Deals for Vets on Veterans Day

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Military veterans and active duty personnel will be able to feast for free Friday as a host of American businesses are offering free food to America’s past and present servicemen and servicewomen in honor of Veterans Day. Most deals do not include a beverage or a gratuity, and some national chain locations may not be participating.

Ed & Joe’s restaurant in Tinley Park is offering a free small pizza with two toppings or any sandwich, none of which the owners say are served in a vacuum-sealed bag or require hydration.

Applebee’s is offering a free signature entrée all day.

Chili’s is offering free lunch for veterans from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Famous Dave’s in Orland Park is offering a free Two Meat Salute. Choose two different meats served with corn bread muffin, corn-on-the-cob and your choice of one side. For information, call 708-532-7850.

Hooters in Joliet, Lansing, Oak Lawn and Orland Park are offering 10 free wings (boneless or regular) with any drink purchase.

Krispy Kreme in Midlothian may be offering a free doughnut. The store opens at 5 a.m. if you want to try.

Little Caesars Pizza is offering free orders of Crazy Bread.

Outback Steakhouse is offering a free Bloomin’ Onion and a Coca-Cola product.

Subway is offering a free six-inch sub or flatbread.

Texas Roadhouse is offering free lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

T.G.I. Friday’s in Tinley Park, Orland Park, Oak Lawn, Bedford Park and Bourbonnais are offering buy one get one free or 50 percent discounts to solitary diners.

The Olive Garden is offering a free entrée from a special menu during regular business hours. All entrées inlcude freshly baked garlic sticks and choice of soup or salad.

Seven-Eleven is offering a free small Slurpee from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Accompanying family members also will receive a free Slurpee.

Golden Corral is passing on Veterans Day but will offer its 10th annual Golden Corral Military Appreciation dinner on Monday, Nov. 14, from 5-9 p.m. The free “thank you” dinner is available to any person who has ever served in the U.S. Military.

Retail discounts
Lowe’s, Home Depot, Big Lots and Dollar General stores are all offering veterans, active duty personnel and their families 10 percent discounts on Friday.

Free car wash
Delta Sonic car wash locations in Crestwood and Tinley Park, Easy Clean Car Wash in Lansing, Starlite Car Wash in Worth, Tinley Park Super Wash and Zoom Clean Car Wash in Calumet City are all offering free car washes to veterans and active-duty personnel.


Free round of golf
Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park is offering a free round of golf. Call 708-349-6940 for a tee time.

Garrett Design Group Takes Place of Chuck’s House of Magic in Homewood

Garrett Design Group arranged this balloon drop
at the 1996 Democratic National Convention.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Chuck’s House of Magic may have sold its last deck of trick cards but the business has not pulled a disappearing act.

Call it a business evolution.

The storefront remains the same at 18725 Dixie Highway in Homewood, the phone and fax numbers haven’t been changed, the employees are still there, and Garrett and Joyce Gruberman are still the owners.

What has changed is the focus. The company is expanding its popular and successful balloon and event décor side of the business.

“Half of the business remains the same,” said Garrett Gruberman, who became co-owner with his mom, Joyce, after his dad, Chuck, retired in 2005. “We’re just getting more into that end of the business.”

The change on Nov. 1 from Chuck’s House of Magic to the Garrett Design Group was “bittersweet,” he said about the store that survived numerous moves, a failed balloon venture in Orland Park and a devastating fire.

“One woman came here crying,” he said. “She said she was here the day the store opened. She was very emotional. I almost wanted to say, ‘We’re staying open.’ “

Although the new company will emphasize its balloon and event décor along with services such as lighting, backdrops and draping, it will continue to offer to local residents the services they have come to associate with Chuck’s.

“If someone local wants a balloon pickup, we’ll still do it,” Gruberman said. “They just need to call ahead to make sure someone is here. We won’t be staffed like the store was.”

“We’ll also continue to rent mascot costumes and seasonal costumes like Santa and the Easter Bunny,” he said.

The company will also continue to provide entertainers such as clowns, face painters, balloon twisters and magicians to local businesses, such as the Denny’s in Mokena, which features a magician or balloon twister most weekends.

“We’ll also continue to offer stage makeup to local theater groups and donate services to local groups like the Cancer Support Center,” said Gruberman, 29, a resident of Homewood. “We’re happy to help local groups.”

But the transition was inevitable, Gruberman said.

“For 25 years, the balloon and event décor side of the business was always expanding,” he said. “We go everywhere. I’m going to Denver for a New Year’s Eve show for a band that used us here in Chicago.”

Clients have included the City of Chicago, which asked Chuck’s to decorate Daley Plaza when the city won the right to bid for the Summer Olympics; Columbia College and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Gruberman is bracing for the loss next summer of his business partner, who will join her husband in retirement.

“Mom plans to retire in June, but said she’ll still be around if we need an extra set of hands,” he said. “And my wife has joined the business helping with designs.”

As for Chuck?

“He showed up to turn off the neon sign for the last time and to scrape the name off of the door,” Gruberman said with a laugh. “He’s 70 now and likes to work once in a while, if it’s not too hard.”

For information, call (708) 798-2111, or email info@garrettdesigngroup.com or visit Garrett Design Group online.

Pooch Parlor Moves in Homewood

The Pooch Parlor dog grooming business relocated recently from 18216 Harwood Ave. to 18719 Dixie Highway in Homewood. For information and hours, call the business at 708-798-6825.

Pain Clinic Opens in South Chicago Heights

The Pain Clinic, which specializes in neurology, chiropractic, therapy and acupuncture, opened recently at 176 W. Sauk Trail in South Chicago Heights. For information and hours, call 708-756-7777.

Hair Cuttery Opens in Frankfort

A Hair Cuttery salon opened opened recently at 20165 S. LaGrange Road in the Hickory Creek Marketplace in Frankfort. For information and hours, call 815-464-5237 or visit http://www.haircuttery.com/.

Eva’s Bridals Rises from the Ashes
Eva’s Bridals in Oak Lawn, which was destroyed in a nasty fire just about a year ago, reopened this week at 5269 W. 95th St. in Oak Lawn.

In the year since the fire, the shop has been working out of rented storefronts and opened a satellite store in Tinley Park.

For information, call the shop at 708-422-5599 or visit http://www.evasbridalsofoaklawn.com/

Brewing at Alsip Nursery

Alsip Nursery is celebrating “Learn to Homebrew Day” tomorrow with a free seminar on how to make your own beer. An expert will be on hand from 1-3 p.m. to go over what it takes to brew your own lager, ale or stout. Whoever attends gets to return in a couple of weeks to sample what they make.

Bears Deal of the Weekend

Post-Game Pub & Sedona Grille, 9630 Willow (195th Street) in Mokena, will have a free pregame spread before the Bears take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night and drink specials during the game.

Fashion Guru Clinton Kelly To Open Store Friday in Orland Square Mall

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Clinton Kelly

Fashion guru Clinton Kelly will be at Orland Square Mall on Friday, Nov. 4, to open his own custom tailoring store Perfect Fit by Clinton Kelly at the Stitch It store.

Kelly, who co-hosts What Not to Wear on TLC and The Chew on ABC, will arrive at 2:30 p.m. At 5 p.m., he will provide one-minute style consultations to the first 100 people to visit the store. The store opens at 10 a.m.

The new store is a joint venture between Kelly and Stitch It to combine the efforts of expert stylists with skilled tailors.

According to a news release, Perfect Fit works with both men and women and can work its magic with clothes just bought, that have hung in the closet for years or were found at a thrift store.

The Wild Rover in Frankfort

Owners Jim and Jack Dillon hope to open The Wild Rover Restaurant and Tavern at 20535 S. LaGrange Road in Frankfort at 6 p.m. Friday as long as the new establishment passes its final village inspection.

The new eatery will be open for lunch and dinner and drinks from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

The brothers have added a small outdoor seating area to the former K.T. Mae's in the Vineyards Plaza.

For information, visit their Facebook page at The Wild Rover Restaurant and Tavern.

Family Martial Arts Opens in Tinley

A new martial arts school called Family Martial Arts opened earlier this month at 16707 S. 80th Avenue in Tinley Park.

Family Martial Arts also has locations in Mokena and Shorewood. Those locations teach both tae kwondo and hapkido but the Tinley location is at present teaching only tae kwon do. Classes are available for anyone 4 and older.

The new school or dojang is open Monday through Friday from 4-6:30 p.m.

The school is offering a grand opening special to its first 30 students: one month free, a free uniform and 40 percent off class rates.

For information, call 708-444-2110 or visit their website at http://www.fmakick.com/.

Rotary Donates Dictionaries

The Tinley Park-Frankfort Rotary Club recently donated dictionaries to every third-grader in Harvey School District 152 and English Language Learners and English as a Second Language students at Tinley Park High School.

The dictionaries are multi-faceted, with sections about weights and measurements, biographies of the U.S. presidents and copies of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.

“Literacy has always been an important issue for Rotary International. At the local level, this project allows us to make an impact on those who live right here in our own back yard,” Karen Wegrzyn, president of the Tinley Park-Frankfort Rotary Club, said in a release.

This is the fifth year the club has donated dictionaries to the Harvey School District and the second year it has donated dictionaries to students who are learning English as a second language.

For information about the club’s efforts and how you can join, contact Wegrzyn at 708-359-4715 or visit the club’s website at http://www.tinleyparkfrankfortrotary.com/.

The group meets at 7:15 a.m. every Thursday at Lincoln-Way North High School, 19900 S. Harlem Ave., Frankfort.