Worcester Telegram
October 2024
A pretzel franchise with roots in Philadelphia is looking to open a store at the former Grafton Street location of Wholly Cannoli.
Philly Pretzel Factory, a Pennsylvania-headquartered franchise, is eyeing the modestly sized building at 490 Grafton St., according to Madison O’Brien, an associate for Kelleher & Sadowsky, who marketed the building for owners CSE Real Estate LLC.
The location was home for 24 years to family business Wholly Cannoli, which pumped out the last of its cannoli in July, when the owners closed for good to retire.
The shop was best known for its “dynamite stick” cannoli — a caramel-and-chocolate-covered crunch shell packed with the shop’s signature filling.
The vacant building shares a lot with a CVS Pharmacy and a TD Bank branch.
Philly Pretzel Factory has locations across Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, according to its website.
The Worcester location would be the second in Massachusetts. There is one in Revere.
Attempts to reach the franchise were not immediately successful.
The franchise was founded in the late 1990s by two Philadelphia friends who reconnected after college to trade their 9-to-5 jobs for pretzel making, according to its website.
Their first shop opened its doors in 1998 in Philadelphia’s popular Fishtown area, pumping out pretzels from a machine they had hauled up to Pennsylvania from Florida using their savings, according to their website.
MADISON O'BRIEN
