“We’re excited because it brings real bodies through the shopping center, which will be good for the rest of our tenants there,” Rothstein said. “It’s all about creating retail synergy.”
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SPENGA touts itself as having been created "to fill a void in the fitness market" and designed to improve endurance, strength and flexibility in just an hour with 20 minutes each of spin, HIIT (High-intensity interval training) strength training and yoga.
The business should open sometime early next year at the shopping center’s end cap, right next door to Subway, Rothstein said.
SPENGA has locations in 24 states. It is planning to open in Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland.
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KFC
A new KFC is coming to Ohio 4 in Butler County in front of a shopping plaza anchored by Kroger.
The single-story, 2,200 square-foot restaurant will be constructed at 4340 Hamilton Middletown Road in Liberty Twp., according to plans submitted to the township. It will feature a drive-thru, 24 parking spaces and 26 seating stalls, 2 of which will be ADA compliant.
There’s no word yet on when the new location will open.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, KFC is the world’s second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald’s, with 22,621 locations globally in 136 countries as of last December.
There are two KFC locations in Hamilton and Middletown and one each in Fairfield and West Chester Twp.
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Ramen Hachi, Eat Up Hot Pot and Hibachi House
Oxford is set to get a trio of new restaurants this month, including Ramen Hachi at a new mixed use building at 17 W. Church St., Hibachi House at 11 W. Church St. where Will’s Pizza once operated and 15. S. Beech St. where Sweet Heart once operated.
Ramen Hachi, in particular, could do well in Oxford, as it specializes in a dish that continues to be a staple among many university students: Ramen noodles.
Those three restaurants follow the summer opening of Books & Brews at 107 E. Court St., Oxford, which formerly was home to Quarter Barrel Brewery + Pub.
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All of the books customers see at Books & Brews are for sale, but Mug Club members can enjoy the added bonus of using the business as a lending library.
The bar there sells Books & Brews’ own craft beers, plus a menu featuring a prologue (starters), chapters (artisan grilled cheeses on sourdough then pressed on a panini press) and “naan-fiction”(flatbreads served on naan bread and grilled, with a choice of red sauce, barbecue sauce or buttermilk ranch).
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