Malls to open this week
Dayton Mall, Mall at Fairfield Commons to have added safeguards.
The Dayton Mall and the Mall at Fairfield Commons will reopen this week, with additional safeguards in place to protect shoppers and employees during the coronavirus pandemic, spokeswomen for both retail shopping destinations announced.
Both malls will open Tuesday and will have identical hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
A release from each mall warned shoppers that the planned reopening dates for individual tenant stores may vary, “so guests are encouraged to call ahead and to follow along on Facebook and Instagram for the most up-to-date information.”
A Red Cross blood drive will be held at the Dayton Mall on Friday from noon to 6 p.m., and the Mall at Fairfield Commons will host its Red Cross Blood Drive on May 27.
Steve Willshaw, general manager of The Greene Town Center, said Tuesday that his retail destination has “a large number of retail tenants that plan to resume in-store operations on Tuesday, following the state’s guidelines.”
“Outdoor” retail centers such as The Greene and Austin Landing have remained open during the pandemic. Many of their restaurants have offered pickup and delivery, and some communications-related tenants remained open throughout the last seven weeks. Restaurants serving carryout and communications stores were deemed “essential businesses” in the state’s shutdown orders.
Kroger limiting meat purchases
At least two of the national grocery chains serving Southwest Ohio are limiting quantities of some meat items that can be purchased per person per trip to their stores.
At Cincinnati-based Kroger, that covers ground beef and fresh pork, but corporate affairs manager Erin Rolfes declined to identify much a person can buy.
feel good about our ability to maintain a broad assortment of meat and seafood for our customers because we purchase protein from a diverse network of suppliers,” Rolfes, who handles the Cincinnati/Dayton region, said via email.
At Costco, fresh poultry is limited along with beef and pork. According to a post on that company’s website, members may purchase three items from each category.
“Costco has implemented limits on certain items to help ensure more members are able to purchase merchan- dise they want and need,” according to the company. “Our buyers and suppliers are working hard to provide essential, high demand merchandise as well as everyday favorites.”
Walmart has opted not to place any limits at this time.
“Meat continues to be in high demand as customers stock up on protein,” the company said. “As we would normally do during periods of high demand, we are working through our supply chain to continually replen- ish items as quickly as possi- ble to help us meet the needs of our customers.”
The need to do that is another result of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic that has altered many aspects of life in the United States and beyond.
Palermo’s opens second location
The owner of Palermo’s Italian restaurant in Kettering is adding a second location.
At Kroger, purchase quantities of some meat items will be limited, but corporate affairs Erin Rolfes declined to identify how much a person can buy.
Randy Fontana, a U.S. Army veteran who bought the 12-year-old Palermo’s Italian restaurant at 2667 S. Dixie Drive in July 2019, said Tuesday he is in the process of purchasing the Palermo’s Italian Restaurant at 6096 West Chester Road in West Chester, which is currently under separate ownership.
“One family, two restaurants,” Fontana told this news outlet. “We are proud to take over the West Chester location as an addition to our Palermo’s family and staff.”
The independent Kettering restaurant was founded in 2008 by Mefail “Meef ” Demnika, who sold it in November 2017. Demnika founded the West Chester Palermo’s restaurant in 2015, and sold it in 2017. He now operates Tuscany’s Grill & Market in Centerville.
DP&L won’t disconnect for nonpayment
Dayton Power & Light has agreed to temporarily forego service disconnections and cease door-to-door solicitations during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the Office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel is taking issue with parts of a new DP&L proposal, saying it fails to focus on protecting consumers during the crisis.
“DP&L’s plan is focused
The owner of Palermo’s Italian restaurant in Kettering is adding a second location in West Chester.
on guaranteeing that any costs it incurs as a result of actions taken during this emergency are ultimately collected from consumers,” the office said in a filing this week with state utility regulators.
Instead, the office is asking that Ohio utilities be required to track any cost savings they have as a result of operations being pulled back during the pandemic — and to offset those savings against any increased costs.
The office is also asking that DP&L reconnect cus- tomers that were cut off 30 days before March 9 due to nonpayment.
A DP&L representative didn’t responded to a request
for comment.
PPP program to end soon
With nearly 59,000 loans approved so far for Ohio businesses in the second and most recent round of the federal Paycheck Protection Program, funding is likely approaching exhaustion in a few days, one bank- ing industry source says.
“We anticipate the sec- ond round of funding to run out later this week, so any small businesses still out there should reach out to their bank as soon as pos- sible,” said J.T. Thurston, a spokesman for the Ohio Bankers League.
Time is of the essence for entrepreneurs who still want the forgivable loans to get through the pandemic, he said.
“Our banks are still work- ing around the clock to process applications, but the funds are finite,” Thurston said.
A total of $22.8 billion, or about 308,000 in loans, have been approved for busi- nesses in the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Great Lakes region, which includes Ohio — more loans than in the PPP’s first round.
For Ohio loan applicants so far in the second round, about nearly 59,000 loans have been approved, for a total of about $4.7 billion.
There have been almost 119,000 approved PPPloans to Ohio businesses for almost $19 billion total, for both rounds, according to the SBA.
Ohio is ranked ninth nation- ally in terms of approved loans, Thurston said.
City Barbeque to open on Miller Lane
T he Co l umbus-based restaurant chain City Bar- beque is planning a new Dayton-area location that would replace one of the region’s Steak ’n Shake restaurants that shut down last year.
According to documents and an artist’s rendering submitted to Butler Twp. officials, the new City Bar- beque restaurant is in the works at 6549 Miller Lane, behind the Speedway con- venience store at the corner of Miller Lane and Benchwood Road.
When Steak ’n Shake shut down its restaurant at that Miller Lane location in March 2019, a spokeswoman for the chain said the closure, and a handful of other Steak ’n Shake closures in the region, were temporary as the chain transitioned from corpo- rate-operated to franchisee-operated restaurants.
But eight months later, in November 2019, the 1.24acre property and build- ing were sold by Steak ’n Shake Inc. to Prime Miller LLC, based in the Cincin- nati area, for $1.2 million, according to Montgomery County property records.
Arrow Wine to open another location
Arrow Wine & Spirits, a Dayton-based and family-owned business that traces its roots to 1934, is poised to open its third southwest Ohio store on May 20.
Mif Frank — who along with his cousin, Beth Freyvogel, is the co-founder of the new store — said the Arrow Wine & Spirits location at 6061 Radio Way in Mason “will provide Ohio’s largest selection of wine, beer and liquor, with price ranges to appeal to all consumers, all at state-minimum pricing.”
At its peak, the new store will employ 20 to 25 fulland part-time employees, Frank said.
“As third-generation owners of Arrow Wine, Beth and I have always wanted to expand, and the Mason/ West Chester area has always been on our radar,” Frank said. “Being a small, family-owned busine s s, we enjoy seeing our employees grow. The new location has enabled us to promote from within, as well as offer employment opportunities to residents of the area.”
Frank, who oversees Arrow’s store on Far Hills Avenue at Dorothy Lane in Kettering, is the grandson of one of the three Frank brothers who founded the company 86 years ago. Freyvogel, who oversees Arrow’s Lyons Road store in Washington Twp., is the granddaughter of one of the founders.
Arrow Wine & Spirits got its start in the Arcade in downtown Dayton in 1934, a year after Prohibition was lifted, when Malcolm, Irving and Sanford Frank launched a liquor delivery service that evolved into Arrow Wine & Spirits.
The young brothers — Malcolm was the oldest, at 23 — combined their $15 in savings and two cars to set up the delivery service. The Frank brothers called their service “Arrow” to assure customers they were fast and accurate. They subsequently moved across the street from the Arcade to 39 S. Ludlow St. to set up their own beer and wine shop.