Baby's Cheesesteak reopens in new Orland Park location

 

Baby's Cheesesteak is open again in Orland Park.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Baby's Cheesesteak, which closed its first Orland Park location last August, reopened last week at its new location at 15020 S. LaGrange Road in the Art Van Furniture plaza.

"We closed because of the expansion of LaGrange Road and because Starbucks wanted our location," said Baby's owner Andreas DeLeon.

But the company remained open at its original location in Country Club Hills as it looked for a new location.

"We had plazas from as far away as Berwyn and Oswego coming to us asking us to open a franchise," DeLeon said. "But we didn't want to venture that far.

"This location is smaller than what we're used to, but it's bigger than our original store. We went from 85 tables to 21 tables," he said. It also doesn't have a drive-through window.

Business has been booming in just the few days the store has been open, he said.

"We are looking at taking the space next door to us," DeLeon said.

Although the front counter staff is mostly new, all of the cooks have made the trip to the new location.

"I was able to keep them on at our Country Club Hills location," DeLeon said.

DeLeon said the opened was delayed because it took longer than expected to get the beef slicer for the new store.

"We wanted to open smart," he said. "Our customers have been pretty cool with the delayed opening. For the past eight months, we've been getting emails asking when we were going to open. So I knew we had something to go with."

DeLeon said the menu was the same as at the old location with one exception.

"We're doing pizza with Clubber's Pizza, which is a hand-tossed pizza that is very cost effective for us," he said.

Baby's will sell whole pizzas as well as pizza by the slice, he said.

Also new is an oven-baked cheese steak.

"We call it the OBC," he said. "We wrap the cheese steak in pizza dough and then we bake it for about 15 minutes. It comes out like a calzone."

You can still get the original cheese steak or the most popular version "crispy."

DeLeon said he's planning a grand opening for later in July and he's working on 10,000 fliers to announce the new location.

"We deliver to all of Orland Park and Orland Hills and to 183rd and Harlem in Tinley Park," he said.

Hours are from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

For information, call 708-349-9800 or follow them on Facebook.

Starbucks, which closed a location in March 2013 across the street at 15833 S. LaGrange, is planning on opening in the former Baby's site. One of the reasons for moving the coffee shop was the lack of a drive-through.

Al's Beef teams up with Da Coach

Mokena-based Al's Beef, who signed Mike Ditka as the company spokesman back in May, has announced that in honor of July being National Hot Dog Month, the chain will add Spicy Jumbo  Ditka Dogs to its menu this month.

The special dog will weigh in at one-third of a pound of Vienna Beef on a poppy seed bun. That's about three times the size of a normal hot dog.

Free Slurpees on 7-Eleven Day

Free small Slurpees will be given away from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, July 11, which is the annual 7-Eleven Day at participating locations.

The giveaway is the Texas-based company's way of celebrating its birthday.

This year, the company will also give away free stuff every day from Saturday, July 12, to Saturday, July 19, to anyone who downloads the 7-Eleven app for your smartphone.

You can get the app at http://bit.ly/1q9Xzbu.

Victoria's Secret to open first PINK store

The first standalone PINK store in the Chicago area will open at 10 a.m. Friday, July 11, at Louis Joliet Mall.

The Victoria's Secret offshoot "will offer lingerie, sleepwear, loungewear, collegiate clothing, beauty products and accessories for college-age women," according to a release from the company.

As a store within a store, PINK was so successful that it was expanded into its own storefront.

Victoria's Secret will expand into the space once used by PINK.

First Midwest buys Great Lakes Bank

The parent of First Midwest Bank has agreed to pay $58 million for a group of eight banks in the south suburbs.

Itasca-based First Midwest Bancorp Inc. is acquiring Blue Island-based Great Lakes Financial Resources Inc., the parent of Great Lakes Bank. The bank, with assets of $582 million, has offices in Alsip, Blue Island, Flossmoor, Homewood, Lansing, Matteson and Mokena.

“We look forward to welcoming Great Lakes’ customers and employees to First Midwest and to building on the long-standing relationships developed over the more than 100 years that Great Lakes has provided financial services to its clients and communities,” First Midwest president and CEO Michael L. Scudder said in a prepared statement.

The companies expect the sale to close by the end of 2014.

 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 catch up on Comings & Goings in other parts of the Southland at www.southlandbusinessnews.com