Ribbon cuttings held for 2 new in Fort Loramie
The Fort Loramie Chamber of Commerce had two ribbon cuttings for local businesses last week as they officially welcomed the Fort Loramie Hardware store and Fort Loramie Brewing Company to the community.
Nate Barhorst, President of the Fort Loramie Chamber of Commerce, spoke briefly before both ribbon cuttings held on Nov. 5 at the respective businesses before the cutting of the ribbon.
Fort Loramie Hardware
“You’ve come a long way and done a great job for the community,” said Barhorst at the ribbon cutting. “Your inventory from day one has grown quite a bit. Pretty remarkable how far you guys have come, I just want to congratulate you on your new home here and best of luck. We're excited to see where this takes you guys.”
Originally located in downtown Fort Loramie, Fort Loramie Hardware owner Steve Berger purchased the hardware store in 2014.
“We went down and asked the (owner) about it, he said, ‘yeah anything’s for sale,’ I went back in and said, ‘are you serious?’ A few weeks later. And he was like, ‘oh you were serious about buying it?’
Berger had owned a sandblasting business and tree trimming service based out of the family’s home in Yorkshire but once his two sons, Brett and Marcus, were older, Berger said they were ready for their next endeavor.
Last August, Berger decided to move to their current location at 101 S. Main Street because they didn’t own the building they were located in downtown. The property came up for sale and it was about a year before the owners decided to sell it.
Linda, Berger’s wife, runs the business during the day when Berger is at his job at Custom Foam Products Inc., also located in Fort Loramie, with Brett and Marcus working there as well to make it a true family business.
“We bought this building and added on to it,” said Berger. “this has more room, we have room out back we can add on to, like for the small
engine repair, if we need to add buildings or anything like that, we can do that. It makes it a whole lot nicer for us.”
“A lot more spacious,” added Berger. “A lot brighter, the building is nicer, more room. Especially for the small engine repair, a lot more room for that. We used to take everything home. We took the big stuff home and the small stuff to the store (downtown), because we couldn’t get anything in the building downtown. Here, we’ve got a place in the back, a basement with a garage we can work on all the small engine stuff so we don’t have to take anything home.”
Berger added that it’s been a lot of fun building the businesses inventory, having the community come in and meeting all of the new customers.
This spring, Berger said he would like to have a grand opening if things calm down with COVID19.
“The community has supported us and we look forward to supporting them with all their hardware needs and hope to add on to the store as much as we can,” said Berger.
Fort Loramie Brewing Company
“It’s amazing to see where this is going, really really cool,” said Barhorst at the ribbon cutting. “Both historical with the history (of the building) and modern. We just want to thank you for restoring this historical structure and bringing this awesome business to Fort Loramie. Congratulations on behalf of the chamber.”
Officially opened in July of this year, the building at 17 N. Main Street in downtown Fort Loramie was originally built in 1919 after the Loramie Banking Company decided they needed a modern and secure building which led to the current building being built.
Many businesses have taken residence there since then and in 2017 the building was purchased with the vision for the Fort Loramie Brewing Company coming to fruition in July of this year.
Fort Loramie Brewing Co. also paid homage to the past, with the sign out front crossing out the letters A, N, K in banking to replace them with R, E, W as the sign now reads Fort Loramie Brewing Co., and they also call themselves the Loramie Brew Bank.
General Manager Terry Booher worked in broadcasting and radio for 36 years and that’s where he met Nick Moeller, co-owner of the Moeller Brew Barn. They started doing a radio show called Tap Talk to promote the Moeller Brew Barn and did that together for about seven years.
Moeller approached Booher in June to ask him if he’d like to manage the business. “When he came to me I had zero experience (restaurant wise) but a lot of managerial experience,” said Booher. “As far as the restaurant business, it’s been a big learning experience. The first 3-4 months we were ordering equipment, I was laying out plans, flying by the seat of my pants. Amazingly, it all came together. Now I just feel like, not that I’ve done it all my life, but I feel much better.”
Booher touched on the challenges of opening a new business during a pandemic, which he said compounded the already monotonous process of getting your ducks in a row that included waiting for the health department as well as securing a liquor license.
They opened in stages, starting with coffee and pastries and being open to 2 p.m. during the week, to then building out the menu by adding breakfast and then lunch items along with longer hours.
“Then the liquor license came and by then everyone had experienced our coffee,” added Booher. “And if you figure if they’ll come here for all these things…”
Although Booher said it wasn’t the plan to build out the menu in stages, he said it ended up working out well for them as they got to the point where they could open but not serve beer. “Why not open on a limited scale?” said Booher of their choice to open. “Opening something new, with all new employees, were all new. I think it was great, we put some training wheels on then got going.”
With a prime location downtown, Booher pointed out that the small communities in the area were all connected by route 66 and many residents commuted back and forth.
Fort Loramie Brewing Co. has 16 taps and brings in beers from local craft breweries in the area as far up as Findley and as far over as Marysville, roughly a 30-40-mile diameter.
They also brew beers of their own, with “Hoppy Herman” debuting on Nov. 4, a Golden IPA with notes of Pineapple and Citrus.
It was named after Herman Bornhorst, a longtime banker at the original bank, another way to pay homage to the history of the building and those that came before them.
“We had a red ale to start with,” said Booher of their first brew. “which was comically called ‘In The Red’ when we just stared. (Bornhorst) was the bank manager back when there was a robbery in 1962. All we know about him is that he was very cantankerous, no one really liked him and he wasn’t east to get a loan from. We thought we’d name a beer in honor of him since he used to be the President of this bank.”
“I’m having a blast,” said Booher, who resides in Celina. “I’m here all the time, I love it. When I was younger, it was like, ‘is it quitting time yet?’ Now, I quit when everything is done. You know you’re enjoying it when you’re not thinking about the clock and just taking care of what needs to be done.”