Golden Corral opens in Tinley Park

Golden Corral opened today in Tinley Park.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

The grand opening for the Golden Corral buffet restaurant in Tinley Park was scheduled for 10 a.m.  today.

 

The 11,000-square-foot restaurant is the biggest of three versions available and is expected to have parking for more than 150 cars and seating for 440 when it opens in front of the Menards home improvement store at 159th Street and Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park.

The restaurant, which features breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet options along with specialty options such as a chocolate fountain, will employ between 130 and 150 workers.

Owner Bhavin Patel received a series of financial incentives from the village before agreeing to build the restaurant. Tinley officials waived thousands of dollars in fees, agreed to a property tax discount for the next decade and agreed to share sales taxes with Patel.

The restaurant had an estimated construction cost of $3.5 million.

Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

The Golden Corral chain opened in North Carolina in 1973 and bills itself as America’s No. 1 buffet and grill.

Nearby locations are in Joliet, Bolingbrook and Schererville, Ind.

Joe's Italian Villa to close

Joe's Italian Villa Pizza, which has been serving pizza and pasta for the past 45 years from its location at 8807 S. Harlem Ave. in the Southfield Shopping Center in Bridgeview, has lost its lease and will be shutting down on Dec. 31.

Owners of the pizzeria have no intention of disappearing and are in the process of looking for a new home.

In the meantime, the restaurant's hours remain the same 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 2-10 p.m. Sundays.

Fans can stay abreast of the search for a new home by visiting the restaurant's website at www.joesitalianvilla.com or its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JoesItalianVilla.

Longtime Lansing restaurant Popolano's to close

Popolano's, an Italian restaurant that opened 30 years ago at 17940 S. Torrence Ave. in Lansing, will close its doors for the last time New Year's Eve.

Owners were not available but employees said the Lansing location had been hurt by economic changes in the southeast suburbs.

The restaurant is operated by a second generation of family owners -- Jerry Paliga Jr. and his wife Cyndy Paliga -- who purchased the eatery from his parents when they retired.

The decision will not affect a second location that opened 10 years ago in a century-old building in northwest Indiana. That location is larger than the Lansing site and has a large outdoor patio area in picturesque downtown Chesterton.

Courtright's to close in Willow Springs

Courtright's, a four-star restaurant at 8989 S. Archer Ave. in Willow Springs, will pack it in this week after 19 years.

Attempts to reach owners William or Rebecca Courtright were unsuccessful, but the couple posted this on the restaurant's Facebook page:

"It has been a magnificent ride and we thank you all for your love and support these past 19 years! As we bid farewell to this interesting, exciting, challenging, exhausting and wonderful time here on Earth, we experience myriad emotions, but the greatest is gratitude. Our doors will remain open until December 31st, so we are looking forward to everyone visiting us for lunch in December, the holidays or just enjoying one last evening enjoying the beauty of Courtright's. With much gratitude, we thank you all."

William Courtright has been involved in the restaurant business since he began sweeping floors at a family restaurant when he was only 9 years old. In 1965, the 17-year-old Courtright became a chef at Ken's on Western Avenue, the second of four family restaurants on the South Side.

Dan McGee's closes in Frankfort

Dan McGee Restaurant will close for the last time on New Year's Eve at 9975 W. Lincoln Highway in Frankfort.

The small but popular restaurant opened in the fall of 2007 as a "casual but elegant" establishment, according to owner Dan McGee.

The restaurant announced its closing several months ago on its Facebook page.

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 and www.southlandsavvy.blogspot.com.

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.