Pete's Fresh Market coming to Bridgeview

Pete's Fresh Market will open a new store next year at 103rd and Harlem in Bridgeview.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Pete's Fresh Market, a locally owned independent grocery store chain headquartered at 43rd Street and Pulaski Road on Chicago's Southwest Side, has purchased the former Cubs Foods store at 103rd Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview and has been remodeling the store.

The 40-year-old company has nine locations in Chicago, Evergreen Park, Calumet City and Oakbrook Terrace, and a 10th is getting ready to open at Western and Madison avenues.

The Bridgeview property is about 69,000 square feet and most recently was home to a short-lived Melrose Fresh Market. The store is expected to open sometime next year.

Calls to Pete's corporate offices for comment were not returned, but Pete's stores typically are full-service supermarkets with bakeries, produce, meat, dairy and liquor departments. Stores also feature deli counters and hot food departments.

The company is in an expansion mode and besides the new Chicago store has plans to build new stores in Willowbrook and Orland Park. Some supermarket analysts have said the company may also be interested in some of the Dominick's Finer Foods stores set to close by the end of the month.

Binny's opens in Evergreen, Danimal to appear

A Binny's Beverage Depot opened last month in the former Bleeker's Bowl at 3447 W. 95th St. in Evergreen Park. 

The store has a shrine of sorts to Bleeker's, complete with 20 original bowling pins, 28 bowling balls and an assortment of bowling shoes.

Hang out with Chicago football legend, Dan Hampton on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 1-2:30 p.m. courtesy of Pernod Ricard USA. Danimal will sign sports memorabilia and pose for photographs.

Discovery Clothing to hold grand opening

Discovery Clothing Company will celebrate the grand opening from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 7, of its new Chicago Ridge location at 238 Commons Drive.

As part of the opening, the first 100 shoppers receive a free pair of jeans and the first 200 shoppers receive free Discovery Clothing Co. pink heart cupcakes from Oak Lawn's Simply Sweet Creations. 

There also will be $100 gift card giveaways throughout the morning and an in-store raffle for a tablet.

A DJ will be spinning jams throughout the morning and a fashion photographer will be on hand to capture all the fun with real time photo uploads to the company's Facebook page.

Discovery Clothing has expanded to become Chicago's largest independently owned discount retailer with 30 stores, owned by two brothers, in the Chicago area; Wisconsin, Indiana and Florida. All merchandise is $25 or less.

For information, call 773-777-4494 or visit www.DiscoveryClothing.com.

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 Comings & Goings.

T.J. Maxx opens today in Tinley Park

T.J. Maxx opens today in Tinley Park's Brookside Marketplace.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Discount retailer T.J. Maxx will open its new Tinley Park store at 8 a.m. today at Brookside Marketplace at 191st Street and Harlem Avenue.

The 23,000-square-foot store replaces a slightly larger location at 16025 S. Harlem in the Tinley Park Plaza. That store closed Sunday. Its employees were offered transfers to the new store.

As first reported in May, the store will occupy space that formerly housed the Lane Bryant women's clothing store where five women were murdered in February 2008. The killer has not been caught.

T.J. Maxx will make a $10,000 donation to the Tinley Park-based Together We Cope charity in honor of the Lane Bryant victims: Connie R. Woolfolk, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, of Oak Forest; Carrie Hudek Chiuso, of Frankfort, Rhoda McFarland, of Joliet, and Jennifer L. Bishop, of South Bend, Ind.

Kathryn Straniero, executive director of Together We Cope, said the agency was  honored to receive this donation.

“We will use these funds to continue the work we do at this time of the year, which is helping to keep people in their homes during the winter, helping to pay heating bills for residents having financial crises, and putting children in need into warm winter coats. We are honored to do so in memory of the five women who lost their lives in this tragedy.”

Together We Cope is a Tinley Park based nonprofit that serves families in crisis from 22 south suburban communities.

The T.J. Maxx opening is the second of a national chain in that part of Brookside Marketplace, which had lagged behind the rest of the development. A Ross Dress for Less discount store opened last month just to the north and a Kay Jewelers store is set to open in another new building that was recently finished on the site, which is owned by Ohio-based DDR Corp.

Grand opening store hours today will be 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Regular hours will be from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

TJX Cos., which owns T.J. Maxx, also operates a HomeGoods store at Brookside Marketplace.

Pure Barre fitness studio opens in Orland Park

Pure Barre, a fitness center for women that uses ballet moves to help women get in shape, opened Tuesday at 14934 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park's Park Pointe Plaza.

"We use small weights as well as the ballet bar to facilitate our workouts," said studio manager Mary Bertke, who is also one of six fitness instructors at the studio. "But dance experience is not necessary."

Bertke said the aim of Pure Barre is to "lengthen and strengthen muscle tone" through isometric movements favored by ballet dancers.

The Orland location is the first in the Chicago suburbs for the chain, which began franchising in 2009 and has grown to more than 150 locations.

Bertke said classes are offered from 5:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m.

For information, call 708-460-4015, visit Pure Barre or check out their Facebook page.

Used car lots coming to Bridgeview

Two new used car lots will be opening soon in Bridgeview.

One will take over a former Citgo gas station and detail shop at 9150 S. Harlem Ave. while the other will take over the former Super Buy Motors car lot at 7158 S. Harlem Ave.

“We’re always glad to see businesses choose Bridgeview as their destination,” said Bridgeview Trustee Claudette Struzik. “It’s an encouraging trend, and we’ll continue to work to draw interest from businesses that will invest in our community and its people.”

Struzik said the businesses were planning on investing nearly $1 million in each location.

Both lots have already been approved by the Bridgeview Village Board.
 

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.

Art Van Furniture opens Saturday in Bedford Park shopping center

Workmen put the finishing touches on the Art Van Furniture store in Bedford Park.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Michigan-based Art Van Furniture, a chain known for its furniture and mattresses, is scheduled to open a new store with a ribbon cutting at 9 a.m. Saturday in the Bedford City Square plaza in Bedford Park at 7200 S. Cicero Ave.

 Immediately following the ribbon cutting ceremony, Art Van Furniture will celebrate the grand opening with free fall festival activities such as face painting, clown performances, pumpkin painting, a scarecrow magician and a balloon artist. The celebration will continue on Sunday, Oct. 27 with face painting, clowns and DJ entertainment.

The company moved into the Chicago market in July when it opened its first store in Orland Park and a distribution center in Bolingbrook.

The store will be corporate-owned and employ 60 to 80 workers.

The Bedford Park store will be the chain's fifth store in the Chicago market. Other stores are in Orland Park, Chicago, Bolingbrook, Batavia and Merrillville-Hobart in northwest Indiana.

Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Bed Bath & Beyond closing in Cal City

The Bed Bath & Beyond store in the River Oaks West shopping center is in the final weeks of a liquidation sale that will see the store close sometime in November.

A manager at the store said the location had been winding down for about a month and would be closed within the next "two to three weeks."

The company sent out an email this week notifying customers that the store was closing.

Yogo Crave now open in Worth

A frozen yogurt store called Yogo Crave opened a few weeks ago at 11228 S. Harlem Ave. in Worth. The shop also sells ice cream, milkshakes, smoothies, iced coffees and cappuccinos.

Hours for the shop are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

For information, call 708-827-5883 or visit their Facebookpage.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com.