Yellow Springs Brewery buys former bowling alley

The Yellow Springs Brewery is growing again.

The brewery — which added 1,600 square feet and new production equipment to its brewhouse and tasting room just last year to help accommodate retail sales of canned beers — has purchased the former Village Lanes bowling alley at 1475 Xenia Ave. for use as a distribution center, co-founder Nate Cornett told us.

The former bowling alley — which shut down several years ago and most recently has been used by its neighbor, Village Automotive Service — was one of many spaces that Cornett and co-founder Lisa Wolters considered before deciding on its current location at 305 N. Walnut St. In addition, some of the brewery tasting room’s bar tops and table tops came from the bowling alley. “So we feel like we’ve come full circle,” Cornett said.

“We’ll use the space for dry storage and cold storage, and we will be able to add production,” Cornett said. “It will allow us to brew more often.”

The brewery owners closed on the property last week and will take occupancy in about 90 days, Cornett said. Renovations will follow. “It will be several months before the site is ready for use,” he said.

YSB’s retail sales have started strong, Cornett said, and the brewery has gone from one sales representative to four in a matter of months. The brewery’s beers are distributed in keg and can form in the Dayton and Columbus areas, and are now moving into the northern Cincinnati market.

Yellow Springs Brewery is one of a dozen breweries that have opened in the Dayton region in the last five years. None have closed, and nearly all have expanded in some fashion. A handful of new breweries are in the works in other areas, including Springfield and Middletown.

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