Rival Bros. Coffee is opening on the Main Line
Its first suburban shop is planned for Wayne.
One of Philly’s most celebrated coffee shops, Rival Bros., is heading to the Main Line to open its sixth location, and the first outside the city.
The Frankford-based coffee roaster signed a lease for a first-floor storefront at 503 W. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne, inside the Eagle Village Shops, which is also home to the popular Taste of Britain tearoom, the nostalgia-themed Autograph Brasserie, and sourdough specialist Wild Yeast Bakehouse.
Rival Bros. cofounder Jonathan Adams said that the company intends for the Wayne location to open by spring 2027. It will likely have capacity for upwards of 60 seats thanks to 2,100 square feet of space and limited outdoor seating, he said.
“We always had this idea of proving ourselves in the city first,” said Adams. He said Rival Bros. venture into Wayne was motivated by watching more and more regulars move to suburbs after the pandemic.
“They’d just move out to the ’burbs, start families. We thought, ‘Let’s go with them,’” Adams said.
Adams and business partner Damien Pileggi opened Rival Bros. in 2011 as a roastery and mobile coffee truck. In 2014, the duo opened Rival Bros.’ first brick-and-mortar coffee shop, at 2400 Lombard St. in Fitler Square, followed by locations in East Passyunk, Center City, and Brewerytown. Their fifth outpost opened in September 2025, on the ground floor of the Rally apartment building at 1701 N. Second St. in Olde Kensington.
Adams and Pileggi also partnered with New Liberty Distillery to open Enswell, a swanky, Art Deco-inspired café-cocktail bar hybrid inside the former Rival Bros. location at 1528 Spruce St.
Adams said that five coffee shops make up the “lion’s share” of Rival Bros.’ business, which also includes an e-commerce site and wholesale arm that sells Rival Bros.’ signature espresso blends, sourced from across Latin America and roasted in Globe Dye Works.
Rival Bros. is working with the restaurant design firm Stokes Architecture + Design (past projects include Stephen Starr’s Borromini and the Michelin-starred Provenance) on the chain’s Wayne Location, which Adams said will have a more relaxed vibe than its city counterparts.
“It’s not going to be like Central Perk, right? We’re not going to have big fluffy couches or anything,” said Adams. But “we’re noticing that people in the suburbs like to sit and linger longer,” so there will be two distinct seating areas.
Wayne is already home to more than a half-dozen coffee shops and cafés, including two Starbucks, the original Gryphon Cafe, and the very French Matines Café, which Adams said already uses Rival Bros. products. He’s unconcerned about oversaturation.
“I’ve been in Wayne on a Saturday morning and still had to wait in line for a while just for coffee, which I think is great,” Adams said. “It means that cafe culture is alive and well there.”
Rival Bros.’ foray into the suburbs comes a little over a year after the company sought to raise $4 million in equity to fund an expansion. That money, Adams said, has mostly gone to “nonflashy things,” such as a growing their warehouse space and rolling out a website redesign.
All of it feeds into one goal, according to Adams: “Trying to be the mid-Atlantic’s dominant coffee roaster.”
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