"There's no coffee in this town, there's no books or anything." That's how Lauren Rasberry described her first impression of Rossford to The Blade after moving from the Gibsonburg area. Just down the road, and separately, Valencia Kimbrell decided that "there's nowhere here in the area that anybody can get coffee or breakfast," as she told The Blade in August.
Two teams spotted the same gap and filled it in the same summer, about six weeks apart. Neither one stocks its counter from a single supplier. Between them, Neighbors Coffee & Books and Sage and Soda carry coffee, donuts, tarts, cookies and cake pops from nine small makers. That makes the two cafés retail counters for a local food network, and both opened while the main intersection was closed.
Opening Into a Closed Intersection
Both shops opened before the roundabout did.
- June 2: The City of Rossford closed the SR 65 (Dixie Highway), Glenwood Road and Bergin Street intersection for about 60 days of roundabout construction. Detours were posted, and access to businesses stayed open up to the work zone.
- June 15: Neighbors Coffee & Books opened at 301 Superior St. while the street was still torn up.
- July 21: Sage and Soda opened at 480 Dixie Hwy. as the construction was entering its final phases.
- Monday, Aug. 10: The $2.8 million roundabout officially opened.
Kimbrell saw an upside in that timing. She told The Blade it was "nice for us to slowly work our way into it rather than just how a lot of new businesses are when they first open and have a lot of traffic." The Neighbors owners had a different target in mind. Their dinner-table plan was to open before Small Business Saturday in November, and they ended up open roughly five months ahead of that.
Who Actually Fills the Pastry Case
Both shops made the same call. Rather than one wholesale bakery, each built its menu from several small producers, most of them local. Here's the supplier map The Blade reported for each shop this summer:
| What you're ordering | Who makes it | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee | Royale Coffee, Perrysburg | Neighbors |
| Coffee, Salvadoran blend | Bea's Blend Coffee | Sage and Soda |
| Donuts, Monday through Saturday | Haas Bakery | Neighbors |
| Scones and cookies | Oak Hollow Farm | Neighbors |
| Cake pops, brownies, cupcakes | Shugie's Parlor | Neighbors |
| Brown Sugar Moose Tarts, Oatmeal Moose Pies | The Yellow Moose | Sage and Soda |
| Sweet treats | Cookie Crush Co., Sweet-Lea Crafted | Sage and Soda |
| Sweet treats; gluten-free items planned at Neighbors | Mottmiller Market | Both |
Mottmiller Market is the one name on both lists. Co-owner Chris Murphy told The Blade that Royale Coffee is one of two Smithsonian-certified bird-friendly coffee roasteries in Ohio. Hannah Beckhoff, who runs the Yellow Moose home bakery stand, makes her tarts and pies with sourdough starter. She also pointed The Blade to Sage and Soda's wall of local business cards as part of the appeal.
So if a particular scone or tart stood out, the maker's name gives you a second place to find it.
Two Shops That Split the Day
The menus overlap more than you'd expect, since both serve dirty sodas, alani drinks and espresso. Their hours and their layout are where they differ.
Neighbors Coffee & Books is set up for staying a while. According to The Blade's July profile, it has a reading room in the back stocked with used books for sale, plus board games, cards and coloring books around the room. The drinks are named for books and reading. The Bookshop Classic is vanilla and brown sugar, the Hemingway is maple and sea salt, and the Dark Academia is dark chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla. The menu also includes hot and iced teas, matcha, chai and drinks for kids, and seasonal menus rotate. Co-owner Ronald Rasberry Jr.'s late father used to say "See you tomorrow then." The phrase is printed on the door you walk out of.
Sage and Soda treats breakfast as its "number one thing" alongside the drinks, The Blade reported in August. That means breakfast burritos with sausage, bacon or potato with egg and cheese, and avocado bacon toast. The signature dirty sodas include the Sunlit Meadow, made with Fanta, pineapple, strawberry and coconut cold foam, and the Wildflower Fizz, made with Sprite, cotton candy and creamer. The shop said its fall menu, due Sept. 1, would feature flavors like pumpkin cookie butter and crisp apple. The owners also announced a Wednesday coloring club from 11 a.m. to noon and Saturday play dates on the patio.
Based on the hours each shop gave The Blade this summer, in its Neighbors and Sage and Soda stories, here's how the week divides:
- Weekday mornings before 7 a.m.: Sage and Soda, which opens at 6 a.m. daily.
- Weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Both are open.
- Weekend mornings from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Both are open.
- Weekend afternoons after 3 p.m.: Sage and Soda, open until 6 p.m.
Hours at new shops tend to change once they settle in. Before you plan around them, check the Neighbors Coffee & Books Facebook page and the Sage and Soda Facebook page, where both shops post events.
480 Dixie Highway Now Has Two Drink Counters
Sage and Soda moved into the former Kim's Kakes space after the bakery's owner moved to Georgia. Its neighbor at the same address is Rossford Nutrition, where Annette O'Hara has sold smoothies, teas and shakes for more than five years. O'Hara used the construction months to rebrand and change the shop's colors. She also set up booths at the Rossford All Years Reunion near Danny's Cafe and at Riverfest, and was considering a grand reopening.
On one corner of the new roundabout, Danny's Cafe manager Mariah Segura told The Blade that the day after it opened was "super busy at lunch." One building now holds a smoothie bar and a coffee-and-soda shop, with a sit-down café across the intersection. That's a lot more choice for one downtown block than Rossford had last spring.
Getting Downtown Now
The roundabout is the first phase of a larger streetscape plan that Mayor Neil MacKinnon described as running from Rossford High School to Hollywood Casino. The construction bid covered sidewalks, lighting, landscaping, seatwalls and a roundabout wall. In August, barriers were still up beside Danny's until poles could be installed along the sidewalk edge.
Two other projects affect the drive into town:
- Glenwood Road and Buck Road roundabout. WTOL reported that work would start in July and keep a route through the intersection open the whole time, with completion expected in mid-October. The project may still be wrapping up the week this post goes live.
- SR 65 bridge over Grassy Creek, just south of downtown. The Blade reported a closure of about 105 days beginning in early May, with reopening projected for mid-August, weather permitting. Local traffic used Eagle Point and Colony roads during the closure.
O'Hara told The Blade she expected that "once the bridge is open and the other roundabout is done people will not be hesitant to come through town."
Two Late-October Afternoons Downtown
The next two downtown events are a natural time to try the shops if you haven't yet.
The Rossford Halloween Parade is on Sunday, Oct. 25. The City of Rossford Parks & Recreation events page lists the date and a registration form for groups.
Trick or Treat Off the Street runs Friday, Oct. 30, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the downtown Pocket Park next to Los Toros and Red's Irish Goodbye. The city's event notice describes it as a trick-or-treat event put on with Rossford businesses and organizations, and it includes a link for businesses to register. Under the summer hours both shops reported, Neighbors Coffee & Books and Sage and Soda each stay open until 6 p.m. on weekdays.
Small businesses like these shape how a downtown feels day to day, and that's part of what Chirley Lima watches when she talks with Rossford homeowners about where their town is going. If you'd like a clear, local read on how the new roundabout and streetscape work could affect your own plans, Book A Consultation.
