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For, Mike Campo, life inside his family’s cheesesteak shop is all he’s ever known.
“It’s the only lens that I’ve ever seen life through,” he said. “My home and in the shop are kind of one.”
Mike’s grandfather started the store in 1947 when he came back from service in the Navy. The store began as a butcher shop in Southwest Philadelphia. Then, in 1975, the store became a deli, selling things like cheesesteaks and hoagies.
“My dad took over the store in the 70s,” Mike said. “And he’s still there every day at work.”
Eventually, Campo and his wife Denise, took over the shop and moved it to the current Old City location in 2001.
As Campo’s has continued to evolve, the third-generation owner said it has become more of an institution.
“The older that businesses in the area get, the more important they become,” he said. “We have some things like homemade meatballs that are by far the best meatballs around.”
Mike’s two children, Michael and Mia – Campo’s fourth generation – help their father run the store.
“It’s hard work,” Mia said. “I can’t call in sick, like, if I call in sick, the door doesn’t open that day.”
Campo’s is family-run – an attribute Mia says is few and far between in many businesses these days.
“When somebody orders a cannoli, I’m screaming in the back like ‘I need a cannoli,’ or ‘I need a chicken soup,’” she said. “There’s not many places that could say, ‘Dad, do this.’ I’m calling my mom, like, ‘Hey, Mom, take this catering order, because I can’t do it.’”
Campo’s has existed in Old City for over 25 years, through everything from construction on Market Street to changing neighborhood populations.
There are actually very few continuously operated businesses in Old City – and lots of that is due to its changing industries and history. We dove into this and learned more about some of its businesses that have stayed afloat.
America’s first planned city
Old City stretches from Front Street to the east, 6th Street to the west, Florist Street to the north and Walnut Street to the South. Some also consider the Delaware Waterfront between Florist and Walnut to be a part of the neighborhood, too.
The “birthplace of America” was where William Penn and the Quakers first settled. The neighborhood is steeped in history – as the meeting place of the First and Second Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention and the temporary capital of the U.S. before the District of Columbia.
The neighborhood is also home to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other popular historical and tourist sites.
Old City continued to be a hub for industry in its early days – selling things like fine textiles and garments, jewelry and paintings, craft shops and more.
One popular industry that emerged was also candy. And one big player in this game was Shane Confectionery at 110 Market St.
“In the time when Shane was built as a confectionery in the 1860s, this area was known as the place where you got candy and confections,” said Laurel Burmeister, the store’s manager. “We had Wilbur Chocolate, we had the Franklin Sugar Refinery, we had Whitman’s up a little further, but this is where all the chocolate and candy was made.”
Shane Confectionery is America’s oldest continuously running confectionery. Burmeister said the business has seen Old City shift and change throughout the years.
Started in 1863, the confectionery passed through several owners, and was eventually purchased by Edward R. Shane in 1910 (hence the Shane name).
The store remained strong, even as business declined in the late 1900s. Old City was changing during this time, said Pavia Burroughs, the director of design and employee relations for Shane Confectionery.
“From the 70s through the 90s, it was pretty rough,” she said. “We have some photos of the 70s, and most of the buildings are boarded up and there were more vacancies than there are today. So, it was sort of just not a great time in the city in general.”
Even before that, construction was always an issue. The neighborhood used to be a quick walk to the Delaware Riverfront, before the construction of I-95. The bulk of the highway’s construction on this portion happened from 1970-1979, and threatened many businesses that used to rely on the footpaths from Old City to the river.
Despite this, Shane Confectionery stayed strong.
“The Shane’s were one of the last holdouts for a really long time, for like decades,” Burroughs said. “I think there’s some news articles that said, ‘if you go all the way to the end [of Old City], there’s still that candy shop that’s way at the end of the street.’”
The store was taken over in 2010 by brothers Eric and Ryan Berley, who owned the Franklin Fountain Ice Cream Parlor next door. Burroughs explained that their business was one that came into Old City as its restaurant scene was being revitalized.
“The Continental restaurant was kind of the start of the early 2000s restaurant renaissance, and also kind of marked when the brothers moved the Franklin Fountain in,” she said. “It was one of the first businesses that were kind of revitalizing the neighborhood.”
“Somewhere between tourism and food and art”
Today, Old City wears many hats.
For some, it’s a cheesesteak destination – between Campo’s, Oh Brothers, Philly’s Gourmet Steaks and Franklin Steak and Shakes, you can find many options within a block of each other.
“There’s lots of places,” said Mia Campo. “I tell people to eat as many as they can when they’re here, this way they could decide who’s good, who’s not good, and where to go when they’re coming back. There’s a lot of good ones.”
Another part is its natural history.
“There was this colonial era, when Market Street was High Street, which was the main thoroughfare of the city,” said Burroughs. “So you have all of this, sort of, ‘red brick history’ colonial era stuff.”
Burroughs explains there’s a strong tourism industry as well, with souvenir shops offering goods such as Philly postcards, tiny Liberty Bells and presidential figurines.
“Then interwoven into that is stores like The Book Trader, and we have a lot of antique stores and a lot of really quirky, artsy shops,” Burroughs said.
She added you can also find food, cafes and independent clothing stores and more in the neighborhood.
But, concerns remain.
“Landlords are asking too much for rent here, so we still have a lot of empty storefronts,” Burmeister said. “We also actually had to put in a security grate again.”
Additionally, the pandemic affected the neighborhood’s livelihood. Burroughs said many office workers did not return to work fully in person – meaning some lunchtime institutions without the usual lunch rush.
“And increasingly during the pandemic, we saw an increase in the houseless population coming down, and also especially with drugs and drug users from Kensington coming down, and so there’s just like a much larger population of people who need services that they don’t have,” she said.
Campo’s said the recent construction on Market Street also affected business.
“We need to ride the wave,” Mia Campo said. “We’re at the bottom of the wave, and we got to get to the top.”
But, there is still hope. Campo’s remains a popular destination for cheesesteaks, and Shane Confectionery remains a staple candy and ice cream spot.
Burroughs said Shane has some exciting projects on the horizon.
“104 Market Street, which is our newest space, is both a private event space that you can book for ice cream parties or hot chocolate gatherings, and then we also are doing public events there,” she said.
“So we’ve started back up doing classes and workshops, so we’re going to be having an ice cream molding workshop in August, and in July, Laurel’s going to be doing a ‘Talk and Taste’ and an exploration of the history of man’s quest for the perfect sweeteners.”
And both businesses have come a long way since their beginnings many years ago. You can visit Campo’s Cheesesteaks at 214 Market Street and Shane Confectionery at 110 Market Street.
