The company sought extended hours for its first Dayton-area site at 6 Oakwood Ave., which is in a district that restricts operating times. The chain of more than 200 sites that features warm, deluxe baked goods and ice cream has a business model that includes closing at 2 a.m., officials said.
Council’s decision last week allows Insomnia Cookies to remain open until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and offer delivery until 2 a.m. daily on a year trial basis.
Concerns about noise and the late-hour traffic the business may attract — notably from UD students — were factors after a near-hourlong public hearing, Oakwood officials said.
“I have concerns about UD students,” Mayor Bill Duncan said. “The University of Dayton has not been a good neighbor to us and they don’t police their students.”
“That said, I don’t think Insomnia Cookies should pay the penalty for UD students being bad neighbors. I put that as much on the administration as I do the students,” Duncan added.
One Irving Avenue resident told council UD students “in varying degrees of intoxication” are known in the late-night hours to come “stumbling down the street screaming and yelling and cursing,” and causing property damage.
“I like that there’s a cookie shop there,” resident Brent Riley added. “But asking to stay open past 10 p.m. is against Oakwood standards and I think that most folks here that live in Oakwood … would not want a business that was open until 2 a.m. that was drawing the bar crowd down their street.”
Insomnia Cookies Vice President Operations Dallas Warble said his company’s sites that have late-night hours are “good neighbors” and the business is willing to work with the city.
“We chose Oakwood for a reason. Obviously, we love the proximity to the University of Dayton. That’s really important to us,” Warble said. “But there are other things, too.”
The proximity to hospitals “is really good for our business,” he added, saying the location “is on the 50-yard line of where people live.”
Many of the customers are businesses that have employees working second and third shift, Warble said.
“Most of our business, the consumption is off premises. We are a delivery company. We are a company that people (visit) and go on their way,” he said.
Warble said the company would be flexible. “We really want to do business here. We want to make this successful.”
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