Five Below to Open In Tinley on Friday

Five Below will open at 9:30 a.m. Friday at 191st and Harlem in Tinley Park.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Five Below will open at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Brookside Marketplace in Tinley Park.

Five Below, a national discount retailer that caters to teens and tweens, will open five new stores in the Chicago area at 9:30 a.m. on Friday including one in the Brookside Marketplace at 191st Street and Harlem Avenue in Tinley Park.

Store hours will be 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Each day during opening weekend, the stores will be giving away free Five Below T-shirts with any purchase to the first 300 customers. The stores will also offer 5-cent hot dogs, and other giveaways including a $100 Five Below shopping spree. In addition, Benny the Bull from the Chicago Bulls, Southpaw from the Chicago White Sox, and Staley Da Bear from the Chicago Bears will make special appearances at the stores throughout the weekend.

The new store is part of an expansion of the mall between Kohl's and Dick's Sporting Goods. Also opening soon will be an Old Navy and HomeGoods stores.

The opening is part of a surge of Five Below stores into the Chicago market. A store opened earlier this year at 94th Avenue and 159th Street in Orland Hills.

Other stores opening Friday include Woodfield Village Green, 1465 East Golf Road in Schaumburg; Woodgrove Festival, 1001 W. 75th St., Suite 171 in Woodbridge; Oakridge Court, 802 Randall Road in Algonquin; and North Riverside Mall, 7501 W. Cermak St. in North Riverside.

A sixth location, in Kennedy Plaza in Chicago, will open this fall, bringing the total number of Five Below stores in the Chicago market to 16.

“We took Chicago by storm this year,” says David Schlessinger, co-founder of Five Below, in a news release. “Never before have we opened so many stores in one region in such a short period of time. In 2012, we’re going to continue to penetrate the marketplace, and give even more Chicago customers access to our product offerings.”

The opening of these stores is part of a rapid growth initiative that will see Five Below open 50 new stores in 2011, increasing its total number of stores to just under 200 by year-end.

Zante Lounge Holds Anniversary Party
Zante Lounge will celebrate its second anniversary at 8888 W. 159th St. in Orland Hills with a party starting at 3 p.m. Sunday featuring the music of Maggie Speaks, a $1,000 bean bag tournament, a free pig roast, a dunk tank, burger eating contest and a chance to win a 9-day trip to Jamaica. For information, call 708-364-0100.