Irish sports bar opens in Midlothian

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

JP Flannery's opened last month at 4025 W. 147th St. in Midlothian.

Co-owner Jim McAuliffe called the new pub, which opened on Sept. 22, an "Irish sports bar."

Although McAuliffe is part of the family that operates Durbin's restaurants across the south suburbs, he said PJ Flannery's is not affiliated with the chain.

McAuliffe said his partner is Robin Flannery and the idea for PJ Flannery's was his and hers.

"We came up with the idea for an Irish sports bar," he said and PJ Flannery's definitely fits that description.

The bar is about 4,400 square feet and has indoor table seating for 22 and seating for 35 at the bar. There's also an outdoor patio that has bar seating for 16 and table seating for 55.

The pub features pool tables, dart machines, Golden Tee golf game, hockey game and a bowling game. Patrons can also play bags on the patio. Leagues are forming.

And like any good sports bar there are big screen televisions. Sixteen of them. All 65 to 75 inches.

Video gaming machines are coming, McAuliffe said. "The state has to sign off on the license. It takes about  a month after you open."

PJ Flannery's also has food.

"It's good bar food," he said. "We have pizza, burgers, appetizers and salads." There are free appetizers and a free pizza buffet at halftime during Bears games.

While there's no private party room, McAuliffe said they could accommodate parties on the patio.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday to Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

For information, call 708-926-9662 or visit them on Facebook.

Champps closes in Orland Park

Three Champps sports bars in Illinois closed at the end of August including the location at 16165 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park. Also closed were Champps locations in Lombard and Schaumburg.

Last Call Guarantor LLC, the corporate parent for the Champps locations as well as Fox & Hound sports bars, closed 25 locations nationwide at the end of August as part of a deal to keep the company solvent long enough to be sold. Three Fox & Hound locations in Aurora, Schaumburg and Arlington Heights remain open.

Last week, Fun Eats and Drinks LLC, a subsidiary of San Diego-based investment firm Kelly Investment Group, bought Last Call for $26.8 million at a U.S. bankruptcy court auction.

The building is now for lease.

It was the second time a sports bar in that location was closed because of a bankruptcy. A Fox & Hound sports bar closed Nov. 30, 2014, before reopening Dec. 3, 2014, as a Champps.

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

Billy Jo's now open in Bridgeview

Billy Jo's is now open in Bridgeview. (Photo by Bob Bong)

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

A new restaurant with roots that stretch back to Calumet City opened last month in southwest suburban Bridgeview.

Owner Bill Karambenis opened Billy Jo's restaurant at 8032 S. Harlem Ave.

"We'll probably have our grand opening at the beginning of August," he said.

Karambenis said Billy Jo's would have a menu similar to the one at Panos Big Boy in Calumet City. He worked for his father-in-law there for 11 years.

"We would have customers come from as far away as Nashville," he said. "I'll try to stay with that concept.

"We'll have subs, gyros, Italian beef, hamburgers and hotdogs," he said.  The specialty of the house will be butter garlic fries.

The restaurant is a new construct and Karambenis said he had been working on Billy Jo's since November.

Billy Jo's will offer dine-in, carry out and have a drive-thru lane.

Karambenis said the restaurant would open at 10 a.m. daily. He said closing hours haven't been decided yet.

"We'll see how it is going at the beginning," he said.

Karambenis said he would probably have a staff of five or six when fully operational.

For information, check out his Facebook page at Billy Jo's - Bridgeview.

Frozen yogurt shop closes

Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt, which opened in October 2014 in the former Wonderburger location, has closed at 11045 S. Kedzie Ave. in Chicago's Mount Greenwood community.

A sign on the door read, "We've closed our doors. Thank you for your business and support."

Wonderburger closed in March 2014 after being open for 60 years.

Arthouse closes in Palos

Despite efforts to sell the business, the Arthouse of Palos Heights closed last month after more than 30 years at 12707 S. Ridgeland Ave.

Mother and daughter owners Janice and Heather bought the business in 2006. It was known for custom framing everything from artwork to sports jerseys to wall collages.

Owners Janice and Heather decided to try their hand at something else and started looking for a buyer for the business to no avail.

U-Haul closes one store in Oak Lawn, opens another


U-Haul of Oak Lawn announced that its location at 4650 W. 95th St. in Oak Lawn, which had been in operation since 1976, closed its doors for the final time on May 23.

The store was sold to neighboring business Mancari's Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership, which will expand its lot with the adjoining property.

The company said the need to better serve U-Haul customers and upgrade performance prompted the closing. The closed U-Haul store was initially an adaptive reuse project that served as a car dealership property.

U-Haul Moving & Storage of Oak Lawn at 8900 S. Cicero Ave. opened earlier this year to fill the void left by the closing of the 95th Street location and meet the moving and self-storage needs of southern Cook County.

The 2.43-acre U-Haul Moving & Storage of Oak Lawn property was acquired on May 12.

"With this store, we will be able to offer self-storage, more trucks and better accessibility to Cicero Avenue, the main thruway in town," Rocc Bolden, U-Haul Company of Chicago South & Southwest Suburbs president, said in a release.

"Pretty much everything is better at this store," Bolden said. "People are excited about the new location. A lot of customers from the closed store have come over to see us, and new customers have come in that didn't know we were there. Once our self-storage project is finished, this is going to be the type of full-service U-Haul facility that this community deserves."

The new location offers truck and trailer rentals, towing equipment and professional hitch installation, U-Box portable moving and self-storage containers, moving supplies, boxes and much more. Propane is expected to be available in the coming months. The lot allows for a significantly larger inventory of rental equipment than the smaller, closed location.

In addition to a 21,438-square-foot building on-site, U-Haul intends to construct a pristine self-storage facility that will hold about 600 indoor climate-controlled units at varying sizes and price points, with all of the latest security features available.

Self-storage units are expected to be available in 2017. In the meantime, customers have access to storage via U-Box containers, which encompass 257 cubic feet and feature one-ton-capacity. U-Haul Moving & Storage of Oak Lawn can store up to 100 U-Box containers.

For information, call general manager Marc Coffman at 708-422-2332. Hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturday; 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Reserve equipment at uhaul.com or contact Reservations at 1-800-GO-UHAUL.

U-Haul Moving & Storage of Oak Lawn will hire at least two more employees once the storage facility is built, and Bolden said there would be an emphasis on hiring locally.

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 

Bertucci's to reopen in Palos Hills

Bertucci's is planning on reopening in Palos Hills under a new name. (Photo by Bob Bong)

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Bertucci's restaurant, which closed in Palos Hills without warning in early March, appears ready to make a comeback.

The Italian eatery at 10331 S. Roberts Road gave no indication or warning when it closed, but signs have been posted on the property indicating it will reopen and is now hiring.

A spokesman at Palos Hills City Hall, which is next door to the restaurant, said, "Evidently, he got his financing and plans to reopen."

The 2,000-square-foot building had been listed for sale at $179,000 on local real estate web sites and was sold for $160,000. The apparent buyer was PKKS Inc., which lists the property address as its business address and its agent as Klaudia Szulkowska.

The spokesman said that licenses for the business had been approved but had not been picked up, including a liquor license, which are necessary before it can get the state liquor license or open for business.

"It's new name will be Bertucci's Mediterranean Taverna," said the spokesman.

Meijer opens superstore in Flossmoor

The Michigan-based Meijer supermarket chain opened its new supercenter June 23 in south suburban Flossmoor.

The store at 3800 Vollmer Road was one of two new stores the chain opened in Illinois. The other is in north suburban Round Lake Beach. It will be the retailer's fifth store in the south suburbs with other locations in Orland Park, Evergreen Park, Mokena and Homer Glen.

The store opening culminates a project that began 25 years ago when Flossmoor bought the land, cleared it and added infrastructure in an effort to lure a big-box retailer to the village.

Construction on the 192,000-square-foot store took about a year. As a supercenter, it will carry food as well as general merchandise. The store will have a full service pharmacy with a drive-thru, electronics department and lawn and garden center.

Hours will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

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