Winan’s owner on Dayton Mall store closing: “We are still growing, just repositioning”

A retail store that has served customers chocolates, coffee and wine for more than a decade in front of the Dayton Mall shut down permanently this week, its franchise owner confirmed to this news outlet today.

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The final day for Winans Chocolates + Coffees — which sold chocolates, coffee and wine — was Monday, May 21, according to Ben Czajka, the franchisee who oversees the Dayton-area stores for the Piqua-based Winans.

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Czajka said the move represents a consolidation.

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“The lease at the Dayton Mall location — it was a 10 year lease — has been up for over a year now, and we recently, about a year ago, opened (a shop) on Feedwire Road, so that gave us three locations in the Centerville area,” Czajka  said. The third location is on Far Hills Avenue in Washington Twp. just north of Centerville.

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The Feedwire location across from the Cornerstone of Centerville development “is seen as a better location in a growing area with better parking and visibility,” Czajka said. “So we are still growing, just repositioning. All of the employees are still with us;  they either transferred to Far Hills or Feedwire.”

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Laurie Winans Reiser, co-owner of Winans, said the closure was “based on the changing retail climate around the 725/741 corridor.”

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Reiser said Winans “just completed a very successful new store opening in Wapakoneta, our 18th store. And we are excited about our newest store in downtown Columbus and its growth.”

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The chain traces its roots to the late 1800s, and is now under the fourth generation of family ownership of Joe Reiser and Laurie Winans Reiser.

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