Shoppe Smitten to open second location in Oakwood
The shops along Oakwood’s Far Hills Avenue are expanding with a boutique that’s no stranger to local fashionistas.
Shoppe Smitten will open at 2316 Far Hills Ave. in Oakwood in the former space of The Flower Shoppe, which recently located down the street. An opening date hasn’t been set, though the boutique is expected to be ready by early April.
Shoppe Smitten, owned by Leslie Moss of Centerville, opened in Springboro in 2015 at 205 S. Main St. The female-focused boutique offers quality clothing, jewelry, gifts, home items, accessories and more.
In fall 2020, the boutique expanded and opened Smitten Home directly across the street from its original location. The secondary shop focuses on goods for the home.
Fans of the Springboro location can expect the same selection of goods in the Oakwood shop, Moss said. The only difference, Moss said, is there will be more display room and more space to shop.
Joining Moss in her new Oakwood space is Ordinarie Fare, a Dayton-based online business that sells “plant-forward foods for mindful delight.” The business will occupy a small portion of Shoppe Smitten.
Hayner Distilling releases new rye whiskey
Hayner Distilling, located at 619 Lincoln Ave., released Hayner Original 6 Year Rye Whiskey Saturday. This is the distillery’s third release since Hayner Bourbon was released in June last year and Hayner Rye was released in October.
On Saturday, the first 1,000 Hayner Original Rye went on sale. Bottle number one was donated to the Hayner Whiskey Museum inside the Hayner-Cultural Center, “but all other bottles will be sold in numerical order,” according to the distillery.
The Hayner Rye released in October was a blend of four and six year rye barrels. It recently won the Double Gold medal award, the highest honor, at the prestigious John Barleycorn Spirits Competition in New York.
Hayner Original Rye is the first offering in Hayner’s annual Vintage Series, according to a release from the distillery. The Vintage Series features antique Hayner whiskey labels from 1866-1920. This year’s label is a recreation of a Hayner label from 1910.
The original Hayner Distilling Co. was founded in Troy in 1866 by Lewis Hayner. With the help of several family members, the company expanded to Springfield and Dayton. In the decades that followed, the distillery evolved into a “nationally recognized and enormously profitable mail-order whiskey business,” according to the website of the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center, which includes the Hayner Distillery Museum. Prohibition delivered the death blow to the distillery in 1920.
New dog supply business opens downtown
EmBARK Dayton Dog Supply opened Saturday at 33 South St. Clair St., about mid-row in the shops at St. Clair Lofts in the Fire Blocks District in downtown Dayton.
The dog boutique is a joint partnership between the husband-and-wife team of Ben and Nicole Miller, both longtime Dayton residents. The Millers have always been dog lovers, but it was during the first lockdowns of COVID when the couple was stuck in the house.
In turn, Nicole began designing and selling dog bandanas on the online retailer website, Etsy, then eventually started selling products at markets around the Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati area. The brand’s following has been growing ever since.
In addition to bandanas, the boutique’s biggest focus is custom leashes.
The shop offers other products like collars, grooming supplies and accessories. An interactive build-your-own-leash “workshop” will also be a unique and central feature in the boutique.
With the opening of their first brick and mortar, EmBARK is also expanding into dog food. Non-raw food options for all dog diets will also be available. In the future, the boutique plans to carry basics for other pets, including cats.
For more information, visit the Embark Dayton Facebook page.
Connor Group completes $3B in acquisitions
Miami Twp. real estate investment company The Connor Group is hailing what it says has been another record-breaking year.
Besting its previous annual record for transactional volume, the company completed nearly $3 billion in acquisitions, dispositions and refinances, more than doubling a previous record.
The business owns and operates apartment complexes around country,
“Our people continue to do an amazing job; they’re relentless,” company founder and managing partner Larry Connor said in a release Thursday. “It doesn’t matter what kind of market you’re in, what kind of outside obstacles you face —whether it’s a pandemic or something else — if you have the right people, anything is possible.”
The Connor Group ended 2021 by closing more than $1 billion in transactions in the 30-day period between late November and late December, including the $279 million sale of West Village in Durham, N.C., the largest transaction in the firm’s 30-year history.
That West Village deal brought the year’s transactional volume to $2.955 billion. The company’s previous record was $1.38 billion, set in 2016, the Connor Group said.
The company also broke ground on an addition to its Miami Twp. headquarters and hangar on the grounds of Wright Brothers Airport off Ohio 741.
As well, the business’ non-profit arm, The Connor Group Kids and Community Partners, also recently started site development on The Greater Dayton School, Ohio’s first private secular elementary school exclusively for under-resourced students.
Warehouse sells near UD Arena
A commercial office and warehouse property near the University of Dayton Arena just sold for more than $2 million, local property records show.
Dayton J3 LLC bought the property at 2300 Edwin C. Moses Blvd. for $2,025,000 from Arena Business Center LLC, in a transaction that Montgomery County records date as Monday.
The 74,592-square-foot building is less than a mile from the arena, just west of Interstate 75.
Dayton J3, with the help of by Lebanon attorney Martin Hubbell, filed incorporation papers with the state of Ohio in September 2021. Dayton J3’s tax mailing address matches Hubbell’s business address in Lebanon.
A message seeking comment was left for Hubbell.
Imhoff to retire as CEO at Air Force Museum Foundation
Michael Imhoff plans to retire from the Air Force Museum’s fundraising arm at the end of the month.
Imhoff served as chief executive for the Air Force Museum Foundation since 2014, a tenure that included the planning and opening of the fourth building of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
“We are grateful for Mike’s dedication, passion and superior leadership and for the strong business relationship he has established between the foundation and the museum,” Pam Drew, chair, Air Force Museum Foundation board of trustees, said in a statement.
“It has been my great honor and privilege to serve as CEO of the Air Force Museum Foundation,” Imhoff said. “I want to offer my sincere thanks to our employees, board and donors around the world whose commitment and generosity enabled us to achieve so much.”
The foundation’s goal is to find a successor with the “vision to continue making the museum a place that inspires and amazes,” the foundation said. Inquiries may be made at hiring@afmuseum. com or here at the job opportunities page.
Metalworking company moving to Vandalia
A family-owned metalworking tool, equipment and accessory product company is moving to a new Stop Eight Road location.
Fort Collins, Colo.-based Forney Industries said Monday it has moved its distribution facility from Tipp City to Vandalia.
This move “will double the current size of our former warehouse to 80,000 square feet to better handle the needs of customers,” Forney said in a release. “In addition to the increased size of this new facility, Forney will also be implementing state-ofthe-art technologies to ensure that all orders are processed in a timely, efficient and accurate manner.”
Forney Industries plans an open house early this year at the new location, 3435 Stop Eight Road.
The company says it was founded in 1932 and introduced the first publicly available arc welder in the 1940s. Today, Forney offers metalworking products in four categories: welding, abrasives, personal protective equipment and shop tools.
AES Ohio CEO testifies
Dayton-area electric utility AES Ohio has been in a “very fragile” financial condition and its planned “smart grid” investments are an important part of the company’s future, the utility’s chief executive testified Tuesday in a hearing before state regulators.
Kristina Lund, AES Ohio CEO and president since October 2020, was the first witness of the day as the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) weighs an AES Ohio application to raise its electric distribution rates. The hearing is set to continue through Feb. 4.
“As it has been well documented in many cases in front of the PUCO, DP&L/AES Ohio has had a very fragile financial condition for a long time,” Lund testified on cross-examination by an attorney for the Ohio Manufacturers Association Energy Group. “We worked very hard for a long time to get our company on the right track financially, and our smart grid investments are a component of that.”
Dayton Power & Light rebranded to AES Ohio in early 2021.
DP&L’s plan to build “smart grid” technology in the Dayton area would entail spending up to $267 million in capital investments in the project’s first phase, the company has said.
Such a grid would help the utility respond to power outages faster and connect to customers more precisely, leaders have also said.
The smart grid investments are not immediately part of this rate case. The PUCO approved those plans in June 2021.
If the company does not have enough cash, there could be “risks to reliability” in delivery of power, the CEO warned.
The rate increase originally sought by AES Ohio/DP&L would have amounted to a 14.3% increase in customer bills.
But PUCO staff has recommended reducing the annual revenue requested by the utility by nearly half — from $120.7 million to a range between $61.1 million and $66.6 million.
If the commission passes what PUCO staff has recommended, a customer using 750 kilowatt-hours a month would see a 5.47% increase in their bill.
However, PUCO members are free to vote as they see fit, regardless of their staff recommendation.
Ohio restaurants continue to face headwinds
Ohio restaurants are continuing to face headwinds amid the current surge in the COVID pandemic.
In Ohio, 90% of restaurants experienced a decline in customer demand for indoor on-premises dining in recent weeks, as a result of the increase in coronavirus cases due to the omicron variant, according to a new report by the Ohio Restaurant Association.
The association said in recent weeks:
■ 57% reduced hours of operation on days they are open;
■ 34% closed on days they would normally be open;
■ 18% reduced seating capacity;
■ and 9% changed to only offering off-premise dining for a period of time.
John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant Association, said a survey of Ohio operators shows the omicron variant led to a rapid deterioration in restaurant business conditions in late December and so far in January.
Emily Mendenhall, owner and general manager of Lily’s Dayton in the Oregon District, has been working on table tents to be placed on the restaurant tables, with information on what people can do to help local restaurants during this time.
With big challenges to morale, she said one key step customers can take is to treat restaurant employees well, and to take time to post positive reviews for favorite local places.
“Those kind words go a long way, both in helping bring in other customers, but also in helping the people working in these places feel seen and feel appreciated, when they have maybe not felt great for an extended period of time,” Mendenhall said.
Kettering Health purchases Kettering property
Kettering Health has purchased a stretch of land for $800,000, near the intersection of East Dorothy Lane and Oakmont Avenue.
Montgomery County recorded the sale on Jan. 19.
A spokeswoman for the health network said they have no plans at this time for the property, which is in the city of Kettering.
The seller is listed in county records as Wagner-Wood Company.
The property is about a half mile from the Wilmington Pike and Dorothy Lane intersection and about three miles from Kettering Health Main Campus.