Reynolds & Reynolds Café | Photo by Christian Peters | The Wright State Guardian
Reynolds and Reynolds-sponsored cafes on Wright State University’s (WSU) Dayton campus will remain closed due to COVID-19 issues. Plans for their reopening in spring 2022 are being discussed.
Rey-Rey Cafe
Opened in December 2015, ReyRey Cafe is a student-run cafe located in Rike Hall. It is sponsored by the local company Reynolds and Reynolds.
Closing in spring 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and university closure, the cafe reopened briefly in the fall of 2020 before closing again in spring 2021. Plans were then made for the cafe to open for fall 202l, which was successful until they recently closed again.
According to Seth Bauguess, director of communications, this new closure was due to COVID-19 exposure among the staff.
ReyRey is set to reopen for spring semester 2022.
The Wright State Guardian reached out to Paige Wilms, CEO of ReyRey, and Emelia Renali, marketing director for the cafe, and have yet to receive a response regarding the COVID-19 challenges and reopening plans for the cafe.
Espresso Lane
Located in the Russ Engineering Center, Espresso Lane is a coffee shop also sponsored by the Reynolds and Reynolds company.
Opened in 2015 and closed in the spring of 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cafe is popular among engineering and computer science majors.
According to Nicholas Paige, marketing director for Chartwells, WSU’s foodservice who also supports the cafe, various campus and community partners including Reynolds and Reynolds and Chartwells are currently discussing the possibility of reopening the cafe.
“At this time, we are reviewing all factors including the financials to determine if this (reopening the Cafe) could be a possibility,” Paige wrote.
The review of the Cafe and its financials is being considered for a possible reopening in spring semester 2022.
The Wright State Guardian contacted Mary Jean Henry, Assistant Vice President for Corporate and Community Engagement, and she did not wish to provide comment on these discussions for Espresso Lane.
Opinions
Engineering students like Ibrahim Abdal-Halim, Elyse Camerer and Benjamin Revilock enjoyed having Espresso Lane as an amenity due to their amount of time spent in the Russ Engineering Center.
“I was a little discouraged about Espresso Lane being closed for so long because as engineering majors we practically live in Russ and need coffee all the time,” Abdal-Halim said.
While Espresso Lane attracts those in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, ReyRey Cafe is popular among business and finance students.
Senior finance major Chris St. Pierre reported that when the cafe was open he would get coffee every day before class and would be pleased to see the cafe reopen in the spring.
