Pretzels In, BBQ Out on Umbria

The storefront at 5002 Umbria St. may say but the renovation going on inside won't be a barbecue joint.

The Manayunk eatery closed its doors for good earlier this year—at that location at least—and building owners work to ready a new storefront for , a pretzel company already with a bakery on Umbria Street.

Anastasio Botsaris, from Phoebes, told Patch property owners terminated his lease, returned his security deposit and asked them to leave.

"The building was sold, so our lease was expunged. The new owner played the game, and let us stay. But six months later, they gave us our security deposit back and negotiations were over," he said.

According to city records, RE Holdings LLC and Athena Louca own the building, in addition to the Tasty Twisters—located down the block at 4901 Umbria St. Store owners were unable to talk at length in time for publication of this story.

However, Tasty Twisters did confirm that it would occupy the former Phoebes. Click here to read the family history of the local bakery.

Phoebes returns to operating only shop shop on South Street. Botsaris said he enjoyed his his time in the Manayunk area.

"We love Manayunk and Roxborough. Everyone treated us very well. Roxborough, Manayunk, Germantown, Mt. Airy—they showed us a lot of love," he said.

After debuting at 2214 South St. in 1994, Phoebes BBQ opened its second store in Manayunk in 2009, according to the Chestnut Hill Local. Botsaris loved his location and vowed a return. 

Already, Phoebes has scouted out property on Ridge Avenue in Roxborough, near , he said. If it reopened elsewhere, Phoebes would most likely be takeout.

For more information on Phoebes click here.

For more information Tasty Twisters click here.