Since last summer, when Kyle Truitt moved his gym into Building F of the Millworks business park, the personal trainer has really ramped up his operations. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
2025 In Review | Business
- Published: February 12, 2026
NEW ARRIVALS
• Area resident Molly Finch launched Goldfinch Garden Design — a small, but mighty operation geared toward ecologically minded and sustainable land management.
• A new medspa and wellness clinic, Vytality Blu, opened its doors in May. Located at 888 Dayton St., suite 111, Vytality Blue offers retail IV hydration therapy, among other aesthetic and health treatments.
• The Funky Flamingo, a retailer featuring plus-size women’s clothing, men’s and women’s accessories, Italian leather bags and a variety of unique finds, opened in May at 108 Dayton St.
• Equal parts head shop and consignment boutique, The Joynt moved into 124 Dayton St., the site of the former Import House, which closed in March after 39 years in operation.
Yellow Springs newcomer Geoff Hohwald operates the The Banjo Warehouse out of his village home. Hohwald has hundreds of banjos for sale and offers one-on-one banjo instruction for pickers and pluckers of all ages and abilities. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
• In June, the News spotlighted Yellow Springs newcomer Geoff Hohwald and his Banjo Warehouse — Hohwald’s home, the headquarters for his online sales business and where he conducts one-on-one picking and plucking instruction.
• In July, Brianna Ayers set up a vintage bike rental business — Bri’s Bike Stand — in Kings Yard.
• Sushi Hikari — also known as Fully Cooked Sushi — rolled into town this summer, parking its food truck next to Corner Cone. Sushi master and area resident Kyaw Say offers American and traditional Japanese sushi, as well as a smorgasbord of other Asian fusion dishes.
• A new variety store and head shop, Smoke YS Vape, opened at 100 Corry St. in September.
Village resident and hair stylist Emily Semere is set to open a new downtown nail salon — Running Errands — at 257 Xenia Ave. on Wednesday, Oct. 15. The salon will offer pedicures, manicures and more. Here, Semere shows off some of her natural polishes. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
• The village’s newest downtown nail salon, Running Errands, began offering pedicures, manicures and more in October at 257 Xenia Ave. Proprietor and villager Emily Semere sought a “sister salon” for her ART+CRAFT hair salon two doors down.
• The long-lived Epic Book Shop in Yellow Springs ended its story last year, making way for its successor, Tesseract Books, which officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 232 Xenia Ave. in October.
TRANSITIONS, MILESTONES & CLOSURES
• Villager Kyle Truitt’s gym and personal training operations — Truitt Fitness — expanded into Building F of the Millworks Industrial Park and began offering a wider slate of classes and training options.
• Miguel Espinosa expanded his taco truck eating area into a newly renovated and furnished dining room behind Asanda Imports in Kings Yard.
• For the 16th time since 2006, the YS News was named “Newspaper of the Year” in its division at the Osman C. Hooper Non-Daily Newspaper Competition, presented by the Ohio News Media Association.
• Young’s Dairy hosted its 41st Easter egg hunt, but with a change. Instead of hiding more than 10,000 real, hand-dyed, hard-boiled eggs, the business instead hid plastic eggs.
Villager and owner of YS Hardware Dan Badger is signing off — he and his wife, Sarah, recently announced the closure of YS Hardware. No hard date has been set — the Badgers are running a 30% clearance on its inventory to winnow it down. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
• The end of an era: After 98 years of a hardware store standing at the corner of Xenia Avenue and Short Street, YS Hardware closed up shop in late May. Villager and owner Dan Badger and his family ran the shop for nearly four years.
• Following the closure of YS Hardware, Badger gifted the YS News his key-cutting machine and collection of blank keys. Thanks to his generosity and desire to keep the service in town, the News now offers key duplication services for $2.50/key.
• Nook Overland is looking to expand their modular camper dealership into a new 9,000-square-foot building to be built in the Millworks Industrial Park.
• In addition to creating more physical spaces at her business park, owner Allison Moody continues to improve Millworks. Also, she continues to be the listing agent for the Village-owned Center for Business and Education, which is still seeking long-term occupants.
• After about 10 months of serving up saucy and smoky Americana fare in the southern reaches of the village, YS Smokehouse cut its final brisket in September. Owner Brian Rainey said he was disappointed that his replacement for Calypso Grill didn’t work out, but he relished the chance to focus on his original and primary establishment: Sunrise Cafe.
Local camper dealership Nook Overland is set to expand into a new building at Millworks, which will be built later this year. Nook owners Dani and Mike Mortell (shown at left) said they’re looking forward to nearly doubling the size of their showroom to accommodate more campers. To the right of the couple is Nook employee Daniel Ford, and below is the four-legged camper ambassador, Granger. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
• On Oct. 8, Gov. Mike DeWine issued an executive order banning intoxicating hemp products, throwing several Yellow Springs businesses — Tweedle D’s, The Joynt, Smoking Octopus and others — in the lurch. The ban subsequently stalled after some legal contests, but was ultimately concretized in mid-December, when DeWine signed a bill that complies with recent federal changes by banning intoxicating hemp products from being sold outside of a licensed marijuana dispensary.
• Tom’s Market owner Jeff Gray announced plans in November to begin exploring the possibility of changing the downtown grocery store’s business model from a for-profit operation to a co-operatively owned format.
• Sister Trillium celebrated a year in their brick-and-mortar space with an art show and silent auction at the YS Brewery’s Barrel Room.
• The Yellow Springs Community Foundation and Yellow Springs Credit Union — a division of Bridge Credit Union — joined forces to launch a new program aimed at incentivizing locals to spend more of their dollars in town. In early December, the two organizations announced the creation of the “Shop Local, Earn More” program, wherein Bridge credit and debit cardholders are rewarded for every transaction made in the 45387 ZIP code.
• YS Toy Company will close its doors after eight years of doing business, owner Jamie Sharp announced in December. In a social media post, Sharp cited the broader economy, changing consumer habits, tariffs, the anticipated sale of her building and dropping sales all as reasons for her decision to close up shop.
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