Sylvania Advantage

LOOKING SIDEWAYS

MARK LUETKE

Downtown
Sylvania
reflects
new vibe

Walk along Main Street today and it’s hard to miss the new vibe: more foot traffic, an interesting mix of locally-owned storefronts, a neighborhood with both intimacy and big city energy. Downtown Sylvania is growing up.
“Our business district is quickly moving from a small town feel to a more professional look and experience,” explains Dani Fuller, who co-founded the non-profit called “Red Bird” 10 years ago to draw more people downtown. Last month she was named executive director.
The downtown transformation has been driven in part by renewed interest in Sylvania as a place to live by two groups: baby boomer retirees and millennials looking for safe neighborhoods and good schools. Often, they are attracted by the SOMO Flats condos plus the charm of our older legacy neighborhoods—both adjacent to downtown.
“If you want to serve this new clientele, you have to provide the kind of marketing mix that larger communities have,” Fuller explains. “They don’t want to go to the mall any more. They like a storefront vibe…an authentic, entrepreneurial, specialty environment.”
Fuller estimates that if you factor out the “big crowds” that come downtown for First Friday activities and other weekend events in the summer, there are probably 500-700 people visiting downtown on any given day. “We also see more and more people from other communities shopping here; we’re becoming a destination.”
And as the demographics and consumer preferences shift, Fuller believes that Sylvania is not only seeing new specialty shops sprouting up, but also some bigger longtime businesses adapting to meet the needs of new residents and visitors.
A highly visible example is Sautter’s Market, which has operated on south Main Street for nearly 70 years. “When I was a kid bagging groceries for my dad back in the 1960s, customers would come in to buy two or three carts of items to last them for the entire week,” says owner Jim Sautter.
“Now, less than 10 percent of our customers are once-a-week shoppers. Also, we have a lot more competition. Rather than shopping at one place, consumers go to five or six stores: Costco for paper products, Aldi for dry goods, and here for fresh foods and specialty items. They aren’t buying groceries for the week any more, but for the next two days.”
When Jim’s son Dave joined the business nearly five years ago, “he brought a tremendous amount of energy and new ideas to the store…things that I probably wouldn’t have done,” Jim admits.
Dave explains, “We are living in a world where consumers cook at home less, have much more specialized tastes, and want convenience. They shop more frequently and focus on fresh food. As a result, we’ve added more ‘grab and go’ items like pre-made salads, soups and sandwiches as well as seven or eight entrees each day that are all fresh and made in-house. Two chefs—Juan and Bryan—work full-time on the cuisine.”
“Customers also have more specialized tastes now,” Dave says. “They look for whole bean and specialty coffees, low-alcohol pre-made cocktails and spritzers, and micro-brewed beers. We used to have one or two doors in the cooler devoted to beer; now we have more beer options than wine. And that’s taking into consideration the fact that we’ve had a five-fold increase in our wine business in the past 25 years. Now, since we deal with smaller distributors, we have one of the best selections of wine anywhere—including an expanded section of French and Italian wine.”
A block north of Sautter’s is another legacy business that’s embraced the growth downtown and in the nearby neighborhoods. The legendary J&G Pizza has expanded—adding a brewery and taproom to its iconic restaurant to make itself a destination for young professionals and newly married couples—while still keeping its longtime regulars. Current owner Nick Dallas is the third-generation owner of the landmark establishment that was purchased by his grandfather and father (Mark) 46 years ago. “Since then, we’ve always kept the basics the same: the quality, consistency, hours…being a good employer…the overall experience,” he says.
Nick always wanted to brew beer, too, and started a brewery in 2016. Rapid success created a need for more customer space. “When the corner building next door became available it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up to add the Dallas Taproom,” he says. “Now, we still see our older crowd–the ones that want J&G to stay J&G. But we’ve also been very successful in attracting a younger crowd to the Dallas Taproom. (The menu at both the pizza place and the Dallas Taproom are the same.)
Both of the Main Street merchants I spoke with mentioned that one hiccup they expect to encounter in the near future is some construction—this year on the street, sidewalks and landscape in the block between Maplewood Avenue and Erie Street, then the US-23 interchange rebuild in 2026.
But they were optimistic—particularly about the downtown projects. “There are more pros than cons to the construction,” says Nick. “It’s all the things that the merchants have wanted for years—especially the walkability. Once it’s done it will be great…we just need to get there.”
Longtime Sylvania resident Mark Luetke has served on city council, the board of education, and numerous foundation and community boards.