In 2026, three new businesses opened on Bloomingdale's Main Street at the same address. In its February 26 minutes, the Economic Development Commission listed every new arrival under one heading, Ward's Plaza. That was a comic and card shop that had already opened, plus a café and a yarn shop with a cat lounge that were both still "Coming Soon." By early September all three were open at 142 Main Street. Each one is set up for staying a while. You can trade cards at one, linger over a latte at the next, and pay by the minute to sit with adoptable cats at the third.
Four storefronts at 142 Main Street
The plaza already had at least one other tenant. The same February minutes list Easy to Frame as an open Ward's Plaza business, and a directory puts it in Suite 5. Here's how the address looks now:
| Business | Location at 142 Main St. | When it arrived | What's inside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robbie's Comics & Cards | Unit 4 | Opened January 2026, ribbon cutting March 28 | Comics, vintage sports cards, Pokémon cards |
| The Bumble Bee Café | Suite 3 | "Coming Soon" in February, serving customers by July 2026 | Coffee, iced lattes, pastries, refreshers |
| The Knitty Kitty | 142 Main Street | Welcomed by local leaders around September 2, 2026 | Yarn shop, handmade gifts, cat lounge with adoptable cats |
| Easy to Frame | Suite 5 | Already open as of February 2026 | Framing |
Taken one at a time, each of these is a pleasant small-business story. Together they tell you more. Over nine months, one plaza picked up a place to browse, a place to sit, and a place to spend an hour.
A comic shop that started at conventions
Robbie's Comics came first. NorthJersey.com reported in April that the shop opened in January and held its ribbon cutting on March 28. It belongs to Robert Campitiello, a Riverdale resident who has been collecting comics for more than 15 years and has sold at conventions since 2009. 2026 is the first year he's had his own storefront. According to the article, the store holds thousands of comics, vintage sports cards and Pokémon cards. It also mentions his prize piece, a 1942 Captain America #1 valued at up to $100,000.
The store also buys, which makes it a two-way counter. Robbie's website says the shop buys comic collections, single issues and original comic art. On the trading card side, it buys sports and non-sports cards, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, graded cards, and sealed packs, boxes and cases. Vintage and modern toys and vintage video games and systems are on the list too. So if you have a box of old cards in the basement, you can get it looked at on Main Street now.
Two sources give different weekly hours for the shop, so check its website or call before you make a special trip.
The café that went from "coming soon" to croissants
The Bumble Bee Café shares the plaza with Robbie's and sits in Suite 3. It was still on the EDC's "Coming Soon" list in late February. A customer review dated July 8, 2026, shows it was serving by midsummer. No public announcement gives an exact opening day.
The menu, as customer reviews and photos show it, covers coffee and iced lattes, a hazelnut croissant, brownies and a passion-fruit refresher. One reviewer wrote that the staff made a mini drink. A directory lists the café as open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day of the week. The business hasn't posted those hours itself, so treat them as a starting point.
It matters to the rest of the plaza that a café opened here. A comic shop and a framer are places you visit with a purpose. A coffee counter gives you a reason to stop at 142 Main Street on a weekday morning, before or after an errand you'd have run anyway.
Paying for time with the cats
The Knitty Kitty is the latest arrival and the most unusual one. On New Jersey reported on September 2 that local leaders had welcomed the cat lounge and yarn shop to the borough at 142 Main Street. The business describes itself as a cat lounge with adoptable cats, a space for fiber artists, and a handmade gift and yarn shop. Every adoption comes with a crocheted plushie that looks like the cat.
At most Main Street shops you pay for something you take home. Here you pay for time:
- Lounge visits. A 20-minute visit costs $12 and a 50-minute visit costs $20.
- Crafters Club memberships. The evening membership costs $90 every three months. It includes one members-only two-hour meeting each month, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., held in the cat lounge. Members get simple help from a teacher and can use donated fiber art materials for free. A daytime version meets from noon to 2 p.m.
- Adoptions. At least some of the lounge's cats come from Wildflowers TNR, a group that does trap-neuter-return work to reduce cat overpopulation. A Wildflowers listing on Petfinder for a cat named Garden told potential adopters to schedule a visit at The Knitty Kitty in Bloomingdale.
The lounge's website doesn't list hours yet, and the only third-party listing contradicts itself. The shop's Instagram and Facebook pages, linked from its site, are the most reliable way to plan a visit.
What the borough is planning around these storefronts
The Economic Development Commission's 2026 minutes show the borough working on the same goal from its side, which is giving people reasons to spend time and money on Main Street. Several of these plans are still in progress:
- Bites of Bloomingdale. In February, the EDC talked through this video series with Giancarlo Di Lonardo, director of the Passaic County Division of Economic Development, as a way to promote the town's restaurants to residents and beyond. By the July 23 meeting, eight more businesses were still waiting for their videos.
- The Golden Ticket. This is a shop-local passport planned around QR codes at participating businesses. A scan might win an instant prize, and scans that don't win would still count toward a grand-prize entry. As of July, the committee was still working out prize counts, registration and how to recruit businesses. No dates or list of participating businesses has been published.
- Ribbon cuttings. In July, the EDC had requests out to hold ribbon cuttings for both the café and The Knitty Kitty.
- Movie nights. The July minutes also floated movie nights, possibly around Halloween and possibly with food vendors.
That fourth idea is now on the calendar.
The rest of October, and one date in December
The borough's public events page lists a short fall schedule.
- Tonight, Saturday, October 10. Movie on Main Street runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at Sloan Park.
- Saturday, October 17. Paper shredding starts at 8 a.m. in the Senior Center parking lot.
- Saturday, October 24. The Dog Costume Parade starts at 6 p.m. at Bogue Pond.
- Saturday, December 12. The Holiday Stroll runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Sloan Park.
The EDC has also been planning the Holiday Stroll. Its July notes mention food trucks, a volunteer coordinating non-food vendors, outreach to the library, asking the fire department whether it wants to give rides again, and finding a Santa. The borough asks anyone with questions about these events to email the clerk's office at [email protected]. It also posts updated flyers on its social media pages as each date gets closer.
The Holiday Stroll is the date to keep an eye on for Ward's Plaza. If the Golden Ticket passport launches by December, this will be the first big Main Street event since all three new businesses opened.
Do you own a Bloomingdale home near Main Street and wonder how this year's new storefronts might fit into a future sale? The Only Orly Group has followed this corridor for decades and would be glad to walk you through what buyers are asking about right now. Schedule a Free Consultation.
