Things have gotten a lot sweeter in Uptown Westerville over the last few months.
Sweet snacks are certainly not new to the area. After all, by now, visitors are surely used to the pastries at Schneider’s Bakery and Java Central, and the frozen treats at Graeter’s Ice Cream and Dairy Queen.
Nevertheless, 2015 was a particularly good year on that front for Uptown.
“I think Westerville needed these new (shops),” says Nicole Harrison, owner of Pure Roots Boutique and president of the Westerville Uptown Merchants Association. “You can come Uptown and get anything.”
Here are a few of the new additions.
LuLu’s Sweet Shop
14 W. College Ave.
Amy Gorenz opened LuLu’s in July, but neither the Uptown location nor the notion of selling sweet treats was new to her.
Gorenz lives Uptown, so locating her storefront there, once she decided to open one, was a no-brainer. And while the shop’s vast array of candies may be new to passers-by, LuLu’s gourmet cupcakes are familiar indeed to those who’ve followed Gorenz during her eight years as a cupcake baker.
The batch of cupcakes that made the difference for Gorenz is the batch she baked on her son’s first birthday.
“I wanted (something) all-natural, and everything was chemicals,” she says.
It wasn’t long after that Gorenz was selling her cupcakes at farmers’ markets, with flavors ranging from dark chocolate and vanilla bean to sweet cinnamon latte and – here’s a mouthful – chocolate blood orange olive oil sea salt.
When she decided to open a storefront, though, she didn’t want it to be just cupcakes. She decided she’d hit on a winning concept when she thought about places she’d visited while on vacation.
“When you go on vacation, there’s always a (local) candy store in the little beach towns,” Gorenz says.
Gorenz realizes she’s not the only game in Columbus when it comes to candy, so she strives to make the experience unique for visitors. One way she does it is through pre-made and custom candy packages.
Another way is through the lists of allergens she posts at the shop, ensuring visitors know exactly which items to steer around if they’re buying for someone with, say, a gluten sensitivity. Some of the products she carries to avoid those allergens can be tough to find, Gorenz says, and she makes it a priority to stock what she can.
“People drive from Cincinnati to get the nut-free stuff,” she says.
Shirley’s Gourmet Popcorn
15 N. State St.
This is no tub of flavorless movie theater popcorn doused with a questionable butter substitute.
Shirley’s Gourmet Popcorn – a franchise out of Bluffton, Ohio – opened its Westerville storefront in November. The local franchise is owned by northwest Ohioans John and Anna Mae Blankemeyer.
“They were spending so much time in Bluffton … that they said, ‘We just need to own our own store,’” says Ally White, general manager of the Westerville Shirley’s.
The Blankemeyers chose central Ohio to be closer to their daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, and chose Westerville because of its tight-knit community and supportive business climate, White says.
All flavors are made in small, five-gallon batches so they don’t have time to get stale, White says. Though toppings and coatings are shipped, all popcorn is popped on-site
Among the most popular offerings are dark salted caramel and Windy City Style, which is half cheddar and half caramel. Both incorporate the company’s trademarked Caramel to Die For flavor, a secret blend with two ingredients only known to a handful of people.
“Caramel to Die For is part of half of our other popcorns,” says White.
Other items on the menu include standard spicy, jelly bean and caramel nut cluster (think Cracker Jacks) options, as well as premium flavors such as buckeye and lemon cheesecake. That’s supplemented by a flavor of the month; for example, in June, it’s birthday cake.
Everything’s served in a refillable tin, an option patrons are only too happy to take advantage of, White says.
Even before Shirley’s opened its doors in Westerville, it was working to become part of the community, appearing at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s 4th Friday events. Now, it holds fundraisers for schools, does corporate gift packages, caters weddings and participates in a variety of Westerville events, including the Chilly Open and Taste of Westerville.
Whit’s Frozen Custard
46 N. State St.
Whit’s Frozen Custard is new to Westerville, but it already had a definite following in central Ohio.
The franchise opened its first location in Granville in 2003 and now has 28 stores in three states. The Westerville spot opened this past October.
Boyd Fackler, owner of the Westerville franchise, is co-founder of the Bob-Boyd Auto dealership. At his previous job, lunch meetings in Granville were always followed by trips to the original Whit’s. So when Fackler found retirement didn’t suit him – he retired from Bob-Boyd about seven years ago – it only made sense for his next venture to be a Whit’s.
Fackler will gladly compare frozen custard to ice cream. It’s thicker, denser, smoother and creamier than its more widely-known cousin and, despite its richness, it generally has fewer calories.
“It is, in my mind, superior to ice cream,” he says.
Like all Whit’s stores, the Westerville location has, in addition to its regular menu, a “flavor of the week” each week. In April, such flavors included German chocolate cake, bourbon praline pecan, black raspberry chip and a Girl Scouts cookie-inspired thin mint. In addition to custards, the store also offers an assortment of toppings – from your standard peanuts and hot fudge to more out-there options such as pineapple and cheesecake bites – that can be served atop the custard (sundaes) or mixed into it (“Whitsers”).
The most popular flavor? Buckeye, of course, Fackler says.
Fackler likes the idea of comparing picturesque, walkable downtown Granville, with its close proximity to Denison University; to picturesque, walkable Uptown Westerville, with its close proximity to Otterbein University. He’s worked hard to make Whit’s a part of the community, he says, including staying open through January and February, when most Whit’s locations are closed.
“It’s a very good product and has a very good reputation,” says Fackler.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
More Uptown Sweetness
- Dairy Queen: 84 S. State St.
- 2 Chicks and a Cookie: 20 S. State St., Ste. H
- Java Central: 20 S. State St.
- Schneider’s Bakery: 6 S. State St.
- Graeter’s Ice Cream: 1 N. State St.
- Heavenly Cup: 25 N. State St.
What Else is New?
Some other recent and upcoming additions and changes to Westerville’s dining scene:
- Cheryl & Co. flagship store, 646 McCorkle Blvd.: Opened in August
- Sapporo Sushi Factory, 732 N. State St.: Under new management
- Red Apron Pizza, 10 E. Main St.: New name of Dough Boys Pizzeria
- 8 State Bistro, 8 N. State St.: Opened in March
- Asterisk Supper Club, 14 N. State St.: Opening soon
- Northstar Café, across from Westerville Public Library: Set to open fall 2016
RELATED READS
