What Makes Reading Terminal Market So Special to Philadelphians?

On a cold Friday in February, Bobbi, a 74-year-old woman from Norristown, Pennsylvania, finds a quiet place to sit along the fringes of the main seating area at Reading Terminal Market in the heart of Philadelphia. She doesn’t have much going on, which is fine by her. She wears an easy smile and her eyes beam with curiosity as her gaze pans slowly across the expanse of tables, merchant stalls, and flow of patrons ambling through the aisles.

The market is a familiar place to Bobbi, who’s been coming here since she was young. She, her sister, and her mother used to stroll through the market together for hours, gradually weighing down their arms with bags of groceries as they went. These days, she often comes to the market alone or, occasionally, with her granddaughter, Tiara.