“We don’t want people to think this is just the old mall trying to make a comeback — Piqua Center and The Social are a completely new experience for the Miami Valley," said Helga Leap, operations and sales manager.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
From a mall to a multi-use facility
The Miami Valley Centre Mall originally opened in 1988 introducing the area to several local and national retail stores.
In 2018, Elder-Beerman closed following the bankruptcy of its parent company. About six months later, Sears closed as part of a nationwide reduction plan.
“This mall was thriving way back when,” Leap said. “There used to be all kinds of food, vendors that kind of just went away when Amazon came around. People weren’t shopping in stores anymore.”
The 523,000-square-foot mall, located at 987 E. Ash St., was purchased in 2023 by RCS Construction and Brait Capital.
The mall has since been transformed into a multi-use facility with approximately 86,000 square feet of space dedicated entertainment and dining and 192,000 square feet for retail and boutique space. The remainder of the space is being used for warehousing and e-commerce.
“The main goal of Piqua Center is to make it a community driven facility where families and friends can come together and build memories,” said Helga Leap, operations and sales manager. “(It’s) a safe place for parents to bring their children.”
Current tenants include Glassco, Piqua Hardware & Retails, Hero Day, Smile Back Training Center and The Window Guy & Co.
Longtime tenants such as Dunham’s, Buckle and Elegant Nails remain open.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The owners have spent around $4 million transforming the facility, Leap said.
“There’s nothing like it within 40 miles and it’s something that’s needed in this area,” Leap said. “Kids really have nothing to do. They used to come to an empty mall and walk around, but now they can come to a mall full of things for them to do.”
A destination for entertainment and food
The newest entertainment option is The Social Arcade, a state-of-the-art redemption arcade with 49 games.
The Social also features Hero Day, an indoor amusement park with ninja courses, inflatables, jump platforms, obstacles and more.
A section of the tables within The Social feature checkers and backgammon boards. There’s also an area for cornhole and giant Connect Four.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“There’s something for everyone to do,” Leap said. “Kids can go into Hero Day. They can go into the arcade. Moms and dads can sit at the bar and have a drink.”
The full-service bar with 40 seats focuses on fresh-squeezed drinks, Leap said. It has a wide selection of vodka, tequila, rum, whiskey, bourbon, scotch and gin.
The bar also offers beer, wine and cocktails such as the Ash Street Mule or Fort Fire Sour.
As for food, The Social has six vendors that have signed a one-year lease with the option to renew.
Here’s what to expect:
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Jessica Ellis, who owns The Fruity Smoothie Cafe with her husband, Johnathon, said she grew up in West Milton and came to the Miami Valley Centre Mall as a kid. She wanted to be a part of bringing the mall back to life.
“I actually wanted to get in here for a very, very long time,” Ellis said. “About six months into purchasing The Fruity Smoothie in Beavercreek, we kind of ventured out to see where we could put a second one.”
The couple purchased Fruit for All Seasons at the Mall at Fairfield Commons about three years ago and rebranded to The Fruity Smoothie Cafe.
“We had went and bought Fruit for All Seasons because I really wanted to get out of my nine to five job and start doing something cool and unique,” Ellis said. “We started seeking out businesses for sale and it just felt right when we came across Fruit for All Seasons.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The Fruity Smoothie Cafe wants to be a “healthy alternative” for those visiting The Social.
Customers can expect a variety of smoothies, juices and refreshers.
“Our smoothies don’t have nearly as much sugar as most places that have smoothies,” Ellis said. “We use mostly real fruit.”
Favorites smoothies on the menu include the strawberry banana, strawberry kiwi and peanut butter banana chocolate protein.
As for refreshers, Ellis recommends:
- Renew (strawberry and acai)
- Revive: Starfruit, passion fruit and mango)
Popping pearls can be added to any drink.
The Fruity Smoothie Cafe plans to add shaved ice and coffee to its menu.
Chris and Heather Kelly opened The Top Hat Sports Grill at 11970 W. U.S. Route 36 in St. Paris in May 2024.
They didn’t have much experience operating a restaurant, but Chris Kelly enjoyed cooking and Heather Kelly had previously been a server.
The St. Paris restaurant is now known for its pizza, burgers and wings.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“We graduated from Piqua in 2005, so we figured we would bring some of our stuff back to this community,” said Chris Kelly.
At the Piqua Center, Top Hat Pizza & More will offer a limited menu.
Customers can expect all of the restaurant’s pizzas including favorites like the BBQ Pulled Pork or Chicken, Chicken Bacon Ranch and Pickle.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Other items on the menu include all of the restaurant’s appetizers such as fried banana peppers, fried ravioli and pretzel bites. Sandwiches include the house breaded pork tenderloin, Philly cheesesteak, and chicken bacon ranch. A chicken tender basket is also available.
“We’re just excited to have another location and be back in our hometown where we both grew up and graduated from” Heather Kelly said.
Before operating a catering company and bistro in Indiana, the Livingston Family were farmers.
“We were doing produce farming,” said Keegan Livingston, who helps operate his family’s businesses. “People loved what we were doing, but didn’t cook for themselves, so they wanted us to cook for them.”
In 2017, the family switched from farming to catering and became known for their pizzas.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The Livingston Family went on to open Roots Bistro in Richmond, Ind. and now Roots Burgers & Fries in Piqua.
Roots Burgers & Fries is a restaurant concept featuring 10 craft burgers. Favorites include:
- All American (8 oz. beef patty, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and Roots Burger sauce)
- Steakhouse (8 oz. beef patty, smoked gouda, bacon, sauteed onions and shrooms, sour cream and A1 sauce)
“We love burgers,” Livingston said. “We eat them as a family multiple times a week.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
In addition to the beef patty, Roots Burgers & Fries offers a signature patty that is a 60/40 blend of beef and sausage.
“The must-try for me is anything that has our signature patties on it,” Livingston said. “I think it makes it really juicy and taste better in my opinion.”
As for the sides, the restaurant offers hand-cut herb and parm fries that are fried in lard, sweet potato fries and apple bacon coleslaw.
Columbus native Noel Lopez worked at a sit-down hibachi restaurant before opening a food truck with his cousin in 2017.
He now operates Hibachi Run inside The Social at Piqua Center.
“I think it was a really good fit for this spot,” Lopez said. “I like this environment. It’s really nice.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Customers at the Piqua location can expect fresh off the grill hibachi served with fried rice, onions, zucchini and mushrooms. Proteins include steak, shrimp or chicken. All plates come with two yum yum sauces.
The steak and shrimp combo is a favorite among customers.
Almost two years ago, they opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant in New Albany. This was followed by a second location in Brunswick earlier this year.
Tim Denning, the owner of Sourmugs Tavern in West Milton, has opened a second location at The Social.
“We were doing well over in West Milton,” Denning said. “I was looking to expand, but without investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into another brick-and-mortar location.”
Sourmugs Wings & BBQ offers a limited menu compared to its tavern at 101 N. Miami St.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Customers in Piqua can expect the restaurant’s wings, chunks, fried portobello mushrooms and hot pepper cheeseballs, in addition to smoked brisket, pulled pork, sausage and turkey.
“The smoked items are available only at this location,” Denning said. “The wings, chunks, mushrooms and things like that overlap, but a lot of the stuff here is unique to this location.”
Sides on the menu include crinkle fries, sidewinder fries, mac and cheese, collard greens, baked beans and more.
Denning sources much of his food from King Kold Meats in Englewood. All chicken is fresh and not frozen. It’s breaded and cooked to order.
Sourmugs Wings & BBQ makes many of its sauces such as the mild, medium, garlic and buffalo.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“A lot of people mix them together,” Denning said. “We may only have eight or nine sauces, but there’s unlimited combinations.”
At the West Milton location, customers like mixing buffalo with the garlic sauce.
“It has some heat to it, but the sweetness of the garlic kind of takes away a little heat,” Denning said.
Denning purchased Sourmugs Tavern almost six years ago after working in a factory for 13 years. He said he had dreamed of owning his own business.
“The money, the time (and) the investment that they put into this place, I’m proud to be here,” Denning said. “I think this town has just been really, really needing something like this. Somewhere where we can have community events. We can have entertainment and it’s all under one roof.”
Kristi Frazee started baking with her mom about two years ago in St. Paris.
They would bake items such as cheesecakes or cake pops, and sell them at the St. Paris or New Carlisle Farmers Markets.
Customers can expect gourmet cookies, cookie cakes and pretzels bites.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“We actually have about 30 different (cookie) flavors from being at the farmers market that we will rotate through,” Frazee said.
Examples of cookies include:
- Funfetti Sugar Cookie (vanilla chips with funfetti sprinkles)
- Strawberry Shortcake (golden Oreos, freeze dried strawberries and vanilla chips)
- Dad Bod (malt, chocolate and peanut butter chips and pretzels)
Baken Me Happy’s top seller is the chocolate chip cookie. It has a mixture of semi-sweet chunks and dark and milk chocolate chips in it.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
For those trying Baken Me Happy for the first time, Frazee recommends the Snickerdoodle Sammy. It features two snickerdoodle cookies stuffed with a homemade buttercream. The buttercream has a vanilla bean paste in it that Frazee’s mom makes from scratch.
Frazee said they are planning on adding two to three varieties of cheesecake each day, in addition to cake slices or cake cups.
Baken Me Happy is looking forward to getting community feedback.
“We love baking,” Frazee said. “I love trying new things, so I already had three or four different suggestions on things to add together and incorporate into cookies.”
What’s next?
The owners of the Piqua Center have plans to turn a 27,000-square-foot space between Sourmugs Wings & BBQ and Hibachi Run into an entertainment area with putt-putt, duckpin bowling and other activities such as billiards and darts.
“This is gonna be the place to go,” Leap said.
They’re also planning to build apartments in the front of the facility. Over the next five years, they hope to have around 150 units, Leap said.
The former space of American Freight is expected to be turned into multiple storefronts.
The Piqua Center is about 75 percent filled with Dunham’s as its anchor. The facility has several holiday vendors open within the space.
Leap said they are looking for additional vendors such as an ice cream and candy store, barbershop, salon and a variety of boutiques .
“I just want everybody to know it’s a family friendly environment,” Leap said. “Everyone’s welcome and just stay with us because there’s more to come.”
MORE DETAILS
The food hall is open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon-8 p.m. Sunday.
The bar within the food hall is open 4-10 p.m. Monday through-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon-8 p.m. Sunday.
The arcade is open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon-8 pm. Sunday. Anyone under 21 must be accompanied by an adult 9-11 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Hero Day is open 4-8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, noon-9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday.
For more information about The Piqua Center, visit piquacenter.com or the venue’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@piquacenter).
Details about The Social are available at piquasocial.com or the food hall’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@piquasocial).
Natalie Jones writes about food and dining in Southwest Ohio with an emphasis on the Dayton region. She may be reached at natalie.jones@coxinc.com.
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