Pop-Up Coffee Shop Sets Up In Philadelphia

Kathryn Sclavi is setting up a coffee shop in Philadelphia, but it isn't a normal coffee shop, it's a pop-up that she hopes transforms the empty parking lot.

Sclavi will open FreeShop CoffeeShop every Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. starting August 7 and running through September. Her goal is to bring the community together by serving free coffee.

"I decided that was what was most important — less about the product and more about the process of people getting together," she told Philly.com.

The coffee will be provided by Greenstreet Coffee Roasters. Sclavi sees FreeShop CoffeeShop as a place where people from different parts of the area can come together and share ideas. She also hopes neighborhood organizations can introduce themselves and collaborate.

Each evening will start with a presentation from a co-host from community groups such as Simpson Mid-Town, Firth & Wilson, and PhilaMoca. Anyone interested in sharing their ideas, music or visual projects is welcome to take the stage after presentations.

Though the purpose of her project is meant to be temporary, Sclavi hopes that Philadelphia will embrace the pop-up scene in the same way as cities like Portland have. She says there are many old warehouses and unused lots and space in Philadelphia that the potential to create something out of nothing and bring people together through food and drink or even other means is very possible.