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| Jim Gierucki stands next to a giant Nutcracker in Kris Kringle Haus. (Photo by Bob Bong) |
Southland Savvy
A 25-year Christmas tradition will be ending after this holiday season when Kris Kringle Haus finishes one last go round as Orland Park's pre-eminent Christmas store.
Co-owner Jim Gierucki has decided to hang up the Christmas
stockings for good when the shop closes in January at 9500 W. 143rd St. in
Orland Park Crossing, in the former Coldwater Creek store.
Gierucki and his wife, Cleo, have operated Kris Kringle Haus
for a quarter of a century. For the first 16 years, the shop was operated
year-round in Geneva. The Palos Park couple closed that shop in 2006 and opted
for a season store that would operate from the beginning of October to early
January.
The first year the store was in Palos Heights, but the
couple have been in Orland Park ever since always in a storefront somewhere on
or near LaGrange Road.
"This is the nicest space we've ever had since we went
to a seasonal store," said Gierucki.
The store opened earlier this month and will remain open
until Jan. 9.
"We'll have a retirement party that day," Gierucki
said. "We'll have a cake and cookies and mulled cider."
Until then, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m.
Sunday.
"Everything is for sale," Gierucki said.
"Everything is 20 percent off and we have never had anything on sale this
early before."
The decision has been well received by his customers,
Gierucki said.
"Regulars have been coming in and buying heavy.
Hopefully, we won't have anything left by Jan. 9."
As for Jim and Cleo, "We'll take things a little
easier. Next Christmas we'll put up our own Christmas tree in our house. We've
been so busy we haven't had one up for the last 25 years."
New name, new
location for Frankfort gift shop
Cottage Creations Gift Shop, which first opened in 2000 as
an Irish, German, Austrian import shop
in Mokena, has now opened as Isabel's Journey in its newest location at
28 Kansas St. in historic, downtown Frankfort.
“We felt we’ve been
on a journey since first opening in August 2000," Liz Connolly, who owns
the business with her husband Marty, said in a release.
She said they decided to change the name party because the
new location is their fourth since moving from Mokena.
"We thought a name change to match our journey fit
well. I’ve always loved the name and feel along the way we were watched by a
guardian angel that I, of course, named Isabel," she said.
When they first moved to downtown Frankfort four years ago,
the couple discontinued the imports and have evolved into a more general gift
shop striving to offer an eclectic mix of products with a priority of service
and friendliness.
“We have had the good fortune of a very loyal customer base
that followed our relocations and remained with us on our journey," she
said. "Over the 15 years, we’ve also been blessed with having so many of
those customers become wonderful friends.”
The new location is more than twice as big as their previous
location. Because of the extra space, the couple plans to add unique and
different gift items, many one of a kind, along with an expanded offering of
prepackaged food items.
They said they will have a retail food license and the room
to create a hospitality area with complimentary beverage and product samplings
to enhance the shopping experience.
They will continue offering their popular Nora Fleming
serving ware, cutwork and embroidered table cloths and tea light luminary
shades.
Outriggers closes in
Countryside
Outriggers Flame, a seafood restaurant that opened in early
2014 in the former Flame steakhouse at 803 Joliet Road in Countryside, appears
to have closed.
The restaurant has had a closed sign on the door for a
couple of weeks and its website has been taken down. Calls to the phone number
go unanswered.
The closing came about two and a half years after the same
restaurant abruptly closed its doors at 15917 S. Harlem Ave. in Tinley Park.
At that time, a
manager said the restaurant lost its lease but promised the Greek seafood
eatery would be back soon.
“We won’t be gone for
too long,” said Dimitri, a manager who declined to give his last name. “We
don’t want our customers to forget us.”
Outriggers, which had other south suburban locations over
the years including a restaurant a block north in Orland Park, had been in the
Tinley location for several years.
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
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