Past Present Future, beloved Main Line gift and craft store, is closing its doors
Owner Sherry Tillman first opened the store in Center City in 1976 as a young graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, before moving to Ardmore in the mid-1990s.
The interior of Past Present Future, downtown Ardmore’s beloved gift and craft store, is unmistakable. Each wall is adorned with art and collectors’ items, from hand-beaded necklaces to fruit-shaped bowls and ceramic tropical fish. Cases of jewelry sit under hanging lanterns and mobiles, and trinket boxes share shelves with colorful purses and glass figurines.
Past Present Future, located at 15 Lancaster Ave., is the 50-year work of owner Sherry Tillman, who first opened the store in Center City in 1976 as a young graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, before moving to Ardmore in the mid-1990s. Tillman calls the shop “part gift store, part mini-museum,” and prides herself on grouping items, from lamps to clocks to mirrors, in “ways that maximize their funky diversity.”
Now, five decades, four storefronts, and thousands of customers later, Past Present Future is officially closing, marking the end of a chapter that Tillman says has been defined by eclectic art, changing times, and deep community ties. While Tillman is “gutted” to close up shop, in her words: “It’s time.”
Tillman first opened Past Present Future as a toy store on the corner of 13th and Pine Streets in Center City, next to a friend’s science-fiction bookstore. The Philadelphia Daily News in 1979 called Tillman’s store “one of the wonders of the city,” a “throwback to the age of handcrafted wooden playthings, one-of-a-kind soft toys and sculptures, old-fashioned balance toys and Rube Goldberg-ish do-nothing machines.” Tillman, then a 20-something artist, took orders from customers and hand crafted toys from her workshop.
After three years, Tillman left the Gayborhood and moved to 17th and Locust Streets, where the scope of Past Present Future began to shift, bringing in more crafts and jewelry. Four years later, Tillman moved to 18th Street between Market and Chestnut Streets. She had two-and-a-half floors of a four-story building and, according to a 1990 Inquirer story, stocked “zingy jewelry, kaleidoscopes, cards, clocks, handmade ceramic diners that light up” and had a “top-floor gallery devoted to fun-and-funky craft items for adults.”
By the mid-1990s, much of Tillman’s customer base had moved out to the suburbs, and the confounding pressures of crime, high taxes, and a lack of parking, plus raising her own growing family in Ardmore, spurred her to pack up her Center City store and move to the Main Line. She opened on Lancaster Avenue in 1996.
“The fact that my business could be where my home is was so important to me,” Tillman said, reflecting on her move to Ardmore. “To be embraced and connected to this community is also important to me.”
Tillman’s store quickly became a magnet for artsy types, window shoppers, gift givers, touring musicians, and spiritually minded Main Line residents.
“It’s incredible,” she said. “People come in and we talk, other people come in and they join the conversation. It’s a place where people just feel so comfortable.”
Lorig Buckley, otherwise known as Mystic Lor at Mystic of the Main Line, said she thinks of Past Present Future as “a staple” in Ardmore.
When people strolled into Past Present Future looking for a palm reading, Tillman would send them down the block to Mystic of the Main Line. When clients of Buckley’s needed to shop for a gift, she’d pass them along to Past Present Future.
“My heart sank when I saw that she was closing, because it really brought a different spirit to the area,” Buckley said.
Shannon Gallagher, a business coach who lives in Ardmore, always bought her clients gifts from Tillman’s shop, from crystals to wooden boxes with tarot cards. When she first moved to Ardmore four years ago, Tillman gave her the lowdown on all of the locals’ favorite spots.
“She just made it feel so comfortable for us,” Gallagher said.
In addition to running Past Present Future, Tillman organized First Friday Main Line, a monthly arts crawl that brought music and art to the streets of Ardmore. Alongside Broomall surgeon Lt. Col. Kenneth Marx, Tillman helped create Operation Angel Wings, a donation drive that sent clothes and toys to children in Afghanistan. Most recently, she spearheaded a contest to paint a mural on the side of her storefront. The first of five winning murals will be up by July 1.
Tillman said Ardmore has “blossomed a lot” in the years since she moved to town. Street art, interesting shops, and live music sprawl across downtown, from the newly painted Schauffele Plaza to Ardmore Music Hall (many of the traveling performers stop into Past Present Future before their shows, Tillman said).
“There’s expressions of art around us,” Tillman said.
Tillman doesn’t have an exact closing date yet. Past Present Future has marked down its merchandise by 20%, and Tillman said she’ll be open until there’s nothing left (“hopefully”). Tillman plans to sell the 15 Lancaster Ave. building, which she has owned for years.
“It’s really hard,” she said, “when you think that your entire life has been this one thing, to say goodbye.”
Inquirer Lower Merion
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