Aldi to open Friday in Chicago Ridge

By Bob Bong

Southland Savvy

The Westfield Chicago Ridge Mall Aldi store is holding its grand opening at 10 a.m. Friday.

Grand opening events include the chance to win groceries for an entire year, the chance to win tickets to see Glee Live on Stage, and $10 gift certificates for every $100 you spend at your favorite mall stores all weekend. Just bring your receipts dated May 20-22 to the Concierge Center.

The Radio Disney AM 1300 Road Crew will be on hand beginning at noon Saturday. Live entertainment will be going on from noon to 4 p.m. all three days including live music, face painting and balloon artists.

The idea of a grocery store in a mall may seem new to younger generations but Jewel supermarkets were original tenants of both Ford City shopping center on the Southwest Side and River Oaks Mall in Calumet City when they both opened in the mid-1960s; though both left within a few years.

For more information, visit their website at http://www.aldifoods.com/ or click here.

Simply Smokin’ closes
Simply Smokin, the latest restaurant to try its luck at 10211 W. Lincoln Highway in Frankfort, is closed, the apparent victim of an eviction.

Frankfort police told the Frankfort Station newspaper that the owners of the restaurant were evicted a couple of weeks ago. The story indicated the restaurant’s furnishings were strewn about in front of the restaurant, which would be consistent with an eviction.

Funny thing is, when the restaurant opened last summer, the Daily Southtown reported that its operators were longtime owners of the property.

Another funny thing is that the property is listed for sale with a couple of local real estate companies. The asking price is $1.3 million and all of the listings say the owner is retiring.

The string of failures there is puzzling considering all of the traffic that Lincoln Highway gets.

Gas City stations are now Speedways
The 17 Gas City stations bought by Speedway at the bankruptcy auction last month were rebranded last week. Hope you used your Gold Card rewards because they didn’t carry over to Speedway’s Speedy Rewards program. There were 4 stations in Frankfort, 3 in Homer Glen, 2 in Mokena, 2 in New Lenox and single stores in Tinley Park, Shorewood, Oswego, Naperville, Romeoville and Darien. It doesn’t appear the new Speedways will carry E85 fuel. For more information, visit their website at http://www.speedway.com/.

Golden Rose opening at Chicago Ridge
Another store opening at Chicago Ridge Mall on Friday is Golden Rose USA cosmetics. The store will be across the way from Aldi. For more information, visit their website at http://www.goldenroseusa.com/ or visit their Facebook page.

Deal of the day
If you like buffets, here’s a deal. Go to Old Country Buffet’s Facebook page and click the “Like” button. You will be able to print a coupon good for one free dinner buffet with the purchase of another dinner buffet and a beverage. The coupon is good through Wednesday night.