Oxford business change-up: Mile Square sees closures and openings in 2016

By Kirby Davis, For The Miami Student

Businesses come and go quickly in a college town, and 2016 is off to a busy start for Oxford establishments.

Dakota's Steakhouse and coffee and alcohol shop Main Street Gourmet both closed recently, while a coffee shop, Mezzanine Coffee Lounge, just started brewing.

The steady rotation of businesses is a continuation of a typical pattern in Oxford. Alan Kyger, Director of Economic Development for the city, said nine Oxford businesses closed for good in 2015, but nine opened as well. From 2009 to 2015, 59 closed but 81 either opened or expanded.

More is on the way for this year ---- a Goodwill is set to open on Locust Street, a restaurant on Walnut Street and a karaoke bar on South Poplar Street that will have four or five rentable rooms where guests can participate in traditional karaoke.

[media-credit name="Photo by Jennifer Mills" align="aligncenter" width="900"][/media-credit]

Miami University senior Jacob Rasmussen recently opened Mezzanine, taking advantage of the rarely used dining room above Kona Bistro.

"It's a quiet, self-contained place to get work done," Rasmussen said. "It's a clean environment ... it's more private [than Kofenya or Starbucks]."

Mezzanine's menu offers typical coffee and lattes along with an array of spiked drinks like "cider spikes" and "chokahlattes." Rasmussen said business has exceeded his expectations so far, and he hopes to continue this success.

"Down the road, I'm really interested in finding out what our guests want from a coffee shop space and how we can turn this into that,"Rasmussen said.

However, even successful businesses don't always stay open.

Chris Hensey, who worked at Main Street Gourmet prior to owning it for 16 years, was a prominent figure in Oxford who took pride in backing local philanthropic efforts such as the Miami University Performing Arts Series' annual wine-tasting fundraiser. But Hensey felt it was time to close the store after moving half an hour away.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

"I so enjoyed being part of the Oxford community for over 30 years," Hensey said, "First as a Miami student and then a business owner."

Hensey hopes to have a sale in the near future with some of his leftover stock.

With Miami's Oxford campus population of nearly 18,500 not far behind Oxford's residential 21,723 (according to a 2010 census), almost all of the city's businesses rely heavily on Miami students as customers. Many Oxford businesses, like Kofenya and Bagel & Deli, were also founded by Miami alumni.

Kyger keeps track of all of the city's shop openings, closings, relocations and expansions, and agrees that students play a large role in Oxford businesses.

"Miami students have a huge factor in our local business economy," Kyger said. "There are a few businesses in town that don't rely on student trade, but most everything relies on student trade of some sort."

While Oxford does offer a variety of chains like Chipotle and Skyline, Kyger also thinks that smaller, family-owned "mom-and-pop" stores give the town character.

"National chains bring something to the table, but the 'mom-and-pops' create the uniqueness," Kyger said. "The national chains bring the brand awareness, but the 'mom-and-pops' are what make your community different from another community."

But being local didn't save Dakota's, which had to close up shop due to insufficent sales.

Clothing stores don't get turned over as much as restaurants in Oxford, and the recent business closings in town don't concern Seaview Outfitters owner Steve Thomas.

"We love what we do," Thomas said. "That's what's driving why we're here, there's a great camaraderie among Uptown business owners."

Many stores and restaurants are heavily concentrated on the first few blocks of High Street, and Kyger thinks that's where businesses can be the most successful.

"If I could do anything I'd like to make High Street bigger," Kyger said. "Every week I turn down people who want to open businesses in Uptown Oxford, but there's just no locations to open."