Home Care In Merchantville, NJ

MERCHANTVILLE, N.J. (CBS) -- Every October, one New Jersey town goes out all for Halloween, including changing its name.

For the past seven years every Oct. 1st, the tiny borough of Merchantville, New Jersey, officially transforms into the Halloween destination of "Monsterville." The nearly 150-year-old municipality is packed with homes and businesses all decked out in all things frightful, Mayor Ted Brennan said.

"It is like a movie because you should see some of the people that put things on their lawns. We're talking about Hollywood-level type props, and it's impressive," Brennan said.

The month-long celebration of "Monsterville," which now includes a zombie run and pumpkin carving contest, started following a city ordinance to change the name for 31 days and lean into its Halloween-like charm.

The tiny town only measures one square mile wide but come Halloween night, the streets will swell with trick-or-treaters -- about 4,000 -- doubling Monsterville's population instantly.

"We have roughly 3,500 residents and we'll see probably more than that in trick-or-treaters this year," Rebecca Callaway, the director of community development and lifelong resident of Merchantville, said.

"We wiped out Costco, so we have a least five or six of the giant bags that are least 200-300 pieces in them and we always run out," Kathryn Potts, a Monsterville resident, said.

Potts' house is one of nearly two dozen included in the haunts of Monsterville -- a guided tour of some of the most creepy and creative homes.

Potts said the best part of celebrating Halloween at Monsterville is seeing everyone come together.

"Everybody stopping by and looking at the decorations and enjoying it and we have a lot of people that are always commenting it's a good talking point and I get to know my neighbors and people driving by, so it's super fun," Potts said.

Alicia Roberts

Emmy-award winning Reporter and Anchor Alicia Roberts joined the CBS News Philadelphia team in December 2020.

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The former Rite Aid storefront at 14 South Centre Street bills itself as ‘the closest adult-use dispensary to Philadelphia,’ and is walkable to many of its employees. Its ribbon-cutting is set for 2 p.m. March 1.

The newest cannabis dispensary in Camden County is also among the first in the region to be situated in a walkable downtown context.

Owners Tom and Jana Murzenski opened the doors to Gynsyng Dispensary in Merchantville last Thursday to little fanfare but steady foot traffic; in fact, most of the 17-member store crew commutes there without the use of a car.

The former Rite Aid at 14 South Centre Street, which had been darkened for a few years, now has new commercial life, and its owners believe that a refresh and repurposing of the space will integrate nicely within the borough business district.

Local leadership believes in that plan as well, with Merchantville Mayor Ted Brennan describing the shop as part of “a critical mass” of service-oriented businesses in the central downtown as recently as 2022.

Its location has historically housed a pharmacy throughout the history of Merchantville; reviving the storefront as a medical and recreational cannabis retailer felt in keeping with that tradition, the Murzenskis said.

The couple hails from Washington Township in Warren County. Tom, a U.S. Army veteran and computer programmer, runs a tech consultancy; Jana is a baby photographer born and raised in Germany.

Their partners are Philadelphia entrepreneur Keith Morgan, who opened a string of Krispy Kremes in the city before acquiring a Pennsylvania cannabis license in 2017, and Haddonfielder Michael Gorman, a principal at Metro Commercial Real Estate.

“It was a disaster when we got here,” Tom Murzenski said; “cedar roofing flaking off, rusty retail displays, asbestos tiles in the floor.”

By comparison, the 5,400-square-feet storefront has been repainted in a calming sage green, offset by a small seating area, mid-century modern product shelving, and flanked by a row of cashier consultants.

Its new operators plan to emphasize Merchantville town history in the shop décor as it evolves; for now, they’ve added pieces of interest from Aradia’s Treasures, their neighbor in the business district.

“Our mottoes are ‘cultivating curiosity’ and ‘where wonder meets wisdom,’” Jana Murzenski said. “It shouldn’t feel sterile, like just a transaction. We want this to feel like you are at home here.”

The couple settled on the name “Gynsyng” while searching for something familiar that would play well on social media, believing it conjures up associations with relaxation.

“We wanted to have an organic feel to the place, like ginseng the root,” Tom Murzenski said.

“It sounds calming, mysterious; it works,” Jana Murzinski added.

Product inventory at Gynsyng includes cannabis flower, vaporizers, concentrates, and edibles, with plans to expand the menu quickly. Tom Murzenski said the couple is excited to be working with new, independent growers who are coming online in the nascent New Jersey cannabis industry.

“We’re super-thrilled to be embedded in the fabric of the town,” Tom Murzenski said. “We want to be able to sustain the business; we want to provide jobs.”

General Manager Samantha Quinlan wants Gynsyng to be a welcoming space for customers of all kinds.

Her staff boast both personal and professional experience with the cannabis industry, and are happy to share their knowledge, she said.

“We want to serve the community,” Quinlan said. “We try to offer education and friendliness with staff. People who work here want to be in this business.”

The dispensary offers discounts for first-timers and veterans, and a points system whereby customers earn store credits for every $100 spent.

Gynsyng is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 12 noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. The business was cash-only at opening, with an onsite ATM and digital commerce activations to follow.

The gourmet chicken wing takeout kitchen founded by Rashaan and Marlene Taylor of Cherry Hill officially welcomes patrons with a grand opening Sunday at noon.

Inside the gleaming interior of his brand new kitchen, Rashaan Taylor is about an hour away from cutting the ribbon on the latest eatery to open in Merchantville.

At his prep station, Taylor is mixing up the ingredients for the first batches of wings to be sold from the takeout window beneath the sign with his name on it.

After the better part of three years, a global pandemic, and the work of four or five contractors, the look of the kitchen at Taylor Wings finally matches the vision of the chef within it.

“It took a while,” Taylor said. “It was a lot of work.

“I’d be lying to you if I told you at times I didn’t get discouraged, I didn’t get frustrated, I didn’t know this was going to work,” he said. “I stayed true to my dreams; I persevered.”

Now Taylor hopes to leverage that perseverance to build a local brand around the flavors he’s been honing since childhood.

“I was always born into the lifestyle of culinary,” he said. “I got my desire to pursue my dreams because numerous people in my family knew how to cook, and that knowledge was passed on to me.”

A native of Queens, Taylor considered himself a wing connoisseur from a young age. In high school, his friends would come over just to see the different sauces he’d whip up. Then they’d ask him to make trays for their parties. Soon enough, a reputation was forged.

“They call me the sauce man.” Taylor said. “I love playing with different types of sauces and experimenting.”

After moving to Cherry Hill, Taylor started helping out a friend’s restaurant, Sicklerville Soul. The experience got him thinking, “I want to start my own thing.”

“I’m adamant about preparing good food for people,” Taylor said; “seeing that excitement in their face.

“I like bringing joy to people, and I like to watch people enjoy what I present them.

“It’s truly my passion.”

Taylor also retained an unshakeable belief in chicken wings as a bulletproof food concept.

Discerning diners will travel for the right recipe, and debate whose wings are the best across a variety of factors.

“People take pride in what they eat,” Taylor said.

“You’ve got a lot of people trying to find the right spot.

“We feel like we can bring something different to the community that has not yet seen it,” he said.

Whether bone-in, boneless, or in a sandwich, the chicken at Taylor Wings competes on the strength of his sauces. With 17 different varieties, including sweet Buffalo, lemon pepper, honey chipotle, Nashville, garlic butter old bay, garlic parmesan, bang bang, and General Tso, the flavor list is formidable, and growing.

The same recipes also pep up vegan tofu and cauliflower wings. Taylor’s commitment to preventing cross-contamination means he maintains separate fryers for vegan (French fries, tofu, cauliflower) and non-vegan products (chicken wings, breasts, and nuggets).

“I’m on a clean process,” he said.

There’s also a kids menu, featuring mozzarella sticks, vegan chicken nuggets, and regular crispy chicken nuggets, plus homemade JayElla homemade strawberry lemonade, named for the Taylors’ daughters, Jaylyn and Oriella.

For Marlene Taylor, opening the doors in Merchantville is the latest step in building a family business that began around the kitchen table in 2018, and could lay the groundwork for multiple locations in the future.

“We started this in 2018 at our home, and now we’re here,” she said. “It feels amazing. It’s been a long journey.

“We can’t wait to bring good food to the community.”

Taylor Wings is located at 177 South Centre Street in Merchantville, in Trellis Plaza. All orders are takeout only.

Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Extended hours and online ordering will follow.

For more information, call 856-816-1575, visit taylorwings.net, or find them on Instagram and Facebook.

Two local couples with years of restaurant expertise say they’re excited to bring their own touches to a local favorite.

In late July, Blue Monkey Tavern owners Halil and Nadim Gungor announced that they were leaving behind the Merchantville restaurant they’d operated in town since 2004.

For a few hours, their social media channels fielded a flurry of reactions mourning the loss, until a careful edit appeared: “Blue Monkey is NOT closing- just new ownership!”

This week, that new ownership group, comprising friends Remo and Lindsay Croce and Michael and Marci Chapman, all veterans of the South Jersey bar-restaurant scene, reopens the local landmark.

The four longtime hospitality workers are extremely close — Michael and Remo have been best friends since they were five years old, and Marci and Lindsay recently published a children’s book together — and have shared a dream of opening their own establishment for a long time.

“I think most people in the industry have been dreaming about owning their own place,” Remo Croce said. “It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while now.”

Each of the four has not only restaurant experience, but management experience as well, most of it honed with the PJW Restaurant Group.

Marci Chapman is a skilled bartender, and Remo Croce plans to lean on his craft beer expertise to create a tap list that will make the tavern “the best beer bar in South Jersey immediately, and within a month or two, best in the state.”

“We want to build out from the bar,” he said. “We’re always going to have great beer. We inherited a great cocktail program, and I want to keep that going.”

Although the couples hinted that a future rebrand could be in the works as things progress, at the outset, much of the restaurant will remain as it was under the Gungors. As longtime fans of the Blue Monkey, they’re not in a hurry to overhaul the place, but rather want to streamline and improve upon its operation.

Head chef Luis Cortez (formerly of PJ Whelihan’s, The Pour House, and Central Taco) and sous chef Romeo Hernandez (of The Pour House) will add their own touches to a menu built around familiar favorites like house-made burgers and beer mussels.

“Both are great guys, great cooks, great leaders,” Remo Croce said.

“We’re going to have weekly specials from our chef, and months down the line, it’s going to be a mixture of some best-sellers and new stuff.”

“When we started coming in here 10 to 12 years ago, we thought it was such a cool place with untapped potential,” Lindsay Croce said.

“We’re not here to change things that work. We’re looking to change the vibe.”

“Changing the vibe” means some atmospheric differences — expect a livelier soundtrack, and no more need for reservations — as well as later hours and plans to revive the second floor of the building for events. The Chapmans and the Croces are big soccer fans, and plan to open up early to host World Cup matches in the fall.

“We want it to be a place where you can come for Happy Hour and hang with your friends,” Remo Croce said. “We cater to everybody.”

The couples are also eager to join a Merchantville business community that anticipates new restaurant openings from chefs Omega Ellis and William Lin in the coming months

Lindsay Croce, a Haddon Heights graduate, hopes to tie in opportunities to welcome Merchantville high-schoolers who attend classes there. Remo Croce, whose family lives in Merchantville and neighboring Cherry Hill, believes the Blue Monkey will find support from neighborhood regulars as well as newcomers.

“We’re excited,” he said. “We grew up here. We’re big believers in South Jersey, and big believers that we can help make the area more of a destination. We would love to be part of the revitalization of the town.”

The new ownership group also had kind words for their predecessors, who “welcomed us with open arms” during the transition, and will be remembered fondly.

“Halil was tremendous; so was his brother Nadim,” Remo Croce said. “They’ve been nothing but helpful.”

The Blue Monkey Tavern reopens formally Tuesday, August 16, at 2 South Centre Street in Merchantville. Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and closed Monday. For more information, call (856) 661-8008 or visit bluemonkeytavern.com.

Omega Ellis will bring Omega’s to the former specialty grocery shop at the corner of Park and N. Centre Streets in the borough.

Two years after Pete Burgess and Janet Stevens closed down McFarlan’s Market, their corner grocery in Merchantville, one of the key members of their kitchen will be opening her own business in their former location.

Omega’s, the chef-driven American café from Omega Ellis, is slated for a spring or summer 2022 opening at 27 North Centre Street in Merchantville.

Ellis, a Pennsauken resident who spent four years in the McFarlan’s kitchens in both Merchantville and Collingswood, said the full-service restaurant that bears her name will offer American food with a twist.

“[It’s going to be] definitely a different experience from what you’re used to,” she said.

“I want to bring a different experience, an eclectic experience, to Merchantville.”

To Ellis, that means putting her own spin on familiar comfort food dishes for lunch and dinner service. She’s playing her menu close to the vest, but dropped hints about some signature dishes—like seafood macaroni-and-cheese balls and shrimp and grits—and hinted at the possibility of Sunday brunch.

In addition to her experiences at McFarlan’s, Ellis traces her roots in the kitchen to Corinne’s Place in Camden City, a popular soul-food destination, where she began her culinary career at age 14.

“I’m not a stranger to the kitchen,” she said.

Omega’s will feature bar and table seating for about 40 patrons, plus space for a jazz band that Ellis hopes will create some dinner atmosphere on weekends. Details are still emerging, but her father, percussionist Raymond “Beans” Ellis, is on the short list of acts to appear.

“I have a lot of treats on the menu,” she said. “Our stomachs will be very happy, and our ears are going to be very happy. It’s going to be a great experience.”

Stevens, who said she and Burgess are working with Ellis to get the space fitted out as a full-service restaurant, said they’re eager to see what she can bring to the borough dining scene.

“It’s always been a dream for her,” Stevens said. “We just thought the spot lent itself better for a restaurant than anything else, so it’s kind of worked out. We’re excited that we’re able to help her out and get going.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” she said. “We’re hoping to try to get more people downtown.”

Ellis said she knows borough residents will be eager to see the corner storefront activated again, and is hopeful that her efforts can help generate interest and activity in its commercial corridor.

“I am what Merchantville is waiting for,” she said.

“I hope that I can be that trendsetter, and bring some things back to Merchantville, where it will open up for people to want to do this type of thing,” Ellis said.

“There’s room at the table for everybody.”

Stick with NJ Pen for updates.