The ax-throwing chain voted "Most Fun Thing to do in New Albany" in 2024 is gone.

Dueling Axes permanently closed all five of its locations on July 31, including its 5,000-square-foot venue at 5780 N. Hamilton Road, Suite A, in The Plaza at Hamilton Quarter. The space, which the company listed as its "Gahanna/New Albany" location, could hold groups of up to 150 and featured a full-service bar.

Co-founders Jess Hellmich and Paul Sherry cited "circumstances outside our control" in a statement reported by NBC4 but did not elaborate. The station said it reached out for more information and did not receive a response.

The Columbus-founded company launched its first downtown location in mid-2018 and expanded to the Hamilton Quarter site as its second venue. It later added locations in Las Vegas, Grove City and Cincinnati. The Grove City and Cincinnati spots had each been open less than a year when the chain shut down.

The founders told 614Now they ran the business for eight years and "had a really good time doing it," adding that as entrepreneurs they may start something new but have nothing planned.

Hellmich and Sherry, who both have construction backgrounds, personally built out much of the original downtown space to keep startup costs low. They also co-founded RKd Solutions, a reservation-management software company, about a year after opening Dueling Axes.

Mobile unit lives on

One piece of the business survived. Square Canvas, an art studio at 10 E. Waterloo St. in Canal Winchester, purchased Dueling Axes' four-lane mobile ax-throwing trailer in mid-July.

Owner Kristin Harlander told the Columbus Dispatch her team re-wrapped the unit with Square Canvas branding and had it running at the Ohio State Fair within days. "My cousin wraps vehicles so he had it re-wrapped for us like the day before we had to be at the fair," Harlander said.

Square Canvas previously operated a two-lane mobile unit called Axes and Easels that combined ax throwing with splatter-paint sessions. With the acquisition, the company now runs two trailers and can serve two events at once. It will also honor Dueling Axes' existing event contracts, including appearances at Columbus Coffee Festival, Columbus Oktoberfest and The Great Bourbon Festival.

Booking is available at squarecanvasart.com/ae.

What's next for the space

No new tenant has been announced for the Hamilton Quarter storefront. No permit filings or leasing announcements for 5780 N. Hamilton Road have surfaced as of Aug. 7. The space sits empty.

The Dueling Axes website updated the New Albany page to read "Permanently Closed" on Aug. 5.