Warehouse 4 | Photo by Maxwell Patton | Edited by Kayli Thompson | The Wright State Guardian
Vandalia’s Warehouse 4 has been giving guests a relaxing space to drink coffee and chat with friends since it opened in 2013.
The shop recently ranked third on Yelp’s list of the 100 best coffee shops in Ohio, which is due to a commitment to customer service and quality coffee.
History of the shop
Warehouse 4, which is located at 335 Dixie Drive in Vandalia, was started by Chris Merritt along with Samantha Chamberlain and her father Todd in July 2013. At the time, the elder Chamberlain owned the building.
Before it housed a coffee shop, the building had been a candy store, warehouse and other businesses. According to manager Travis Tarter, Warehouse 4 received its name because Todd Chamberlain loved the feel of warehouses.
“He really liked just the vibe of a warehouse, which has to do with some of the design here,” said Tarter. “A lot of the metalwork you see, the ceiling, the bar, it has that metal warehouse feel, and he had four daughters, so he called it Warehouse 4.”
About a year after it opened, Vandalia resident Lundy Neely bought the Warehouse 4 business.
Soon after, Tarter and co-manager Adam Lowe began working there and helped expand the business and its menu, which at the time only included coffee items.
“We focused on our kitchen, we focused on the bakery and we focused on just being part of the city and we continued to grow,” said Tarter.
Tarter believes that there are two key factors to Warehouse 4’s success. One of those factors is how they treat their patrons.
“We push very hard, and we want to make sure our customer service is solid,” said Tarter. “We want to put out a quality product.”
To achieve this standard, the shop uses ingredients such as Rahn’s Artisan Breads and meats and cheese from Boar’s Head and utilizes high-quality coffee roasters to brew their coffee.
Another factor, Tarter believes, is the lack of similar coffee shops in the Vandalia area.
“There aren’t many places like us, this third-wave modern coffee shop cafe, in the area, so I think that also has a lot to do with our success,” said Tarter.
The coronavirus impact
When the coronavirus hit Ohio in March, the business suspended dine-in service, though customers could still place a carry-out order or use the drive-thru. Service was later restricted to drive-thru only on March 23. Tarter is grateful that the business has this feature, which was installed shortly after the Neelys bought Warehouse 4.
“The drive-thru really saved us through COVID,” said Tarter.
The shop opened back up for dine-in on June 15, and customers flocked to the business.
“As soon as we reopened inside, we were pretty busy,” said Tarter. “We tried to set our store up. We decreased our seating here trying to promote social distancing and promote the use of masks when people aren’t sitting at their tables. We’ve tried to still take that seriously and maintain our sanitizing standards, not even maintaining but doing even better than we did in the past, but at the same time, a lot of those customers were just so ready to come back inside and have a place where they can come and sit down.”
Employee perspectives
Wright State University (WSU) graduate Alexandra Torres has worked as a barista at Warehouse 4 for almost a year, working through the pandemic.
“We took precautions as quickly as possible and we were very worried about having a severe decline in our customer base, but I have to say that we’ve been pretty lucky on that front,” said Torres.
Torres and fellow barista Andrew Bautista, who is also a WSU graduate, both enjoy the environment of Warehouse 4.
Bautista, a recent hire at the shop, worked at the City Coffeehouse in Huber Heights before it closed down due to the pandemic. Bautista regards his experience so far at Warehouse 4 with a positive attitude.
“It’s a lot different than any other coffee shop that I’ve worked at,” Bautista said. “Here, they actually take time to make sure that their coffee tastes good and they really like bringing out the flavors of the coffee. For example, if a coffee comes from Ethiopia, they make sure that they can taste it. Everyone here cares about coffee, and it’s a great culture.”
Warehouse 4 will soon be opening a second location in Kettering at 3131 Wilmington Pike.
