Whole Foods Market Plans Orland Store

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Orland area food shoppers will have a new alternative when Whole Foods Market opens later this year inside the former Borders book store at 15260 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park.

The Texas-based chain plans to open a natural and organic foods store sometime this fall. The Orland store is one of eight stores Whole Foods plans to add later this year, the company said Wednesday in its first quarter earnings report.

The Orland store at 27,000 square feet is on the small size, especially when compared to a Meijer or Jewel, but Whole Foods prides itself on featuring natural and organic foods that are free of artificial ingredients and hydrogenated fats.

The Orland store will be the chain’s first location in the Southland. Whole Foods has 17 other stores in the North and West Suburbs and 317 worldwide. Whole Foods said the store would bring 150-160 jobs.

The company started in 1980 in Austin and had sales of $10 billion in fiscal 2011.

White Fence Farm Now Open

White Fence Farm, which claims to have the World’s Greatest Chicken, has reopened its Romeoville, Joliet, Downers Grove and Plainfield Crossing locations for the season. The newly remodeled Riverside store won’t open until March. For information, visit them online at http://www.whitefencefarm.com/.

Puppy Store Closes in Mokena

The Puppy Love Boutique closed recently at 19155 S. LaGrange Road in Mokena. The store opened in November 2009.

CarHop Opens in Chicago Heights

CarHop, a car dealer that focuses on helping car buyers with poor or no credit get auto financing, opened its fifth Chicago-area location at 207 Halsted Street in Chicago Heights last month.

“People in the Chicago Heights area who have credit issues will now have an opportunity to get driving again,” District Manager Peter Desouza said in a news release. “And we will do everything we can to get them approved, provide customers with a chance to improve their credit and change their lives for the better.”

CarHop includes an 18-month, 18,000 mile limited warranty on all of its vehicles.

“The Chicago Heights store will help serve our customers’ needs by being in a more convenient location for people who live in that area of Chicago, and people who live near the border of Indiana and Illinois,” store manager Jim Arvia said in the release.

For information, visit http://www.carhop.com/.