost seem to move.
“I’ve been bending metal all my life,” Bell said during an interview at the no-frills workshop near his home on Doe Run Road in Kennett Square. It’s been a life path with some interesting detours, but at 63, Bell is a respected member of the surprisingly large club of blacksmiths/artists in Chester County.
Bell said he quit public school in the eighth grade, but credits his next school in Haverford, Mitchell Prep, and his art teacher, Mrs. Raimey, for introducing him to the career he would eventually forge. “She opened the doors for me,” he said. “My last two years there, I was doing seven periods of art each week. I used to paint, I’ve done watercolor and oils, I’ve dabbled in clay sculpture,” he said. During high school, he took some body classes and later ran an auto shop in Avondale, where he applied his painting skills to custom detailing and paint jobs. He also learned to forge and hammer metal to create auto body parts.
Eventually growing frustrated with the insurance industry, Bell said he sold the automotive shop business about 32 years ago. “When you get up and you don’t want to go to work, and you’re self-employed, you have a problem,” he said. Eventually, “through boredom,” he began to work in copper, selling thousands of larger-than-life metal flowers at craft shows throughout the region. “I did big metal sunflowers, and I was making $1,000 a weekend. I probably did 5,000 of them,” he said.
That led to Bell being asked if he could build a gate for a customer. “I said, ‘Yeah,’” he recalled. Then some builders started calling. That steered him to what he regards as his best work – designing, creating and installing custom railings and gates in high-end homes under construction. Depending on what the customer or builder wants, Bell’s work can go well beyond being a simple railing. He adds climbing vines to the handrails, laces flowers through the rails of a gate, and creates a feeling of motion and life in his installations.
“In homes under construction, the railings usually go in last,” he said of the pacing of his work, which is frequently under the gun for the owner to move in. Pointing out a photo of a railing made to look like tree branches, Bell said, “I try to make everything as close to real as possible. And I’ve seen guys try to copy me. But I can tell they don’t go out and look at nature like I do.”
Bell’s stamp is on many well-known places in the region. The 14-foot replacement barn cupolas at Winterthur are his. Along with fellow sculptor Stan Smokler, he created benches for the state park in Yorklyn, Del., using old parts from the NVF factory. He did some of the iron work at the Galer Winery building. The fountain at the Creamery in Kennett Square is a Bell creation. The swan weathervane at the Luther House in Jennersville is his. The
Right: Bell’s sculpture of an eagle’s head took hundreds of individually sculpted feathers. Below: These doors are a project in progress in Bell’s studio.
Photo by John Chambless
Photo by Tacie Himelright
sign for the Center for Creative Arts in Yorklyn is his as well. Many of the railings he has done are in private homes and out of sight, but Bell finds satisfaction in them all.
He showed photos on his phone of a steel-clad fireplace he created for a homeowner. “We did a plywood mockup, then made interlocking metal plates and numbered them, then put them together,” he said.
The builders he works with respect his skills, but demand precision, Bell said. “I put in a 52-foot fence for one builder who demands 110 percent quality on his job sites. That fence had to be plumb within an eighth of an
As a sidelight to his gates and railings, Bell has created some impressive animal sculptures in metal. “The Delaware Natural History Museum approached me,” he said. “Halsey Spruance is the executive director there, and he’s friends with my friend, the artist Stan Smokler. When I was teaching a workhop with Stan, Halsey would stop in and we’d talk. He’s seen my work, and I donate a few pieces to the museum each year for their fundraisers. He asked me to do a show.”
Bell exhibited with woodworker John Rush, and ended up making 11 pieces for the show over the course of a year.
One of the works was an eagle’s head bust, which
Continued on Page 78 inch, over 52 feet. And they measured it.”
Clockwise from above:
A show at the Delaware Museum of Natural History included this large whale sculpture. These jellyfish sculptures are meant to move and chime in the breeze. Bell designed and built this sign that’s installed in Yorklyn.
Photos by Tacie Himelright
Courtesy photo
Courtesy photo
Jeff Bell
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eventually required Bell to cut more than 600 feathers and apply them in layers to give the piece a startlingly realistic appearance. To research his artworks, Bell had access to the taxidermied birds in storage at the museum. “They have 65,000 birds,” Bell said. “They’ve got 135,000 shells. I did a sculpture of a heron. They gave me two drawers of them. I had free rein of the museum. I did a six-foot humpback whale, and then I did an octopus. I really enjoyed doing them.”
Bell’s freestanding sculptures of jellyrish on long tendrils have become one of his most distinctive pieces. “I like sound an motion,” he said. “I went through a process of probably a year, trying to come up with something that sounded good. Everything failed. Then I found a company that makes these brass hemispheres. The sound was phenomenal. I’ve done a couple of hundred of them since as commissions or donations.”
Attached to the gently curved tentacles, the bowls ring when knocking together in the breeze, or from a viewer’s touch. “I got the brilliant idea once to do them in stainless steel, but it was the worst-sounding thing,” Bell said. “The brass sounds so much better.”
Bell has several commissions in the works, but work on them was stalled when he suffered a stroke on Sept. 25 while on a job site in north Wilmington. “I was hanging driveway gates, and I started having slurred speech. I thought, ‘This isn’t good.’ I finished hanging the gates, loaded the truck, drove home, had dinner, went to bed, got
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Courtesy photo
Bell teaches workshops for aspiring artists each summer.
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up the next morning and I couldn’t talk.”
After an emergency room visit, Bell now goes to speech therapy once a week and physical therapy twice a week. While he complained of some weakness in his hands – which, if worse, could have ended his career -- “I’m getting better,” he said. “I’m working on getting everything reconnected. But it blindsided me. The hardest part, for me, was telling myself I’m not 40.” Considering how a stroke might have ended up, “I’m the luckiest person in the world,” he said.
Bell now lives in the home where he grew up, with his wife, who is a real estate paralegal. They look after his elderly father in the home near Bell’s large workshop.
For two weeks each summer, Bell teaches metal working workshops with Stan Smokler. “The talent around here is endless,” he said of his students and his fellow instructors. “The reward I get from working with people is phenomenal.”
The artistic part of his career came after a decade
spent as a driver of Formula Atlantic race cars all over the country, and Bell showed photos of himself behind the wheel of some high-powered – and high-priced – vehicles.
“I’ve always been a car person,” he said, smiling. “My grandfather told me when I turned 12 he’d build me a micromidget to start racing. He died when I was 9. But I’ve been
Furniture Warehouse Furniture Warehouse
Courtesy photo
Bell’s custom-made railings are both sculptural and functional.
Jeff Bell
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to the U.S. Nationals twice – in Atlanta in 1987 and at Pocono in 1989. Racing was what I wanted to do professinally, but unfortunately in racing, if you have all the equipment in the world and no money, you’re not going to go anywhere. I used to race with Tom Cruise, Paul Newman, people like that. I was always top three, top four. But what we spent each year to do 14 races was what most teams spent just on motors. If I’d had a quarter of a million dollars, I probably would have gone on, but I just couldn’t justify it. I just sold everything.”
Sitting between his home and his studio is a nod to his gearhead past. It’s a 1964 pickup that he has dubbed “Frankentruck,” for its muscled mishmash of parts. “It’s an ongoing project,” he said with a smile, starting up the truck, which idled with a throaty rumble.
Bell got the truck after he regretted selling the last restored vehicle he built at the body shop – a Cobra. “A gentleman from Delaware came up and put a big stack of cash in front of me, and like a fool, I sold it. That was 17 years ago,” Bell said. “I’ve regretted it ever since. It only took me 17 years to get another toy,” he said of the gleaming pickup.
While his custom metalwork is the focus of many highend homes in the region, Bell said what he’d like to do someday is a large-scale piece of public art. “I would like to do a big piece of public work,” he said. “I want to do some sort of permanent structure that’s going to last.”
Until that day, he’s happy with the process of dreaming up and forging gates and furniture and fences that rise to the level of fine art. “That’s the goal,” he said, smiling. “I want something that’s going to stop you in your tracks.”
For more information, visit www.ExpressionsInMetal. net.
To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchambless@chestercounty.com.
Photo by John Chambless This restored ‘Frankentruck,’ as Bell calls it, is an ongoing project for him.
In 1997, Anthony DiFrancesco opened the Nicholas Anthony Salon & Day Spa in the Willowdale Town Center. Twenty years later, he is still passionate, still teaching and still restless to learn more
An emporium of style reaches a milestone
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
It is still three weeks from Thanksgiving, the official start of the holiday social season, but there is not a quiet and unoccupied spot anywhere at the Nicholas Anthony Salon & Day Spa in Kennett Square.
And no one here – the woman needing an updo for a wedding, the teenager receiving a makeup application, the man here for a Swedish massage, or any one of the staff – is really all that surprised. In fact, the typical uptick in business that kicks
Photo courtesy of Fig Industries Anthony DiFrancesco and the team at Nicholas Anthony Salon & Day Spa.
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salons into overdrive at this time of the year has become business as usual throughout the year here – a general acceptance that has made Nicholas Anthony a top-spot destination for thousands of clients.
It’s been this way since June 1997, when founder, owner and stylist Anthony DiFrancesco moved his talents to the new Willowdale Shopping Center to open a new salon. After eight years of co-owning a salon on Greenhill Avenue in Wilmington, DiFrancesco arrived in Kennett Square with a resume already top-heavy with accolades and apprenticeships with some of the top stylists in the region and the world.
In many ways, what has happened at Nicholas Anthony Salon & Day Spa – the talented staff, the many services, the fashion shoots, the awards and the recognition in the fashion industry – is the result of hard work and
a vision that began years ago.
As a teenager, DiFrancesco learned the essentials of styling from his mentor Douglas David, who cofounded the prestigious Schilling-Douglas School of Hair Design with James Schilling. On a trip to attend a hair styling show in Las Vegas when he was 19 years old, DiFrancesco introduced himself to legendary stylist Sam Cappelle, who had coached several International Hair Olympics teams.
“I told my girlfriend at the time – later my wife – that I wanted to work with this guy,” DiFrancesco said. “I drove to Sam’s studio in Margate, N.J., walked into Sam’s salon and applied for a job. I told him that I would sweep his floors just for the chance to watch him cut hair. I later joined Sam preparing hair for Olympic competitions. So there I was, around stylists who were paying top dollar
Photo by Carmine Silveroni
Anthony DiFrancesco opened his salon and day spa in the Willdowdale Shopping Center in 1997.
for the chance to be around Sam, while I was learning under him for free.
“Sam not only had the ability to cut any type of hair, he could talk with any person, and he was so creative. I absorbed everything he was doing and how he did it.”
DiFrancesco then continued his training as a stylist with Michael Hemphill of Michael Christoper Designs in Wilmington, which has served as a launching pad for some of the leading hair stylists in Delaware and beyond.
While working with Hemphill, DiFrancesco won prestigious awards for hairdressing in 1986 and 1988.
“Both Sam and Michael demonstrated their passion for this business in front of me,” he said. “I would not have been able to be in the position I am in now, were not for what I learned from them.”
DiFrancesco also credits Cappelle’s business partner Robert Navone for being his first mentor on the business side of the industry, who showed him the ropes of honesty and integrity.
When DiFrancesco began preparing for the opening of his Kennett Square salon in 1997, he had about six weeks to do so.
“When you open a salon, it’s crazy, because everything comes together at the last minute,” he said. “We started this from a blank shell with a total of eight employees on staff, and on the day we opened, the stations were still being hooked up and everything was getting tied together. We were all beginning to cut hair, and there were still contractors walking around the studio, putting the last touches on.”
Today, Nicholas Anthony Salon & Day Spa has 34 employees, including front desk scheduling agents, and licensed massage therapists, hair stylists and estheticians, and offers a complete menu of haircuts in all styles; coloring, nails, waxing and makeup services; and a full line of facial and massage treatments.
One of those employees is DiFrancesco’s son Dario, who
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has joined the operations staff after earning a business degree from the University of Delaware.
“I was about four years old when this location opened,” Dario said. “I began part-time here when I was a kid, and my dad would bring me in on busy days to do laundry, sweep and grab food for the staff. My father has taught me that in this business, everything begins and ends with the client, and over the years, our clients have become like an extended family to me,” he added. “When someone walks through your doors, you want them to have the best service possible, and I want to be that friendly face who checks on them and asks about their family. My father teaches everyone here that this is all about providing our clients with the best experience possible.”
Posted recently on the Nicholas Anthony Salon & Day Spa Facebook page was a sign that read, “The best hairdressers never stop learning.” Indeed, continuing education is paramount to DiFrancesco and his staff, and through the salon’s designation as an elite Redken salon,
it allows the staff access to a continuing flow of courses, lectures and demonstrations throughout the year.
“We recently met with Redken to set up the first two quarters of next year’s education,” DiFrancesco said. “The key to our success is to keep filtering in a new group of people, meld them with our anchor staff, and keep educating them. We allow new staff the opportunity to flourish, which creates a feeling in them that says that they are a part of that success.”
Between phone calls, DiFrancesco takes a look at the main floor of the salon he has owned here for the past 20 years, and the constancy of appointments shows no sign of letting up. He said that even after two decades in Kennett Square, the business never leaves him. He has earned a reputation as one of the leading hair stylists in the Delaware Valley, but on any given day, he is often found fixing toilets, painting walls, and repairing the wiring around his salon.
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Nicholas Anthony
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“The key to me is that I never want to arrive, because once I arrive somewhere, it’s time to go away. If we keep striving and keep trying to get better, then I think you keep moving in the right direction.
“We couldn’t do anything we do out here without our full team,” he added. “Our success is based around the people who have helped us get there. I learn from every person in here, and I don’t want to stop learning.”
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.
Photo by Carmine Silveroni
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