Meijer opens latest supercenter Tuesday in Evergreen Park

Speedy Burritos Opens: Speedy Burritos opened July 8 in the former home of Los 3 Burritos Express at 7108 W. 171st St. in Tinley Park. Owner Andres Angel (pictured in kitchen) is also the cook. His niece Jasmine Angel is the counter girl.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Grand Rapids-based Meijer will open its latest Chicago-area location on Tuesday in Evergreen Park.

The 156,000-square-foot supercenter employs 300 team members and is the retailer’s fourth of six new supercenters it planned to open this year in the Midwest, co-chairman Hank Meijer said in a release.

Meijer will kick-off its grand opening celebration with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting event at the store at 9200 S. Western Ave. The ceremony will be followed by remarks by Meijer officials and local dignitaries, along with the presentation of checks for $10,000 to the Beverley Arts Center in Chicago and $15,000 to the St. Bernadette Parish in Evergreen Park.

The store will also feature grand opening events, beginning Thursday, which include daily giveaways and the chance to win free groceries for a year. Additional events on Thursday include free 15-minute CoverGirl Makeovers, fun and games with Radio Disney’s “Magic of Healthy Living” team and $50 Meijer gift card giveaways every 15 minutes with WBBM-FM radio personalities. 

The store will also feature a cooking demonstration with Food Network star Herb Messa from noon to 2 p.m. Aug. 3, and a free Digital Fingerprinting for Kids from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 4.   

Meijer said the new supercenter will also offer more than 600 varieties of fresh produce, a meat department with butcher shop service and custom cuts of high quality meats and a bakery that carries bread baked fresh four times daily.

Meijer operates a smaller scale store at 159th Street and Harlem Avenue in Orland Park and plans to break ground this year on a supercenter at U.S. 30 and Wolf Road in Mokena and at Vollmer Road and Crawford Avenue in Flossmoor.

Mattress war brewing as Eastern invaders eye Southland marketplace

Sleepy's will be opening soon at 159th Street and Harlem Avenue in Orland Park.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Mattress wars anyone?

Art Van Furniture, a Michigan-based chain known for its furniture and mattresses, and Sleepy’s, a New York-based company that calls itself the world’s largest mattress retailer, have both set their expansion sights on the Chicago marketplace in general and the Southland marketplace in particular.

Art Van, which made its first Chicago-area delivery this week, will open its first Illinois store on Saturday at 15080 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park. The retailer is holding an invitation-only preview party and ribbon-cutting Thursday evening at the Orland location.

The company opened its distribution center last week in Bolingbrook. The center is 183,000-square-feet and will employ 48 workers.

"Opening our distribution center in the Chicago market brings us one step closer to inviting customers into our retail stores in and around the Windy City," Steve Caprario, vice president of distribution, Art Van Furniture, said in a release. "This is our first official footprint within Chicagoland and we are grateful for the warm welcome of the Bolingbrook community."

According to the company, the distribution center will service all furniture deliveries in the Chicago area.  Art Van will use five local trucks to start and anticipates increasing this number to 25 crews by the end of next year.  Deliveries will be offered from Monday to Saturday.

The company signed a 10-year lease on the property – a former Dominick’s store – earlier this year as it prepared to make its move into the Chicago market. The company spent the past six months converting the former Dominick’s supermarket into a 46,000-square-foot furniture store.

The Orland store is the first in “a planned expansion into the Chicago market,” said Diana K. Charles, director of corporate communications for the chain.

The store will be corporate owned and employ from 60-80 workers, Charles said.

In addition to the store in Orland Park, Art Van plans to open five additional stores this year at Ford City Shopping Center in Chicago, on Elston Avenue in Chicago, Bolingbrook, Batavia and Merrillville-Hobart in northwest Indiana.

As a result of the expansion, Art Van expects to create about 600 new jobs by the end of the year.

The Orland store is in the Orland Greens Shopping Center and cost an estimated $2 million. Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Sleepy’s has already invaded the Chicago marketplace and one of its first stores is at 2650 W. 95^th St. in Evergreen Park, which opened a few weeks ago.

The Hicksville-based company has more than 800 showrooms in 14 Eastern and mid-Atlantic states and carries a wide selection of mattress brands.

The company has plans for additional Sleepy’s in the Southland including a store at 159^th Street and Harlem Avenue in Orland Park, next to 5 Guys Burgers in the Home Depot plaza.

The company, which got its start in 1931 in Brooklyn, did not respond to numerous calls and emails asking about its plans.

Both companies are going up against a trio of already established mattress retailers in the Southland, which are all expanding themselves.

Back to Bed recently opened a new store in Frankfort in a retail strip at the Hickory Creek Marketplace at St. Francis and LaGrange roads.

The Bedding Experts recently opened a new store at 1330 Torrence Ave. in Calumet City across from the River Oaks Center.

American Mattress has announced it will be building a new store this year in New Lenox and recently opened a new store in Naperville/Plainfield.

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 follow business happenings at Comings & Goings.

Willow Springs expects to tackle video gambling at July 25 meeting

By Bob Rakow
Southland Savvy

On a recent week night, a handful of patrons gathered at Judy’s Friendly Tap in Willow Springs. The dearth of customers is a significant concern for Judy Meissner, the bar’s longtime owner.

“It’s terrible. It’s just awful. We are a dying breed,” Meissner said.

Meissner has owned her establishment at 8240 Archer Road for nearly 39 years. But she’s worried about the bar’s future if Willow Springs officials don’t approve video gaming.

Several bar owners insist they need video gaming machines to remain competitive with taverns in nearby communities such as Justice, Burbank, Countryside, Stickney and Summit where video poker has been approved.

Opponents maintain that introducing gambling to the community is an unwise choice for a village that has strived for several years to shed a corrupt image.

The village board is not expected to vote on the matter until its July 25 meeting.

Bar patrons say the proposal to allow video gaming machines has been talked about for nearly a year — a lengthy period during which their businesses have suffered.

Even if the proposal is approved, tavern owners may have to wait up to a year before the machines are installed, Meissner said. 

Illinois Gaming Board spokesman Gene O'Shea said the village would have to notify the board that gambling was now allowed. That would open the door to bar owners applying for the state license.

"Licenses are issued first come, first served," O'Shea said, adding there are dozens of pages of pending applications listed on the agency's web site.

"Once they file an application, they go to the back of the line and have to wait," O'Shea said. "There's no way of knowing how long it might take to be approved."

Chuck Stroh, owner of Connie’s Grove Inn at 8258 Kean Ave., said a friend who owns a restaurant and bar in Brookfield makes about $8,000 a month on five video poker machines. He said the addition of the machines has led to an offer to purchase the establishment. 

Another friend, who owns a restaurant in Crestwood, also takes in about $8,000 monthly, Stroh said.

Stroh can only imagine what he could do with $8,000 additional revenue each month.

“That’s my mortgage, salary. I could expand or remodel,” said Stroh, who’s owned his bar for 14 years. 

Stroh cannot understand opposition to the poker machines.

“It’s a no-brainer. I personally cannot understand it. They’re tying my hands,” said Stroh, whose business has declined by 25 percent in the past year.

Vicky Stadtler, owner of Ashbary Coffee House at 8695 S. Archer Road, said she’s frustrated with the village delaying a vote on the proposal.

“We just keep getting pushed forward with every kind of excuse,” said Stadtler, who’s owned the coffee house for seven years.

“We’ve given (village officials) so much information. We don’t understand what the holdup is,” she said.

Stadtler has owned the coffee house for seven years and knows what it’s like to struggle. Additional revenue would help her increase employees’ salaries, make improvements to the business and pay bills, she said.

“We’re so day-to-day, bill-to-bill,” she said.

The village would receive 5 percent of gaming proceeds, which officials estimate at $30,000 to $45,000 annually, Mayor Alan Nowaczyk said.

The money would go into the village’s general fund. Officials said they will not discuss how the money would be used until they vote on the proposal.

Business owners and gambling distributors each get 35 percent of the proceeds while the state receives 25 percent.

Illinois enacted legalizing video gambling in 2009 as a way to generate new revenue, but allowed municipalities to opt out of the program.

O'Shea said 805 communities in Illinois have approved video gambling, 217 have prohibited it and 41 are considering whether or not to approve it.

"There are 412 communities that haven't even addressed it, yet," O'Shea said.