After 54 years, Ohio Silver Company is set to close in the near future — a nebulous timeline, according to proprietor Marcia Wallgren. Until then, the store’s hours are 11 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Monday–Saturday, and noon–5 p.m. on Sunday. (Photo by Alissa Paollela)
After more than 50 years, Ohio Silver Company to close
- Published: August 9, 2026
By Alissa Paolella
On a recent Saturday morning, before Ohio Silver Co. opened, a line of customers stretched from the door and down Xenia Avenue. Inside, the contents of the sterling silver cases at 245 Xenia Ave. were thinning.
On another day, a longtime customer wiped away tears at the counter. Near the entrance stood the Tin Woman, the silver figure Ohio Silver owner Marcia Wallgren built by hand and the shop’s unofficial mascot, keeping watch over the crowd. Behind the cases, a small staff moved without pause to keep up with a goodbye that grew far louder than anyone anticipated.
After 54 years, Ohio Silver Co. — one of downtown Yellow Springs’ longest-operating businesses — is closing. Wallgren, who has owned the fair-trade jewelry store since 1974, is retiring. What began as a quiet farewell to the village became a regional event this month, after a Dayton television station picked up the news and shoppers poured in from across the area.
Wallgren and her staff had hoped to say goodbye gently, giving loyal customers the first chance at the store’s remaining inventory. Then WDTN aired the story, and the quiet plan evaporated. In the days since, the shop has seen roughly three times the sales volume of its busiest Street Fair day, according to Wallgren — all handled by a small, rotating team.
“The outpouring of love and sadness for the store closing has been overwhelming, poignant and humbling,” Wallgren told the News last week. “Some folks hugged us and cried.”
Hundreds have posted on the store’s Facebook announcement, sharing what Ohio Silver meant to them over the years, and one recent day, three generations of one family who had always shopped there made a special trip together.
The shop has been filled with stories — of wedding and engagement rings, ears pierced as a rite of passage, special gifts given and received.
“[Customers’] loyalty over the years allowed me and my staff to live and work here all these years,” Wallgren said.
For all the emotion of these final weeks, Wallgren said she is at peace with her reasons for bidding Ohio Silver farewell.
“I look forward to making art, writing — I have research for at least one book — growing things and, body willing, traveling,” she said.
Market forces have played a role, too. Silver prices whipsawed over the past year, trading as low as $36.21 an ounce in late July 2025 before spiking to an intraday high of $121.58 on Jan. 29, 2026, then settling back to roughly $56 by mid-July, according to Forbes Advisor’s silver price tracker.
Wallgren does not expect those prices to come back down. She called the spike “a different animal” from the swings she weathered in the past, driven now by silver’s growing use in data centers, electric-vehicle batteries and solar panels. When she sees electronics makers investing in new silver mines that can take years to come online, she said, she reads it as a sign that supply is finite and prices will stay high. Some of her artisan lines stopped production or shrank their pieces to stay affordable, losing quality in the process.
The tariffs alone, she said, would have doubled the price of some pieces.
“At a time when affording food or gas is difficult, our products would be too expensive for our customers,” she said.
Wallgren said the 2025 closure of Short Street, which eliminated several nearby parking spaces with steady customer turnover, cut into foot traffic during the holiday season and added to an already stressful period.
Still, Wallgren described the closing as a decision she made on her own terms.
“It just wasn’t fun anymore,” she said.
The work began more than half a century ago, in a far smaller shop. Ohio Silver Co. was founded in November 1971 by brothers Tucker and Kris Viemeister and Kerry Moore, according to News archives. Originally called Standing Room Only and tucked into Kings Yard, the shop moved to its longtime home at 245 Xenia Ave. in 1977. Moore and Marcia Wallgren bought the business from the Viemeisters, and Wallgren — an owner since 1974 — later bought out Moore to become sole owner in 1984. The store is closing just short of its 55th anniversary.
Over the decades, the store built its reputation on handcrafted sterling silver — pieces first made on-site, then sourced from artisans across the United States and around the world — and on a longstanding commitment to fair-trade practices. That reputation reached beyond the village: Ohio Silver was a repeat honoree in Dayton.com and the Dayton Daily News’ Best of Dayton readers’ poll, winning Best Jewelry in 2018 and placing in the category in the years since.
Wallgren said part of the draw of the store was the experience itself. Customers returned for a hands-on, personal way of doing business, where they might try on a stack of rings, ask to have a chain hooked and linger — the kind of attention big retailers can’t replicate. Wallgren was quick to credit her employees for creating an environment that kept customers coming back.
“My amazing staff are [the ones who] made this business,” she said.
Managers Joe Williams and Daria Mabra are both villagers, and each is in the middle of a third decade at Ohio Silver — a rare tenure for any small business. Chica, Mabra’s dog and a familiar presence to regulars, is also part of store lore.
“I couldn’t have done it without them,” Wallgren said.
Mabra, who has lived in the village her entire life, gave a simple reason for staying behind the counter for nearly three decades.
“That’s really easy — the customers,” she said. “I’ve met so many very kind people, and they are so appreciative of the store.”
She pointed to the shop’s signature purple box — long a staple of its identity — which customers seek out as a gift for others and for themselves.
“People say they can’t find this mix of jewelry anywhere,” she said.
Lately, many of those customers have arrived in tears, and Mabra, tearing up herself, said the goodbye has reminded her of what makes Yellow Springs special.
Some come downtown hoping to glimpse a famous neighbor — “they see Dave and they freak out,” she said of comedian and village resident Dave Chappelle — but to her the real draw was always simpler.
“I don’t think there would ever be a time where people would not come here,” she said.
That sense of loss extends well beyond the store’s own staff. The closing leaves downtown Yellow Springs without one of its half-century anchors, part of the shifting landscape of independent retail in the village. Over the years, the store supported local nonprofits and the wider business community, and Wallgren said she takes pride in having added to what she calls the “vibrancy” of the downtown district. In a tribute this month, the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce thanked Wallgren for “decades of dedication,” calling the store a “true silver lining” for the community.
The tributes carry a note of finality, but the goodbye is not quite over. For now, the store remains open. Its closing sale features the full inventory of handcrafted sterling silver, along with fixtures and display cases; prices, the store says, are already below current replacement cost. No firm closing date has been set. As Wallgren put it, the sale ends when the stock runs out.
Current hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, though Wallgren notes hours may shift. The store can be reached at 937-767-8261. Information will also be posted to the store’s Facebook page: facebook.com/ohiosilverco.
Wallgren built the store on a simple philosophy, she said: sell jewelry that is handmade, beautifully designed and made to last, at a price people can afford — and when it’s not made in-house, choose fair-trade pieces that support the artisans behind them. She hopes it endures.
“Those pieces will be around a long time for people to remember us by,” she said.
Mostly, though, she wants her customers to hear one thing.
“To my customers, we are really going to miss you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
*Alissa Paolella is a local resident and freelance writer for the News.
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