The Reichley family resides in West Chester Twp. and owns four other area Reichley’s Hallmark Gold Crown store locations, including Village Green in Fairfield, Centerville Place in Centerville (Reichley’s Hallmark flagship store), the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek and in the Imperial Shopping Center in Vandalia.
“It’s a whole new start. It’s remodeled from top to bottom,” said Rick Reichley of the newest Butler County store, which he owns with his wife, Lilah. “It’s a totally new buildout with all new fixtures. Obviously, the new location with retail all around us is just a really good fit for a Hallmark Gold Crown store.”
Originally, the Bridgewater Falls location was built as a Justice store. Later, it was the home to Thimble Gardens. The store boasts 4,030-square feet of space.
Reichley’s Hallmark Gold Crown stores sell cards, gifts, collectibles, jewelry, puzzles, fashion, sports memorabilia, garden and kitchen items.
“We hope to give our customers ‘the Hallmark experience.’ The brick-and-mortar stores need to deliver ‘The Hallmark Experience,’ and customers need to come in and feel that,” Reichley said.
He said the staff is trained in a way to deliver it and to engage with the customers in a personable way.
“Although, you can buy a lot of products online, you don’t get that hands-on, in-person Hallmark experience,” Reichley said.
“It’s similar to Disney. You can get Disney products anywhere, in all different stores, you can get them online, and you can consume them on your TV, but what is the true Disney experience? The parks — Disney World and Disneyland, and those parks are huge for Disney, and people flock to them. Why? Because they want that in-person Disney experience. The same is true with our stores,“ he said.
The Hallmark experience comes through in the store’s ambiance, the set-up, the product and customer service, he said.
“Everything is about that experience versus just staring at a screen.”
The Reichleys first opened a store in Liberty Square, which they acquired, in 2007. That store opened in 2002 under different ownership. The Reichley’s Hallmark Gold Crown store in Liberty Square was open from 2007 until last June, when the lease was up, and the store closed to move to the new Bridgewater Falls location.
The Reichleys ran the Liberty Square location for 17 years.
Last year was a busy year for The Reichleys. They acquired the Vandalia store, which was previously Katie’s Hallmark. The store opened as Reichley’s Hallmark on April 1. After that, they started closing Liberty Square, which had to be vacated by the end of June. They got the keys to the Bridgewater Falls location on Sept. 11.
“In just 30 days, we completely remodeled and built out that store. It opened on Oct. 11 in time for the ornament debut,” Reichley said.
The Fairfield Chamber of Commerce hosted the store’s ribbon cutting and holiday open house on Nov. 8, 2024.
As a family-owned and operated business, Rick and Lilah wear multiple hats. Each location has a manager and an assistant manager, but it’s a very hands-on business.
“We are definitely not corporate. This is family-owned and operated. My wife and I oversee everything. My wife works more on the merchandising side, and she’s the buyer. She also collaborates with the staff and coordinates the advertising. I focus on the operations, including the accounting, computers, information systems, buildouts, and those kinds of things,” Reichley said.
He said there are no corporate Hallmark stores in the state of Ohio anymore. All of the stores are independently owned. Hallmark Gold Crown stores are akin to dealerships.
The store carries Hallmark cards, products, and ornaments as well as other brands.
“It’s basically 50/50. Half of the store is Hallmark product. The other half of it is everything else. Of course, within the guidelines of the dealership,” Reichley said.
Other product offerings include Willow Tree collectibles by Demdaco, Jim Shore, Ohio State merchandise, and more.
“Hallmark Gold Crown stores are like shopping in a mini department store,” Reichley said.
Different products are displayed throughout the store, and those areas are constantly changing as fresh and new products are being brought into the store.
“Hallmark Gold Crown stores have worked so well for us because of our department store backgrounds,” Reichley said. “I always advise people that get into a small business like this, is you’ve got to have your areas of expertise, and execute everything in a way so that it moves seamlessly.
“One of the biggest parts of our business is Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments. We will start receiving ornaments in June for the first set of two for Keepsake Ornaments. The Keepsake Ornament Premiere will be held on July 12-20, 2025. It’s always the second weekend in July. It has a huge following, and every year, it’s a different line. It’s extremely popular with our customers,” Reichley said.
There’s even a local ornament club called “Reichley’s Treasured Keepsakes,” which was formed at the Liberty Square store. The group meets, they talk about the ornaments that are coming out, and they do fun things together, but it all revolves around Hallmark’s Keepsake Ornaments.
There’s also a second club out of the Vandalia store called “Ornamaniacs,” and it’s a large club.
MORE DETAILS
Reichley’s Hallmark is located at 3425 Princeton Road, Suite 129, in Bridgewater Falls (next to Rally House, facing Old Navy). The hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For more details about Reichley’s Hallmark, or to shop online, go to reichleyshallmark.com.
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