The urban environment of Philadelphia’s commercial corridors was once so much more interesting than the one we see today. This makes intuitive sense, as consumers historically had to rely on catchy signage to know where to do their shopping. These days, we hardly even notice signs for businesses, thanks to those handy computers in our pockets and the relentlessness of television and online advertising.

Most of the signs from the old days have disappeared along with the businesses they advertised, but there are a few notable exceptions. South Broad Street has held onto several, including signs for Boot and Saddle, the Dolphin, and the old Philip’s Restaurant. While Boot and Saddle (Solar Myth) and the Dolphin are currently advertising active businesses, Philip’s has been closed for over two decades. New ownership and a variance granted over the summer might mean that things will soon change here, and we are hopeful that the sign will come back to life as part of a future redevelopment.

This brings us to Meglio Furs, formerly located at Broad & Wharton. Despite the fact that this business closed many years ago, their sign remained in place above the vacated commercial space. We wondered about this property for the first time back in 2012, hoping for a new commercial tenant and the restoration of the cool but battered old sign. A corner bar perhaps? A faux fur store? Laser tag?

In the summer of 2020, we shared that the building had changed hands and we were looking forward with great expectation about a future commercial tenant and the restoration of the Meglio Furs sign. Alas, at the end of last year, the old sign was removed from the building, eliminating a link to the history of South Broad Street. Also disappointing, the first floor of the building was resurfaced with gray stucco, further diminishing the visual appeal of the edifice.

Looking in the window, you can see that a UPS store will be opening in the long vacant commercial space. This is actually very exciting news, despite the fundamentally unsexy nature of a store that ships packages and makes photocopies. This space has been sitting vacant for decades and soon a new small business will bring new life to this corner.

Given all the folks living at Lincoln Square, the new folks moving into the One Thousand One Residences on the east side of Broad & Washington, and the surrounding longterm residents in the neighborhood, there should be plenty of business for this store. While we wish the operators of the new store all the best, we just wish that they were running their business in the shadow of the old Meglio Furs sign. Perhaps the sign was salvaged and will end up reappearing somewhere else? Alas, we fear that the sign will suffer the same fate as the misbegotten King of Jeans, and it will never be seen again. Except maybe in a warehouse in South Kensington, that is.