A group of Gallery kiosk merchants asked City Council on Thursday to help them stay open, even if that means only until the rest of the mall's businesses are also shut down. The Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns the Gallery and is planning its renovation, forced many businesses there to close February 17. Others operating under ongoing contracts remain open. Irma Lopez, who has owned the Perfect Foto kiosk for 23 years, implored: "Let us stay there until everybody is bought out and everybody is out. We want to feed our family." [Philly.com]
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