Rabbit Hole Books reopened on Thursday, April 23, after more than two months of closure following a fire in the garage building where the bookstore is located on West First Street in downtown Dayton.
The closure became a major local story and featured disputes between the city and business over inspections, repairs, and differing accounts of the condition of the garage, which was built in 1926.
Learn more about the grand mansions demolished for the garage and the street’s former residents
At one point, bookstore director Larkin Vonalt said city officials wanted repairs completed across the entire building, including the upper garage levels, before either ground-floor business could reopen, a process that could have taken months.
A WKEF story in early March reported that “The businesses and sidewalks were closed earlier this month due to structural integrity concerns … the City of Dayton’s Director of Planning said the structure has been a concern of theirs for a while, even being flagged as recently as August. ‘This building has been identified over time. If you might recall a car went through the front, we had to actually take emergency actions a year or two ago to remove a sign that was falling, again, that the owner neglected to respond to. There have been issues with this structure prior to this, with notifications from our team about the conditions’ … (The) Fire Department requested an inspection from city staff after seeing multiple hazards. The inspection resulted in a public nuisance order sent to building owner Paul Hutchins on February 23rd, and on March 3rd, sidewalk barriers went up surrounding the property.”
More recently, the bookstore, building owner Paul Hutchins, and city officials reached an agreement that created a path forward. Repairs are now being handled in phases, beginning with exterior brickwork and other priority items while allowing the bookstore to resume operations.
Rabbit Hole Books held a soft opening at noon Thursday, with additional festivities later in the day including a ribbon cutting.
The store reopened with a temporary fenced walkway still surrounding the entrance while additional exterior work continues.
In a comment on a Dayton Vistas Facebook post, Rabbit Hole Books said that “it was nice party today, and wonderful to see so many familiar faces return.”
However, they also noted that “the city this afternoon presented us with a document stating that we would have to install wheelchair ramps if they keep the sidewalk barricaded longer than 30 days. And while we want the store to be accessible to everyone, we are dismayed that now the city seems to think that they can keep us wrapped up in orange snow fence indefinitely.”
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