Wayne's New Openings Are Landing at Both Ends of Lancaster Avenue

Wayne has a long list of new businesses this fall, and nearly all of them sit near the two ends of Lancaster Avenue. At the west end, the addresses run from 385 to 523 W. Lancaster Ave. At the east end, they are at 158 and 166 E. Lancaster Ave., in the Apartments at Wayne Station. Almost nothing on the new-opening list is in the blocks around North Wayne Avenue.

That stretch in the middle is where Wayne's October events are concentrated. Radnor Township's new downtown plan went public today, and its first public hearing is eight days away. Among its priorities are pedestrian safety on Lancaster Avenue and making parking easier to figure out, which is what matters when the new places sit at opposite ends of the same road.

Lancaster Avenue, west to east, as of the first weekend in October

Here is where everything new or coming soon stands, in order by street number.

1. Martini & Roz, 523 W. Lancaster Ave. This is the former Bertucci's. Fearless Restaurants was aiming for fall 2026 as of its August update and had not announced an exact date.
2. Wild Yeast Bakehouse, 503 W. Lancaster Ave., Suite 1105. Open since July 18 in Eagle Village Shops.
3. Dahlia (working title), 385 W. Lancaster Ave. An all-day Mexican restaurant planned in Strafford Shopping Center, in the former DiBruno Bros. space. The Oct. 1 update still listed no opening date.
4. bellaDONNA Gifts, returning to Lancaster Avenue. On Sept. 30, Savvy Main Line reported that Donna Martella expected to open in about two weeks.
5. STRONG Pilates, 158 E. Lancaster Ave. As of Sept. 25, the studio's own page was still selling founder memberships ahead of opening and listed no date.
6. Old Friend, 166 E. Lancaster Ave. An 86-seat live-fire American grill in the Apartments at Wayne Station, targeting late fall.
7. The Little Gym at Wayne Station. In March, the owners said they hoped to open by September. A June report still listed it among the Wayne Station tenants.

Wild Yeast is the only one confirmed open with regular hours. The rest are working on the timelines below.

What you can visit this week at 503 W. Lancaster

Wild Yeast Bakehouse opened its first storefront on Saturday, July 18. The case holds naturally leavened sourdough loaves, including cinnamon-raisin, sandwich and olive-herb, plus sourdough focaccia, cookies, scones and coffee.

Check the hours before you go. Retail runs Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the shop is closed for retail on Monday and Tuesday. That makes it a weekend-morning or midweek-lunch stop. It won't work for an after-work loaf.

Why the west end is getting the big room

The building two doors down at 523 W. Lancaster shows what a large empty space can draw. Martini & Roz will fill the 7,500-square-foot former Bertucci's with more than 300 seats. That count breaks down to 180 in the main dining room, 20 at the bar, 20 at a tasting counter, 20 in a private dining room and 70 outdoors. Fearless Restaurants expects the opening to bring roughly 75 jobs to Wayne.

Fearless first planned a different concept here. It dropped the Testa Rossa idea for this address and replaced it with Martini & Roz. Sydney Grims, the group's director of business development, said the change came from the success of its nearby Triple Crown and from diners' appetite for restaurants that feel immersive. Regional executive chef Merick Devine is leading a menu of seafood, steaks and chops, wood-fired pizza, house-made pasta and charcuterie. Two open kitchens will keep the wood-burning ovens and a glass-enclosed cheese cave in view of the dining room. The name honors the parents of Fearless founder Marty Grims, who are Sydney Grims's grandparents.

The same pattern shows up a little farther east at 385 W. Lancaster. Mike MacCrory and Sean Coyle are turning the former DiBruno Bros. store into their Mexican concept. July reporting said renovations would take months. Both west-end projects are going into large spaces left by well-known former tenants, and that is the kind of space you rarely find in the older storefronts closer to the center.

Why the east end is filling in all at once

The east end has new construction instead of an empty building to reuse. The Apartments at Wayne Station have ground-floor space, and three very different tenants are lined up for it: a restaurant, a Pilates studio and a children's play space.

Old Friend is the restaurant. It comes from first-time restaurateurs Larry Kagan and Chas McFeely, who describe it as a contemporary American grill. At 86 seats, it is less than a third the size of Martini & Roz. The two ends of the avenue are getting very different rooms.

The timelines at Wayne Station have slipped a bit. In March, STRONG Pilates hoped to open "this summer," and The Little Gym was aiming for September. In its Sept. 30 roundup, Savvy Main Line described STRONG as still training staff, with classes starting "any day now." If you're planning a first class or a kid's birthday party there, go by the businesses' own announcements rather than the spring estimates.

Meanwhile, the middle is shuffling

The center of town has had smaller moves, and some of them run the other way. Christine Shirley Designs and Dina Previti & Co. Counseling have both left their Lancaster Avenue spaces. Both moved to 987 Old Eagle School Road, Suite 709, which keeps them in Wayne but takes them off the main street. bellaDONNA Gifts is heading back onto the avenue.

Two other long-term projects in the middle are also moving slowly. Radnor officials approved the North Wayne Parklet in September but amended the schedule so both phases start next year. The Anthony Wayne Theater's new director has called a significant reopening by 2028 the ideal goal, and it depends on fundraising.

The plan for the avenue itself

Radnor released "A Vision for Wayne" today. It is a 144-page master plan for downtown through 2036. It puts pedestrian safety and a consistent streetscape first, in response to congestion and high vehicle speeds on Lancaster Avenue.

The parking section reads like it was written by people who drive into town on a Saturday:

"During public engagement, community members highlighted that while parking availability rarely prevents visits to Downtown Wayne, convenience, proximity, and operational clarity remain critical considerations."

The plan names the friction directly. It points to localized demand hot spots, price differences between public lots and transit lots, and the lack of unified wayfinding. A parking garage was judged highly infeasible because of land-control limits and construction costs estimated at $6 million to $18.5 million, so the plan leans on managing demand instead. It also proposes turning an existing 7,500-square-foot public lot with 24 spaces into an open-air plaza with shaded seating and flexible event space. That lot is the same size as the entire Martini & Roz space.

The Radnor Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the plan on Oct. 12, with time for public comment. The full plan and an executive summary are posted at avisionforwayne.com.

October happens in the middle anyway

While the new openings come together at the ends, this month's calendar stays mostly in the center of town and along the trail.

• All of October. Radnor Township's Pumpkin Path Adventure runs along the Radnor Trail.
• Saturday, Oct. 10, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Fall Sip & Paint at Matines Café, 757 Lancaster Ave. Tickets are listed at $69.
• Monday, Oct. 12. The public hearing on "A Vision for Wayne."
• Friday, Oct. 30, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Trick or Treat at the Township Building, 301 Iven Ave.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, 1 to 3 p.m. The Wayne Business Association's downtown Wayne Trick or Treat, centered on North Wayne Avenue and participating shops and restaurants.

If you need a sourdough loaf for a Halloween-weekend table, Wild Yeast is open that Saturday morning before the 1 p.m. trick-or-treat start.

I'm following every Lancaster Avenue opening date and the Oct. 12 hearing on the downtown plan. If you'd like to hear how either one turns out, or want to talk through what the plan's parking and plaza proposals could mean for your part of Wayne, Brooke Dailey would be glad to hear from you. Let's connect.