After the Flying Joe coffee closed in downtown Toledo, tenants and workers at 215 N. Summit St. were left without a place to grab coffee while coming and going.
That all changed in early March when another coffee shop moved into the space from its location on West Sylvania Avenue.
Downtown coffee lovers are rejoicing over Wandering Bean Coffee Co. taking over the throne from the Flying Joe, which closed its North Summit Street location in January.
“I’m glad something else came in,” said Toledo resident Rohan Sachdeva. “This is a great coffee shop, and it’s nice to have one right here.”
Mr. Sachdeva is not the only customer that’s thankful for the new coffee shop.
Dan Campagna, owner of Wandering Bean Coffee Co., said when he first opened the new location, it was “like they were waiting for me to open the doors.”
“The facilities guy was in here painting and stuff,” Mr. Campagna said. “He was like, ‘Every day, I’m in here, people are knocking on the door, trying to see when you’re opening.’ A security guy in the building next door, he’s been a huge support, too, he said the residents kept asking and kept asking.”
Mr. Campagna decided to make the move to downtown Toledo because of maintenance issues in the shop’s former space.
When he was looking for a new location, the Realtor he worked with brought him to the space, and Mr. Campagna instantly “fell in love” with it, he said.
“He brought me over here because he said Flying Joe’s was closing, and I just kind of fell in love with the space and the people that are here,” Mr. Campagna said. “The building’s management is just fantastic, and they’ve just been so supportive.”
One of the biggest reasons the building’s management was excited for Wandering Coffee moving in, Mr. Campagna said, is because of the two apartment buildings it’s connected to — Tower on the Maumee and Edge 21.
“The residents want coffee,” he said. “They were eager to get somebody in here, into space.”
University of Toledo student Kennedi Schultz, who lives at Edge 21, said she loves the Flying Joe’s Perrysburg location, and, when she went to go a few weeks ago, she was bummed to find out the downtown location was closed.
“I was like, ‘Where did it go?’” she said of Flying Joe. “I was excited that something else was definitely going to be here.”
Haley Twine, property manager of Tower on the Maumee, said the apartment’s leasing office was excited when they heard about Wandering Coffee moving in next door.
Since Wandering Coffee opened, Ms. Twine said, a lot of residents go there to work on their homework, do meetings, and “all that fun stuff,” Ms. Twine said.
“We’re definitely Wandering Bean advocates,” she said.
Before Wandering Bean had a brick and mortar building on West Sylvania, it started in a mobile trailer. Mr. Campagna would travel from place to place while working for a health insurance company, where he worked for 16 years.
He always wanted to own a food truck, and he loves coffee, so he decided to merge the two, Mr. Campagna said.
“It’s easier to go where you know there’s a ton of people than trying to bring people to you,” he said.
Melisa Blasingim, who lives in Toledo, said she’s glad to have another local business come into downtown.
“A new local business is good because we have all the Starbucks, we have all the Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s just nice to have local small businesses,” she said.
First Published March 19, 2025, 5:16 p.m.
