Business Roundup: Buckeye Candy expands treat selection with larger space; new restaurant serves Indian cuisine
More candy and room to shop is coming this summer when Buckeye Candy Co. moves down the street from 104 to 355 Granville St., the former location of Swan Cleaners.
Jay Sokol, co-owner of Buckeye Candy with his wife, Shana, said he hopes to be in the renovated 1,700-square-foot space, an increase of about 1,000 square feet, in July.
“We basically have to rebuild the place, because it was a 40-year old dry-cleaner building,” he said. “We’re putting up new walls, new floors and fixtures. The façade will be about the same. We hope to have a really cool sign out front.”
Buckeye Candy, offering about 1,500 different candies from nostalgic treats to delicious imported chocolate from Europe, is to offer an even larger selection in the new location, according to Sokol.
“I’ve had to be selective just because we don’t have the space,” he said. “Everything in here is a perpetual game of Jenga and Tetris, trying to make it fit and not fall over. I will have a lot more space and be able to have backups of everything. When something sells, we won’t have to wait to re-order and wait to get it back in. We should, hopefully, have plenty of stock on hand.”
Sokol said a Canadian section was recently added, and there are several other international sections he wants to bring in.
“It definitely opens up a lot of possibilities, as well as other gift items, maybe some t-shirts or maybe some mugs, other gifts, kinds of retro things,” he said.
Sokol said the store has been at the current location for three and half years and it has been in dire need of extra space for quite a while.
“It will allow us to open up our online business, which we haven’t had space to do,” he said. “We will have a lot more storage space. The hours will hopefully be longer.”
Sara White wrote on Buckeye’s Facebook page that she will have to double her budget, because she always spends more than she plans.
“I love coming into (the) shop and seeing what new items you have,” she wrote.
“Congratulations from Akron, Ohio. Looking forward to my next visit to Gahanna. Wishing you both the best at your new location,” said another post written by Deb Diamond.
Sokol said the new spot is just a block from the high school and across the street from the new Gahanna branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library that’s currently under construction.
He said updates will be posted on the store’s Facebook page.
Indian dishes with Nepali twists
Namaste Indo-Nepali Cuisine, featuring Napali foods, opened a second location Feb. 5 at 1307 Stoneridge Dr.
Ramesh Adhikari, co-owner along with Chandra Rimal and Esor Khanal, said the foods of the casual fine-dining restaurant are very intertwined with Indian foods.
“We serve some Indian dishes with Nepali twists, but most of the foods are Nepali,” he said.
Gahanna was picked for a second location, Adhikari said, because they wanted to reach a new community to try Nepali food. He said he believes the community will love it.
“Secondly, because (the) Nepali community has been growing rapidly and moving beyond Columbus and to Gahanna, Blacklick, Reynoldsburg and further, we wanted to grow with the community and be conveniently reachable,” he said.
The first location opened in 2013 at 1279 Morse Rd. in Columbus.
“Our customers can place an online pickup order at our website, namastenepcuisine.com, or order delivery via DoorDash, GrubHub or UberEat,” Adhikari said.
Business hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It’s closed Tuesdays.
Cheers to Noble Cut
Noble Cut Distillery, 750 Cross Pointe Rd., Gahanna, announced via its Facebook page in May that its signature vodka and limoncello were awarded double gold in the SIP Awards international spirits competition.
In a global pool of spirit competitions to choose from, SIP Awards continues to separate itself from the rest as the only internationally recognized consumer judging spirits competition that’s unaffected by industry bias, according to a May 19 news release from SIP.
The 2022 competition saw a record high of over 1,270 spirit and mixer brand entries from all over the world, the release said.
“The SIP Awards standard of excellence brings an element of the Scientific Theory along with it,” said Cher Holmes, director of operations.
“Each consumer judge evaluates individual spirit brands based on aroma, taste and finish using the revolutionary NEAT glass. This process allows for a larger sample-size of data to be collected and interpreted, ensuring that the best brands will shine and receive the recognition they deserve.”
“Our founder Tony Guilfoy is doing a happy dance, especially since we use his family limoncello recipe that has been passed down several generations,” said the May 13 Facebook post.
It was followed up on May 16 noting, “Tony's happy dance continues. Noble Cut's signature vodka was also awarded double gold by the SIP Awards.
"The vodka category had the second most submissions in this international spirits competition. We're very proud of our Ohio-made premium vodka using eastern European distilling and finishing techniques!”
mkuhlman@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekMarla
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Buckeye Candy expands treats; new restaurant serves Indian cuisine
