For many students, Wiggin Street Coffee is a staple of Kenyon’s campus, so recent rumors spread on Yik Yak that the business is planning to close permanently have sparked concern. Fortunately, River Road Coffeehouse — Wiggins’ parent company — has no plans of closing its Gambier branch, and it will remain in full operation. 

River Road Coffeehouse is currently undergoing internal restructuring that will combine it with its sister company, One Line Coffee, underneath Ohio Coffee Collaborative, LLC. This restructuring does not affect ownership, which remains the same, and was primarily motivated by a desire to streamline accounting processes. 

“This is exciting for our accounting team but will not be affecting our operations in any manner,” Jessica Chadwick, the regional operations manager for the Gambier branch, wrote in an email to the Collegian. “This will not change anything for Wiggins.” 

While restructuring will not impact operations at Wiggins, Chadwick and the current Wiggins management team have implemented several changes over the winter break with the intention of progressing toward last semester’s goal of opening seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

Among some of these changes to Wiggins’ flow of operations were doubling the amount of people working at the register, combining the food and drink pickup areas to increase efficiency and fully reopening indoor dining areas. Chadwick is hopeful that as soon as Wiggins is able to resume operations on Sundays, the team can progress toward having later hours. Currently, Wiggins is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. six days a week.

“We are currently very, very close to opening back up on Sundays,” Chadwick said. “This at the moment is our top goal.” 

While the news about Wiggins’ internal restructuring has caused some students to worry that Wiggins may close permanently, Chadwick is positive that it will not happen underneath the Ohio Coffee Collaborative. 

“I can assure you we have no plans to close Wiggins,” she said. “We are very proud to be in the community of Gambier.”