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Monday, November 30, 2009
DLM wins national Readers Choice Award for Best Gourmet Grocer
Dorothy Lane Market has won the Readers’ Choice Award for Best Gourmet Grocer, officials at Luxist, a luxury goods and lifestyle web site and a division of AOL, announced this morning, Nov. 30.
In online voting, DLM beat out stiff international competition that included Dean & DeLuca’s and Zabar’s in New York City, Harrods Food Hall in London, and Texas-based Whole Foods, which operates 270 grocery stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Luxist editors solicited nominations for the award earlier this year and narrowed the list to five finalists in mid-November.
“I am thrilled, shocked, and appreciative,” said Calvin Mayne, whose family owns the grocer that operates stores in Oakwood, Washington Twp. and Springboro. “I’m proud of the folks at DLM and proud our great community — and thankful to our customers!”
Dorothy Lane Market was up against some very well-known competition for the award, which was national in scope but which also included a competitor in London, England. The other finalists included Zabar’s in New York City, Harrods Food Hall in London, New York-based Dean & DeLuca, and Whole Foods.
Here’s an excerpt from the Luxist news release announcing DLM’s selection:
Dorothy Lane partners with food artisans and others passionate about food. This is evident when browsing its aisles and viewing the impressive selection of gourmet food products from around the world that stock its shelves. They offer an extensive selection of cheese, wine, and chocolate. Its oil selection is impressive, and includes walnut oil from Provence, macadamia oil, and olive oils from all over the world. They feature hard to find premium products in season. In seafood for example, they carry Copper River King Salmon and fresh Alaskan King Red Crab from family co-ops. Produce features golden Aurora apples, long stem artichokes, and jumbo size honeydew melons. The meat department’s products are entirely natural, lifetime free of added hormones and antibiotics. Their meats include well marbled pork, free range chicken, and DLM Natural Beef, which almost always grades out as USDA prime.
Carrie Coolidge, editor of the Luxist Awards, acknowledged that she was surprised DLM captured more online votes than its competition, given the other finalists are “much larger companies with global brands.”
A “smallish, Ohio-based company beating out large, big-city competitors is unusual … (but) DLM deserved to win this award,” Coolidge said. “My team at AOL is impressed with the number of loyal Dorothy Lane Market customers who felt so passionate about the company that they reached out to Luxist in droves.” Mayne said DLM officials haven’t discussed how to celebrate the award, but said the grocer will “look for a way to let customers know we appreciate their loyalty and their support.”
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TweetKettering pizza restaurant closes
The Figaro’s Pizza restaurant that opened in February at 1625 W. Dorothy Lane has closed.
A hand-written sign alerts customers that the restaurant at the northwest corner of South Dixie Drive and West Dorothy Lane in an “out-lot” in front of the Super Wal-Mart store is closed for business. The restaurant’s phone has been disconnected, and the Figaro’s franchise co-owner, Chris Gray of Kettering, could not be reached.
But in an interview in his restaurant in July, about five months after his restaurant opened, Gray acknowledged the Dayton area’s competition for the pizza dining dollar was fierce and growing more intense. A Little Caesar’s pizza restaurant opened nearby soon after his Figaro’s franchise — which was new to the Dayton area — opened in February.
“It’s hard out there right now,” Gray said at the time. “It’s difficult to get people to try a new place.”
Gray, a 1999 graduate of Centerville High School who worked for six years in management for the LaRosa’s pizza chain, said he originally envisioned opening up several other Figaro’s locations around the Dayton area, but acknowledged in July that he was “not even close” to picking out expansion sites.
Figaro’s offered both cooked and take-and-bake pizzas, as well as sandwiches and calzones. When it opened, it employed 18 people.
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