While traveling through town, Steve and Jane see the old man’s dog huddled by the doors of the market owned by Steve’s father. When they approach the dog, they discover the doors to the store are unlocked and the lights are on, even though it’s after midnight. They go in to investigate. The Blob begins to chase them and to escape they retreat to the meat locker. For some unknown reason, the Blob doesn’t follow them in.

At the time that The Blob was filmed, there were two Jerry’s Markets – one in Phoenixville and one in Royersford – both owned by Jerry Fahringer. Although some feel that the scenes were shot in Phoenixville, the Royersford store was the one that appears in the movie.

The case of Jerry’s Market (and to a lesser extent the Cadillac/Downingtown Diner) is an example of the sadder and more frustrating side of location hunting. In the half-century since the production of the film, the building the once housed the Royersford Jerry’s Market has undergone numerous renovations, making it difficult to identify today, unless one knows what they’re looking for. In this case, you’d be looking for what is now the Lewis Road Plaza in Royersford, with a string of shops added onto the old Jerry’s Market, turning it into the anchor for a small strip mall.

For several years, through the 1990s and into the new century, the former Market section of the plaza was a Drug Emporium drug store, with a blue facade erected that blocked the distinctive arched roof of the market. (I wonder if the original Jerry’s Market sign still hangs underneath that facade, waiting to be rediscovered.) However, if one gets to the right angle in the parking lot, you can still catch a glimpse of the original roof. Compare the roof with the black and white picture taken during the filming of the scene and you can see the same rounded structure.

In November 2004, the Sly Fox Restaurant and Brewery opened on the spot. The original market appears to have been subdivided, with the Sly Fox only taking up half of the space that the Market originally inhabited. The other half, which contains what appears to be the remnant of the Market’s original entrance, is a Dollar Bargain store. The Drug Emporium’s blue facade has been painted brown.

Several of the Sly Fox employees are aware of the building’s place in cinema history. A walk through the restaurant suggests that where the Market’s meat locker was is now the restaurant’s microbrew.

[googleMap name=”Jerry’s Market” directions_to=”false”]Lewis Road & Oak Street , Royersford, PA[/googleMap]


This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 11:15 am and is filed under Locations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.