The day before Bobby Chez opened its doors on Berlin-Cross Keys Road, the family was still finishing the space. Dominic, his wife Maria, their daughter Alyssa, and their son Dominic were moving between tasks, and Mama Maria was up on a ladder cleaning the front windows herself. Working together were Dominic, his wife Maria, daughter Alyssa, and son Dominic, and Mama Maria was up high on a ladder cleaning the front windows herself. It is a small detail, but it says something about what has been happening along this stretch of road all year. This is not a corporate rollout. It is a family business expanding into a third location, choosing Sicklerville over anywhere else.
If you live off Cross Keys Road, you already know the corridor as the place you go for a Lowe's run, a Tractor Supply trip, or a CarMax visit. What you may not have clocked yet is that the same half-mile has quietly turned into the busiest new-restaurant strip in Gloucester Township, and the pace picked up specifically this summer.
Three moves in three months
Look at just the last ninety days and the pattern is hard to miss:
- Bobby Chez Famous Crabcakes opened June 11 at 673 Berlin-Cross Keys Road, in the former Matteo's Pasta storefront inside the shopping center anchored by Wine Warehouse. The new restaurant officially opened its doors on Thursday, June 11, at 11 a.m. and is located on Berlin-Cross Keys Road at Johnson Road, in the shopping center that is home to Wine Warehouse, which also features Tractor Supply, Jersey Goat and Friendly's. The storefront had sat as Matteo's Pasta until the family that ran it retired last fall. The Bobby Chez storefront was previously occupied by Matteo's Pasta after the Matteo family retired from the business last fall.
- Banjara Indian Bistro has been finishing out a space at 689 Berlin-Cross Keys Road, across from Royal Farms, with a July opening targeted once inspections wrapped. A new destination for authentic Indian cuisine is coming to Sicklerville as Banjara Indian Bistro prepares to open on Berlin-Cross Keys Road, with signage now installed and ownership saying they are ready to open.
- Chick-fil-A on Cross Keys Road reopened July 2 after a four-month closure for an expansion built around drive-thru speed and kitchen capacity. After being closed for a little more than four months, the Chick-fil-A on Cross Keys Road in Sicklerville officially reopened on Thursday, July 2, unveiling an expanded restaurant designed to significantly improve drive-thru efficiency and increase kitchen capacity.
Three separate operators, three separate timelines, all landing on the same road inside one summer. That is not background noise. That is a corridor changing what it is for.
A crab cake counter with three locations and a family still doing the cleanup
Bobby Chez did not start big. It has grown into a name people around here already trust, with locations in Collingswood and Cherry Hill before Sicklerville, and the crab cakes are the reason people keep coming back. Bobby Chez Famous Crabcakes, known throughout South Jersey and the Philadelphia region for its award-winning jumbo lump crabcakes and fresh seafood specialties, is now open in Sicklerville, New Jersey. What stands out about the Sicklerville build-out is how hands-on it stayed even at three locations. Despite growing to three locations, including restaurants in Collingswood and Cherry Hill, the business remains very much hands-on and family-driven. The new space keeps the glass display cases from the old location and leans into a Jersey Shore feel with weathered wood paneling. The family has done an excellent job refreshing the space, creating a bright and welcoming atmosphere with a subtle Jersey Shore-inspired feel, with the counter area redesigned and familiar glass display cases brought over from the previous location. If you drive that stretch for the big-box stores anyway, it is now also a stop for crab cakes made by people who still show up to clean their own windows.
The name means nomad
Banjara's arrival has a longer backstory than a single storefront. The Chopra family opened the original Banjara in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood about a decade ago, and it earned strong reviews before eventually closing. Cross Culture in Haddonfield is part of the same family opening Banjara in Sicklerville, and about a decade ago, the family opened the original Banjara Indian Bistro in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood, where it earned outstanding reviews before ultimately closing several years ago. Now the concept is relocating to Sicklerville rather than back into the city. When the Philadelphia location opened, patriarch Manish Chopra explained the name to the Chestnut Hill Local this way:
"We want to reflect various cultures and regions of India in our cuisine."
The choice matters for the corridor's identity, not just its menu. The Berlin-Cross Keys Road corridor has experienced tremendous commercial growth over the past several years, becoming home to an expanding collection of restaurants and retail businesses, yet despite the area's growing dining scene, there are very few Indian restaurants along this busy stretch of roadway. Banjara is filling a specific gap, not adding another version of something already there.
The drive-thru that needed four months
The Chick-fil-A rebuild is a smaller story on its face, but it fits the same pattern of investment rather than turnover. The chain has been running similar projects at other South Jersey locations, closing for months at a time to rebuild kitchens and drive-thru lanes rather than simply patching what exists. The Sicklerville location sits directly in front of Lowe's inside the Target shopping center near the Williamstown-Erial Road intersection, which means the closure and reopening were hard to miss if you drive that corner regularly. The popular Gloucester Township restaurant is located on Cross Keys Road near the Williamstown-Erial Road intersection, directly in front of the Lowe's Home Improvement store within the Target and Lowe's shopping center. The company has run comparable projects at its Mount Laurel and Deptford locations, and in cases where an existing footprint could not support the expansion, it has opted to build entirely new restaurants instead, as with a new Route 70 location in Cherry Hill. Similar renovation projects took place at the Mount Laurel and Deptford locations, where restaurants closed for several months while crews expanded the kitchen and upgraded the drive-thru configuration, and in locations where expansion isn't practical, Chick-fil-A has opted to build entirely new restaurants, including a new Route 70 location in Cherry Hill. A four-month closure for a fast-food remodel is not a small commitment. It is a bet that the volume on this stretch of road justifies the capacity.
Sicklerville as the starting point, not the afterthought
The most telling piece of the corridor's recent history might be Gouldsburger's, and not because of anything happening there right now. The burger and cheesesteak concept started in Haddonfield about three years ago, and the Sicklerville location, run as a franchise by the founder's brother, became the proof point the company used to justify expanding further. The Sicklerville location is owned by Dave's brother, Mike, as a franchise operation, and Gouldsburger's opened about three years ago in Haddonfield and quickly established itself as a top destination for burgers and cheesesteaks. From there, the company is now opening in Marlton, Cinnaminson, Glassboro, and Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Gouldsburger's is also opening new locations in Marlton, Cinnaminson, and Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Sicklerville's reception is part of why. Mike says the reception in Sicklerville has been amazing, fueled by Gouldsburger's strong reputation and local news coverage. That is a different role than most people assign to this corridor. It is not just absorbing chains that already proved themselves elsewhere. In this case, it helped prove one.
Tonight and the rest of the summer
If you are reading this on the day it goes up, Winslow Township's National Night Out starts this evening at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Complex, with the police department hosting vendors, games, and food for the community. National Night Out is coming up on Tuesday, August 4th starting at 6 p.m. at the Winslow Township Municipal Complex, an event where the Winslow Township Police Department is hosting a fun-filled evening with lots of vendors, games, food, and more. Family Day follows on August 22, and the township's Painting in the Park series is continuing alongside it. There's still more to come with the Painting in the Park series and Family Day, which is on August 22nd.
Camden County's free outdoor concert series has also been running at New Brooklyn Park this summer, with performances open to residents at no cost. Camden County's Summer Concert series returned with an incredible lineup, including performances at New Brooklyn Park in Sicklerville, with Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. calling it a staple of a Camden County summer. As the commissioner put it:
"The Summer Concert Series has become a staple of a Camden County summer."
Between the concerts, the township events, and the new stretch of restaurants a few minutes down the road, the late-summer calendar here is fuller than the corridor's reputation would suggest.
What actually changed
None of this required a single new subdivision or a shift in who lives here. A family expanded a crab cake business into a third location. A shuttered Philadelphia restaurant found its way back through a new owner's family in a different state. A fast-food chain decided a remodel was worth four months of lost business. A burger concept used this specific town to prove it could scale. None of those decisions were made by people evaluating Sicklerville from a spreadsheet. They were made by people who looked at this corridor and bet on it directly.
If you have lived here through the CarMax and Tractor Supply years, the last few months are worth a second look. The errands are still there. They are just not the only reason to turn onto Cross Keys Road anymore.
Have questions about what is happening in Sicklerville beyond the storefronts, or curious what any of this means for your own plans in the area? Quandell Iglesia is always glad to talk through it. Let's Connect.
