We’ve covered vacant commercial spaces on South Street ad nauseum, and today we have a spot of good news regarding a space we’ve never even brought to your attention. The northeast corner of 2nd and South Sts., just a block south of the Shambles, has been empty for years. Honestly, we don’t even remember the last business that called this address home.

The space

Headhouse is up the street

You would think that this location would be desirable because of constant South Street foot traffic, as well as proximity to the Shambles, home of Headhouse Farmers’ Market. Perhaps nothing has opened here for years because of the curious layout of this intersection that’s friendlier to vehicles than to pedestrians. Or maybe the rent number was too high, we just don’t know for sure. What we do know is that a potential tenant could be coming into this space, provided they get through zoning.

Lite Choice! Image from Yelp

Sources tell us that the Lite Choice, a soft serve shop out of New York, is the party looking to open at this location. Already with twenty-one locations, this newest healthier-than-thou “ice cream” chain is making their way down the turnpike to open their first Philadelphia-area locations as we speak (er, type). Reviews that we’ve read peg Lite Choice as an organic, more interesting, and less-artificial tasting Tasty D-Lite. Like many soft serve shops of this genre, Lite Choice has a number of flavors, but they uniquely offer the option of mixing/creating flavors on the spot. Oh, and they also have cakes.

To think, this has only 72.5 calories... approximately.

While we’re obviously thrilled to see a South Street retail vacancy filled, we wonder whether this will fill a need or simply shorten margins for surrounding businesses. A Rita’s location is less than a block away, which sits across the street from a Haagen Dazs. The ever-popular Phileo is a few blocks to the east, and a Dairy Queen bowed out of the 500 block of South Street in the past couple of years.

Hopefully, there will be enough cold-treat-loving customers for everyone and this long-vacant corner will have life for years to come.