GALION — The Tim Hortons coffee shop in Galion is just one of the nearly 1,000 cafés to open in the United States since 1984.
But residents are glad, nevertheless.
Franchise partner Jenine Skowron said Galion’s coffee shop put 35 area residents to work, around 60 percent of that base total works full time. Skowron also opened a Tim Hortons in Bucyrus, Tiffin, Fostoria and Ashland.
“So we really want to saturate the area and create a community here,” Skowron said Tuesday morning at the franchise’s ribbon cutting ceremony with the Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce.
Skowron was not involved in the recent construction of the Tim Hortons in Madison Township.
The Canadian company is known for its coffee and doughnuts, but also serves lunch options. Tim Hortons is Galion’s latest installment of fast food, with Arby’s opening weeks prior. Two additional restaurants, Ralphie’s and Iron Works Bar and Grill, will also see starts in 2017, according to Galion City Council President Carl Watt.
“It’s all very exciting,” President of the Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce Joe Kleinknecht said. “All growth is good because it creates jobs and the more jobs you have the better tax base it creates and taxes are what keep everything going.”
Kleinknecht also said he is excited for the opening of the 62-bed hotel on Brandt Road and Ohio 598, expected for Feb. 15. Construction began March 2016.
The coffee shop ran a special from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday that entered every customer into a raffle for a chance to win a year’s supply of coffee.
