Tanger Outlet Mall in Sunbury, Ohio’s Berkshire Township has announced that Crocs is the newest outlet store to be added to its roster.

Crocs is joining recent new faces including, according to Columbus Business First,

• Buckeye Corner
• Singh Jewelers
• Humble Heart
• Devvna Tiwari

The Mall will also be on the ballot in November looking for the addition of a liquor license to allow for some new faces – including a brewhouse and restaurant – to join the lineup at the outdoor mall.

Great to see new additions coming in to reverse the trend of stores leaving as the pandemic continued to take its toll on the retail sector.

Midwest Dominates National Survey

smartasset.com recently evaluated 494 small cities located near a big city and ranked Delaware, Ohio, as the third-best in the nation.

Wordy title. But still a cool distinction.

smartasset.com evaluated every community on three factors – jobs, affordability, and livability – and then ranked the 494 communities based on those criteria. Brownsburg, Indiana was first, followed by Hebron, Kentucky in the two communities that out-paced Delaware.

The first two were seen as much more affordable than Delaware. In fact, Delaware was only in the top-10 of the livibility score category.

Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis communites dominated the top-10. With every community located within those metro markets. Other Columbus communities to make the list included Johnstown (7) and Canal Winchester (8).

Methadology According to smartasset.com

Definitions of suburbs according to population constraints vary, but for the purposes of our study, we considered neighboring suburbs with a population between 5,000 and 100,000. This left us with 494 suburbs, which we compared across three categories and a total of 13 metrics:

• Jobs. For our jobs score, we considered five metrics: median household income, five-year income growth, 10-year employment growth, job diversity and unemployment rate. Job diversity measures the variety of industries available in a place using the Shannon index. Data for all metrics comes from the Census Bureau’s 2020 5-year American Community Survey.
• Affordability. For this score, we looked at housing costs relative to income, home value-to-income ratio, average effective property tax rate and estimated annual cost of living for an individual. Data for the first three metrics comes from the Census Bureau’s 2020 5-year American Community Survey. Cost of living figures come from the MIT Living Wage Calculator.
• Livability. This includes the high school graduation rate, dining and entertainment establishments as a percentage of all establishments and violent and property crimes per 100,000 people. Data comes from the 2022 County Health Rankings and the Census Bureau’s 2020 5-year American Community Survey. Crime data comes from the FBI and is for 2020; missing crime data was supplemented by NeighborhoodScout.com.

In our book Delaware is number one; but number three is pretty cool too.

Delaware Will Be 19th Location for Bank

There will soon be another banking option in Delaware County and Delaware, Ohio. Heartland Bank has announced it will open a new location on US 23.

The location is planned to be at 1754 Columbus Pike, which is in the Delaware Community Plaza, and will join such businesses as Harbor Freight, Starbucks, Huntington, Wendy’s, and many others. Construction is slated to begin mid-September with a one-year build timeline.

The Full Press Release

Heartland BancCorp, the parent company of Heartland Bank, today announced that a nineteenth Heartland Bank branch will be located at 1754 Columbus Pike in Delaware, Ohio. With a groundbreaking planned for mid-September of 2022, this branch will be situated in the Delaware Community Plaza. The style will mirror the universal branch model in several current locations and include a night drop, drive-thru, and ATM. The space is being designed to include a community room for small gatherings and casual meetings. Plans currently suggest a twelve-month construction timeframe with an anticipated open date in the late summer of 2023.

“Delaware County has been on our radar for quite a while, and we are very excited to bring our brand of community banking to the county seat. The achievements that the City of Delaware and Delaware County along with the surrounding community have been able to achieve are remarkable. We look forward to playing an active role in the future of Delaware County,” stated G. Scott McComb, chairman, president and CEO.

About Heartland BancCorp

Heartland BancCorp is a registered Ohio bank holding company and the parent of Heartland Bank, which operates 18 full-service banking offices and TransCounty Title Agency, LLC. Heartland Bank, founded in 1911, provides full-service commercial, small business, and consumer banking services; professional financial planning services; and other financial products and services. Heartland Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve, a member of the FDIC, and an Equal Housing Lender. Heartland BancCorp is currently quoted on the OTC Markets (OTCQX) under the symbol HLAN.

In May of 2022, Heartland was ranked #112 on the American Banker Magazine’s list of Top 200 Publicly Traded Community Banks and Thrifts based on a three-year average return on equity as of December 31, 2021.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management’s current views of future events and operations. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company as of the date of this release. It is important to note that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the ability of the Company to implement its strategy and expand its lending operations.

Three Delaware County, Ohio, properties were transferred last week according to the Delaware County Auditor’s office.

The first property was a .556 acre lot on London Road – in Delaware, Ohio – directly south of the DelCo drive-thru. The lot was purchased by Bhaskara Raju Rudraraju and Sunil Vegesna who also purchased the .115 acre lot adjacent along Liberty Road recently. They paid $80,000 for the London Road property and $20,000 for the Liberty Road parcel.

The second transfer was 21 West Central Avenue in Delaware, Ohio, which sold for $247,500 this past week. The building currently houses Delaware Counseling Services. It was purchased by Two Doubles LLC.

The third parcel was a commercial structure at 1749 Cole Road in Ashley, Ohio. It was purchased by Daniel and Tracy Yarnell for $76,650 according to the auditor’s office.

In general, the total number of transfers remained consistent for residential, new builds, and commercials being run through the Delaware County Auditor’s office on a weekly basis. Including valid and not-valid sales it is running about 100 transfers per week according to the emails.

All information in this post is provided by Delaware County Auditor reports. Toby Boyce, Ohio Commercial LLC, and Coldwell Banker are making no claims to have represented the buyer or seller in this transaction.

Main Street Delaware announced today that Courtney Hendershot will join the organization on July 5 as its new executive director.

Hendershot currently is the economic development project manager for the City of Delaware. In the role, she assists existing businesses in expansion and retention efforts. Hendershot also helped the downtown district to secure more than $350,000 in pandemic-related grants aiding 49 businesses.

“The Main Street Delaware Board of Directors is excited to welcome Courtney as our new executive director,” said Jeff Kirby, board president. “We are confident her commitment and skills will help us to continue to move the downtown forward even as we preserve and celebrate the past.”

Beyond Hendershot’s experience in economic development, she has past experience with Main Street communities. She came to know and understand what Main Street organizations mean for a city and downtown after college when she worked for Downtown PKB, a Main Street community in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Her experience there included event planning and promotion, securing sponsorship, and fundraising, as well as marketing and social media management.

Hendershot graduated from Ohio Northern University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) in Marketing and Social Media.

She said she is committed to continuing to make Downtown Delaware a vibrant place for everyone while looking to further support downtown business and continue growth.

“Being a part of the community during such a hard time and trying to find my footing during the pandemic, has really allowed me to see all the potential of our downtown.

Courtney Hendershot

“I am excited to start a new venture within the City of Delaware,” Hendershot said. “Being a part of the community during such a hard time and trying to find my footing during the pandemic, has really allowed me to see all the potential of our downtown. I am fortunate to be able to continue working with such a wonderful Board of Directors, Caroline, volunteers, and downtown businesses.”

As it solidifies its leadership team, the Main Street Board of Directors also is promoting current program coordinator Caroline Pusateri to program director effective immediately. Pusateri joined Main Street Delaware in 2018 as an office assistant and become program coordinator in 2019.

“Caroline’s work is evident in every successful event that Main Street holds, and we are pleased to recognize her focus and creativity with this well-deserved promotion,” Kirby said. “Downtown Delaware is in good hands with Courtney and Caroline collaborating to make the area as successful as it can be.”

Source: Main Street Delaware Press Release

Hamilton Parker Outlet Store is celebrating its 25th anniversary on Friday, June 17, from Noon until 2 p.m.

The store, located at 188 East William Street just east of the walking bridge tracks in downtown Delaware, Ohio, will be having Dos Hermanos Taco Truck and corn hole for those that stop by.

For more information check out the Eventbrite page.

Heritage Cooperative Inc. announced they have exercised the option to purchase the feed, grain, agronomy, and retail assets of Witmer’s Feed and Grain Inc of Columbiana, Ohio.

This includes Millstone Farm and Garden and the Witmer Feed, Edge™, and Show It™ Feed brands that are licensed and currently selling throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, and Maryland. Witmer’s Feed and Grain was established in 1978.

“This proposed acquisition aligns with our goal of continued diversification of the business, while specifically enhancing feed production and operations throughout Ohio and in surrounding states,” said Jeff Osentoski, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Cooperative.

“The Witmer Feed and Grain management team runs a terrific business and the company’s employees operate it superbly. I am confident that the addition of the feed, grain, agronomy, and retail operations will benefit Heritage and Witmer customers immediately,” continued Osentoski.

“As a member of the Heritage Cooperative team, I am personally excited to continue to serve Witmer’s Feed and Grain customers and to provide additional opportunities for employees,” stated Mike Witmer, President of Witmer’s Feed and Grain, Inc. He continued, “Our vision and values align well with Heritage and together we will provide superior customer service and efficiencies with this strategic alignment.”

The acquisition is expected to close on June 30, 2022.

Source: Heritage Cooperative Press Release

Franchise Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRG) today announced that it has entered into a three-week exclusive negotiation period to acquire Kohl’s Corporation for $60 per share in cash.

If Franchise Group and Kohl’s Corporation enter into a definitive agreement, Franchise Group intends to contribute approximately $1 billion of capital to the transaction, all of which is expected to be funded through a corresponding increase in the size of its secured debt facilities.

A majority of the financing for the transaction is anticipated to be provided on the basis of the real estate assets of Kohl’s Corporation. Other than the increased secured debt facilities of Franchise Group, none of the financing for the transaction is expected to be recourse to Franchise Group.

Franchise Group remains committed to its conservative financial policies, including target leverage levels, and maximizing free cash flow generation. If a transaction is completed, it is anticipated that the free cash flow, Adjusted EBITDA, and Non-GAAP EPS of the Franchise Group would significantly increase. The significant increase in free cash flow generation is expected to further Franchise Group’s objective of increasing dividends and other capital return to shareholders, while also enabling Franchise Group to accelerate continued organic and inorganic investments.

There can be no assurance any transaction will result from the ongoing discussions with Kohl’s Corporation. Franchise Group does not intend to make any additional comments regarding these discussions unless and until it is appropriate to do so, or a formal agreement has been reached or transaction discussions are terminated.

About Franchise Group, Inc.

Franchise Group is an owner and operator of franchised and franchisable businesses that continually looks to grow its portfolio of brands while utilizing its operating and capital allocation philosophy to generate strong cash flow for its shareholders. Franchise Group’s business lines include Pet Supplies Plus, American Freight, The Vitamin Shoppe, Badcock Home Furniture & more, Buddy’s Home Furnishings, and Sylvan Learning. On a combined basis, Franchise Group currently operates over 3,000 locations predominantly located in the U.S. that are either Company-run or operated pursuant to franchising and dealer agreements.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, projections, predictions, expectations, or beliefs about future events or results and are not statements of historical fact. Such statements include all statements in this press release regarding the potential acquisition of Kohl’s Corporation, the timing thereof, whether such transaction proceeds and, if so, the effect thereof on Franchise Group, any expected financial performance of Kohl’s Corporation or Franchise Group or the benefits that Franchise Group presently expects to derive from the transaction, including that the transaction, if completed, would significantly increase free cash flow, Adjusted EBITDA and Non-GAAP EPS of Franchise Group or allow it to increase dividends, shareholder returns or organic or inorganic investments.

Such forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions as of the time they are made and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often accompanied by words that convey projected future events or outcomes such as “expect,” “believe,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “will,” “may,” “view,” “opportunity,” “potential,” or words of similar meaning or other statements concerning opinions or judgment of the Company or its management about future events. Although the Company believes that its expectations with respect to forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its existing knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurance that actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company will not differ materially from any projected future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Actual future results, performance or achievements may differ materially from historical results or those anticipated depending on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. We refer you to the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 25, 2021, and comparable sections of the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings, which have been filed with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are expressly qualified by the cautionary statements contained or referred to herein. Readers are cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update, revise or clarify these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Source: Franchise Group Press Release, Yahoo! Finance

According to the Delaware County Auditor’s Office, there were two valid sales involving commercially zoned properties this week in Delaware County.

Garrett Development Group LLC purchased 1460 Manning Parkway in Powell, Ohio, for $1,180,000. The building is an office condominium that was built in 1996 and has 3,919 square feet. Manning Parkway is located off State Route 315 just north of Worthington Hills in southern Delaware County.

EBJT Holdings LLC purchased 6351 State Route 656 in Sunbury, Ohio, for $61,800. The property is essentially 0.81 acres of land with an old structure on it. It sits in “downtown” Olive Green just north of the State Routes 521 and 656 intersection.

A valid sale is one in which the parties are not related and the purchase is considered an “arm’s length” transaction.

AZM Realty Ltd. has purchased a Sunbury, Ohio office building this past week for the only valid-sale transaction in Delaware County, Ohio, according to the Delaware County Auditor’s Site.

The property, located at 801 West Cherry Street — State Routes 36/37 — is a two-story structure located on the north side of the building just at the edge of Sunbury towards I-71. The building was built in 1996 and has 12,000 square feet that are rented to multiple tenants. According to the Delaware County Auditor, AZM Realty Ltd. paid $1,042,000 for the property.

A valid sale is a term utilized by the Auditor’s office to differentiate between simply a change or edit to the title of a property that must be recorded but does not necessarily mean a change of hands. Valid sale can also be called an arm’s length transaction, essentially meaning that – in theory – neither party was in distress and the value can be considered the highest and best for the property today.