Sprawling Mount Laurel has plans for a Main Street

The Rancocas Woods Village of Shops has survived the rise and fall of malls, the death and rebirth of downtowns, the online shopping revolution — and Mount Laurel’s evolution from an agrarian to a suburban community.

The eclectic dozen or so wood-frame commercial buildings in the trees along Creek Road in Burlington County became a regional destination for antiques, crafts, and furniture in the 1950s. The village since has withstood the death of its founder, a fire, the closing of a signature retailer, headlines about proliferating vacancies, and the pandemic.

Fresh stores, including a popular ice cream stand and a coffee shop that sells Czech pastries, have helped create a comeback narrative so strong that Mount Laurel intends to improve and promote the area as the 22-square-mile township’s Main Street.

“Keeping the flavor of the area has to be at the heart of any changes that are made,” said Brandon Hartman, who has worked at Second Time Books for a dozen years, the last five as owner.

While shop owners like Hartman, as well as local residents, are generally positive about the proposed Rancocas Woods Redevelopment Plan, some worry the quirky charm, rustic ambience, and distinctive mix of businesses that have made the village so resilient and could be diminished, if not lost.

“Rancocas Woods has an aesthetic that appeals to people who are tired of corporate,” Hartman said. “There’s something refreshing about being able to step outside and breathe air the trees have processed.”

“I‘m all for change, but not a 100% change,” said Ed Grafenstine, manager of the Rancocas Woods Craft Co-op and Antique Attic, where about 80 vendors and their artisanal, collectible, or practical wares can be found on three floors.

“We want it to stay the way it is, but with new ideas, new sales ideas, and new ways to get people in,” Grafenstine, 91, said.

Bisected by the N.J. Turnpike and I-295, Mount Laurel is home to nearly 46,000 people — up from 2,817 in 1950 — and is largely defined by dense commercial development along Routes 38 and 73. The township designated the 20 acres of Rancocas Woods Village of Shops as an area in need of redevelopment in 2019.

The proposed redevelopment plan made public last July says Rancocas Woods and Creek Road should become Mount Laurel’s “primary Main Street and serve as a community gathering place and unique commercial destination.”

Rancocas Woods is not in the geographic center of Mount Laurel. The nearest NJ Transit bus stop is a mile away.

But the area is handy to I-295, as well as walking trails and the Rancocas Creek.

Prepared by CME Associates, the redevelopment plan envisions “small-scale” construction of new commercial buildings that will “enhance and complement the existing character and business community.”

Also part of the plan: a “pedestrian-friendly environment” throughout the village; more and safer parking, and better lighting, landscaping, and streetscaping.

Separately, the township’s Municipal Utilities Authority is offering owners of existing buildings a discounted fee to connect to water and sewer service.

“The buildings there have a log cabin, woodsy feel that we don’t want to lose,” said Bill Giegerich, Mount Laurel’s director of economic and community development.

“The final plan has not been adopted yet,” he said. “We have tweaked the draft plan to address the public’s concerns as best we can. We want the businesses there to thrive and to grow.”

The Main Street concept arises in part by the evolution of the village of shops itself. It has long held events such as craft fairs and antique shows, and in 2020 launched a weekly farmers market. The township also holds its Christmas tree lighting there, and officials said the area has successfully handled large crowds despite deteriorating and disconnected sidewalks, tricky parking, and lack of signage.

“I love the village, but there are things that need updating and beautification,” said Janeen Hovnanian, 35, a trustee of the 15-member Rancocas Woods Business Association and an owner of the Thyme Travelers Conservatory. The business opened last May to sell plants and provide wellness activities and workshops focused on nature.

Hovnanian, whose family is well-known in the residential construction business, also is the event coordinator for what the she calls “the township’s budding downtown.”

“A lot of local folks don’t even know we’re here,” said Randi Gonnelli, 32, the manager of Creek Mercantile. “We’re a vintage co-op with 30 to 40 vendors on three floors” where midcentury modern home furnishings are a centerpiece. “We mix merchandise of our vendors into displays and create vignettes.”

Creek Mercantile occupies the building that originally housed William Spencer’s, a much-loved furniture and lighting store operated by the Philadelphia entrepreneur who bought the land for what is now the village in the 1940s.

Spencer subdivided the property so that other businesses could locate there, encouraged construction of traditional-looking wooden buildings, and built his namesake store in a log-cabin style in 1955.

He died in 1988. After the store was severely damaged by fire the next year, “we rebuilt it from the same blueprints,” said his daughter, Val Houser. She and her husband sold the property a decade ago.

Kay Schutz, a retiree who lives within easy walking distance, calls the village “my Amazon.com in the woods,” she said.

A former food company executive, Schutz created and distributed her own summary of the redevelopment plan.

“I’d say 90% of the people around here are for it,” she said, noting that the plan provides an opportunity for the township — rather than a developer — to determine the future of an important site.

“We want the trees replaced,” she said. “There’s a reason this community is called Rancocas Woods.”

Matt Semola and his business partner Joseph Ventresca own seven of the 13 buildings in the village. They support the redevelopment plan.

“We’ve been in the business for a long time and have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t work,” Semola said. “What the town has planned will be an enhancement and really make the village a destination.”

Michael Tull and Rebecca Fairchild are newcomers to the neighborhood and opened The Woods Ice Cream Shop two years ago. Being able to walk to work is especially sweet, they said.

“The community was behind us the moment we opened the doors,” said Tull, who also designs clothing and offers some of it for sale in their shop.

“We have kids who ride here on their bikes,” Fairchild said. “It’s beautiful under the trees and it creates a different feeling than other places.”

At Four Green Cats, the coffee and pastry shop she opened in 2019, owner Nadia Vasa bakes “Bohemian doughnuts” and German bread pudding like her grandmother made back home in the Czech Republic.

“My wife was looking for a location, and she really liked the area and the woodsy feel,” said Mila Vasa, who manages the cafe.

“We’ve been to meetings about the redevelopment plan,” he said. “What they are proposing is basically what the shops and the owners and the township all agree with as a community.”

Asked why the village has endured, Houser recalled visiting the Burlington Center Mall with her father shortly after it opened in 1982. “I said, ‘They’re going to put us out of business,’ and he said, ‘No, they won’t. We have something they don’t have: We have the trees.’”

The Burlington Center mall closed in 2018. It has since been demolished to make way for warehouses and other development.