Market coming to downtown Sandusky

SANDUSKY — A local landmark — home to a beloved grocery store in Sandusky for decades — aims to reopen as a market, selling fresh foods and more, this fall. Dollar General intends to debut its newest DG Market store at 317 E. Washington St., near Meigs Street and the Sandusky Police Station, inside a structure formerly housing Kreimes Cardinal Grocery. After operating for 42-plus years and since Cardinal vacated the premises in late 2017, this building has sat vacant. At times, it appeared no activity had occurred at the site for months and even years. But, over the summer, noticeable progress happened at the building, getting the interior ready for products. For instance, people can see the building's exterior branded with the DG Market logo. Yes, the project — overseen by Collective Projects, the site's developer and entity working with Dollar General — faced numerous setbacks and a reset from its original proposal as a food hall. Though there's a finish line now in sight, which excites many locals, including city commissioner Dave Waddington. "We have a lot of people living downtown, and it will fill a gap for them," Waddington said. "Where else can you go around there for bread, milk or something quick?" More on DG Market While some similarities exist, DG Markets do differ from Dollar General stores. Most notably and in short, DG Markets are often bigger storefronts, offering mainly: • Groceries, including fresh foods, like fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products • Everyday essentials, such as non-perishables, cleaning products, health and beauty aids and seasonal items They're geared toward convenience and as a quick-stop alternative to a traditional supermarket for communities often lacking close access to large grocery chains. When it opens, this would represent downtown Sandusky's only grocery store. Proprietors involved with this project believe Sandusky's newest DG Market should open sometime within a few weeks this fall. A message sent to a Dollar General spokeswoman, seeking additional clarity on this store's location, went unreturned. It should operate on a similar, if not exact, seven-day-a-week schedule compared to the city's other DG Market, on Tiffin Avenue (U.S. 6), which welcomes people from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m daily. Q&A Dave Yanko, who serves as a managing partner of Collective Projects, provided some information about the ongoing project: Q: Your company has been the owner of this building for a few years now. It seems like there have been many starts and stops. Why has it taken so long to get off the ground? DY: A development project can take years even when everything goes according to plan. Add the desire to preserve the building and provide a community service to any unforeseen circumstances, and it can take even longer. This one presented some unique challenges, but it is really hard to fail if you're willing to never give up. There are so many people throughout the process who believed in me, in the vision and in downtown Sandusky and its potential. I'm grateful to all those who helped make this possible. Q: Initially, you proposed a food hall for this building. What happened to that concept? DY: We loved the food hall concept and worked really hard for five years to bring it to fruition. Between 2020 and 2022, estimated construction costs more than doubled, driving a roughly $2.1 million project to over $4.5 million. Ultimately, financing it became infeasible, and we had to pivot. Q: How and why did Dollar General get involved? DY: Bringing a grocery store back to Sandusky was always the natural alternative to the original development plan. When the old Cardinal Grocery closed, downtown Sandusky became a U.S. Department of Agriculture-designated low-access area for fresh foods, commonly referred to as a food desert with the closest option over 2 miles away. DG Market fits the need perfectly. Not only will it bring a much-needed service back to downtown, but the tenant is strong and sustainable, making a commitment to the community that will last at least 10 years and, hopefully, many decades to come. Q: What is the total investment of this new project? DY: $1.8 million. Q: Is this project seeking city money? DY: We have applied for the city's loan program for substantial development projects. We came into the spring on target with our budget but have had to account for nearly $120,000 in new costs once contractors were finalized and new field discoveries were made. In its guidelines, the city has indicated that this program exists to "stimulate investments in underutilized or vacant buildings ... which will strengthen the real estate market, increase property values, create a more walkable community and improve overall quality of life." Our objectives seem to align perfectly with the city's goals, so we are hopeful to partner with the city to help close a portion of this critical gap and finish the project in a way that everyone can feel proud of. Editor's note: When first proposed, in 2018, the city gave this project a $9,000 grant to complete a study for how to best reuse this space. In 2019, city officials earmarked an additional $139,000 in grant funds for this project but rescinded it in 2023. The project never received an actual penny from this $139,000 grant. The grant stipulated all work must have ended by Dec. 31, 2022, which it didn't. Q: You recently were arrested as it somewhat relates to this project. Can you please explain what happened and if it will impact the project at all? DY: The failure to appear was for a court date that I was not made aware of, related to a vacant building registration fee that had been paid months prior. So it was obviously a shock to me. As far as the project is concerned, it is a non-issue. A legacy to the Kreimes family Chet Sinwald, a good friend of Yanko's, remains a massive supporter of the project. He and his family ran Kreimes Cardinal Grocery, which dates back to its founding year of 1975. Sinwald himself still remains proud of operating a small business grocery store, which still has a big impact on people today. Many of those shoppers did more than buy groceries at a fair price: They became friends and, in some cases, family. That's why closing — because of personal reasons, which weren't financially motivated — still pains him. Ever since closing, it's left a massive void in downtown, forcing people to find grocery options elsewhere so they can stock their fridges, pantries and cabinets. "I still feel bad, feeling like we let the people down, that we haven't gotten the store reopened sooner," said Sinwald, who served as the market manager. "We definitely need a market downtown for the people who can't drive and get out to (U.S.) 250." Sinwald does look forward to his former building going under a transformation in name only but retaining its spirit of serving people. "I feel good, and this will be a nice store," said Sinwald, who still frequently runs into former Cardinal customers, routinely asking for updates about the East Washington Street building. "It's been a long time coming, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this looks." Yanko, in turn, greatly appreciates the Kreimes-Sinwald family and what they stood for over so many years: providing quality products to community members. While it's not entirely the same, DG Market hopes to, at least, recreate those feelings of a small market with the family's essence carrying over into this new era. "They've told me that, in part, they selected us to steward the property's legacy because of the reverence we have for what they provided the community for over 40 years," Yanko said. "I just wish that former owner Bob Kreimes, who passed away in 2024, were still around to see that we are making good on our promise."