When the Bean Exchange closed their doors last summer at 7th & Bainbridge after a nearly decade-long run, we simply assumed that another cafe would not replace it. We expected an apartment conversion, perhaps. After all, there are just so many coffee shops in the area, like Shot Tower at 6th & Christian, Bean Cafe on the 600 block of South Street, Lombard Cafe at 6th & Lombard, and probably other places that we're just not thinking of right now. But heaven knows, people love coffee shops (thankfully), and so Rally opened this week in the former Bean Exchange space.

The new Rally

A remaining chunk of the Bean Exchange sign

According to a Billy Penn story, Rally isn't your typical neighborhood cafe, it's also a creative agency. Kind of a cool idea, to create a place that's not quite a cafe, not quite an office, and not quite a coworking space. Also interesting, you can reserve a table in advance, whether it's a small table for solo laptop work or a large communal table in the back that can accommodate a larger meeting. Certainly, these features differentiate this place from the nearby competition. We stuck our head in the door earlier today and found a bright space that's gotten some real work since its Bean Exchange days. Here's an image, taken from an Inquirer story about the business.

A look inside, image from the Inquirer.

We write Naked Philly posts all over town, and we'd like to think that we've written something in just about every cafe in greater Center City. We'll be eager to do add Rally to the list sometime soon and enjoy a cup of Passenger coffee at the same time. We'll just have to make sure we remember to make a reservation.