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| T.J. Maxx opens today in Tinley Park's Brookside Marketplace. |
Southland Savvy
Discount retailer T.J. Maxx will open its new Tinley Park
store at 8 a.m. today at Brookside Marketplace at 191st Street and Harlem
Avenue.
The 23,000-square-foot store replaces a slightly larger
location at 16025 S. Harlem in the Tinley Park Plaza. That store closed Sunday.
Its employees were offered transfers to the new store.
As first reported in May, the store will occupy
space that formerly housed the Lane Bryant women's clothing store where five
women were murdered in February 2008. The killer has not been caught.
T.J. Maxx will make a $10,000 donation to the Tinley
Park-based Together We Cope charity in honor of the Lane Bryant victims: Connie
R. Woolfolk, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, of Oak Forest; Carrie
Hudek Chiuso, of Frankfort, Rhoda McFarland, of
Joliet, and Jennifer L. Bishop, of South Bend, Ind.
Kathryn Straniero, executive director of Together We
Cope, said the agency was honored to
receive this donation.
“We will use these funds to continue the work we do at
this time of the year, which is helping to keep people in their homes during
the winter, helping to pay heating bills for residents having financial crises,
and putting children in need into warm winter coats. We are honored to do so in
memory of the five women who lost their lives in this tragedy.”
Together We Cope is a Tinley Park based nonprofit that
serves families in crisis from 22 south suburban communities.
The T.J. Maxx opening is the second of a national chain in
that part of Brookside Marketplace, which had lagged behind the rest of the
development. A Ross Dress for Less discount store opened last month just to the
north and a Kay Jewelers store is set to open in another new building that was
recently finished on the site, which is owned by Ohio-based DDR Corp.
Grand opening store hours today will be 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Regular hours will be from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
TJX Cos., which owns T.J. Maxx, also operates a HomeGoods
store at Brookside Marketplace.
Pure Barre fitness studio
opens in Orland Park
Pure Barre, a fitness center for women that uses ballet
moves to help women get in shape, opened Tuesday at 14934 S. LaGrange Road in
Orland Park's Park Pointe Plaza.
"We use small weights as well as the ballet bar to
facilitate our workouts," said studio manager Mary Bertke, who is also one
of six fitness instructors at the studio. "But dance experience is not
necessary."
Bertke said the aim of Pure Barre is to "lengthen and
strengthen muscle tone" through isometric movements favored by ballet
dancers.
The Orland location is the first in the Chicago suburbs for
the chain, which began franchising in 2009 and has grown to more than 150
locations.
Bertke said classes are offered from 5:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m.
For information, call 708-460-4015, visit Pure Barre or check out their Facebook page.
Used car lots coming
to Bridgeview
Two new used car lots will be opening soon in Bridgeview.
One will take over a former Citgo gas station and detail
shop at 9150 S. Harlem Ave. while the other will take over the former Super Buy
Motors car lot at 7158 S. Harlem Ave.
“We’re always glad to see businesses choose Bridgeview as
their destination,” said Bridgeview Trustee Claudette Struzik. “It’s an
encouraging trend, and we’ll continue to work to draw interest from businesses
that will invest in our community and its people.”
Struzik said the businesses were planning on investing
nearly $1 million in each location.
Both lots have already been approved by the Bridgeview
Village Board.
If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old
favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com.
You can also follow business happenings at Comings & Goings.
