We always find it somewhat painful to read or watch regional media coverage of Conshohocken. It’s challenging to report on a place you don’t follow closely on a day-to-day basis, and it’s easy to get things wrong.

We hesitated to read the Philadelphia magazine article titled “How Conshohocken Got Cool” in its May 2025 edition.

But we did.

And then we saw the header illustration, which shows a family sitting on a bench in Conshohocken, looking across the Schuylkill River to West Conshohocken with a rising sun emerging from it. The caption reads, “Is Conshohocken … cool now?”

Oh boy, it’s off to a rocky start.

I know, I know. The zip code thing. An easy mistake to make. But it does refer to the “sleepy borough.” But still, an easy mistake for someone not super familiar with Conshohocken.

We then began reading and came across the sentence, “Glossy high-rise apartment buildings line the river, filled with inhabitants ranging from recent college grads to empty nesters.” There are zero “glossy high-rise apartments” along the river. The only high-rise apartment building is located off the river, along West Elm Street, which is not a riverfront property.

I know, I know. It is a flowerly article and there are a bunch of newish to new apartments on the river. Don’t be so hard on them.

Then we get to the third picture used. Yep, you guessed it. It is of West Conshohocken and is captioned as “Downtown Conshohocken.”

They are really losing us.

We keep reading.

There are two mentions of Conshohocken not having a Wawa, and how it is discussed is factually wrong. The two mentions read as follows:

And just as defining are the things that are missing from the downtown: a Trader Joe’s, a Starbucks, a Wawa. (The borough council notably quashed the zoning of the latter in 2013 in order to maintain the “small town atmosphere.”)

But unlike some other rapidly gentrifying areas, Conshohocken has largely managed to integrate new development without losing the neighborhood camaraderie longtime residents cherish — a fact often credited to mindful planning by local officials (see: squashing that Wawa) and input from the involved community (on display during monthly borough meetings).

As many of the things mentioned in the Philadelphia magazine article involve the Conshohocken zip code, and not solely the Borough of Conshohocken, it must be noted that there are two Wawa’s in the 19428. There is also a Starbucks. Trader Joe’s? Well, there isn’t one, but locals are begging for it.

Secondly, the borough council did not quash the previously proposed Wawa that would have been within the borough. Although the borough council opposed the initial attempt, a change in leadership and the election of some new members resulted in a vote to amend the zoning code to allow a Wawa with gas pumps. It was only after an appeal of this zoning amendment was taken to Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court that it was nixed due to the court finding that the zoning amendment was spot zoning.

FYI, we are available to proofread for accuracy any articles or other media about Conshohocken.