7-Eleven closes Summit store

Signs on the door at the closed 7-Eleven at 7403 W. 55th Place in Summit thank customers for their patronage.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy 

There are a lot of rumors circulating about why the 7-Eleven store at 7403 W. 55th Place in Summit closed recently. 

 

There is a sign on the door thanking customers for their support and advising them to visit the chain's nearest store at Archer and Nashville in Chicago.

 According to Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for the Texas-based chain of convenience stores, it was a simple business decision.

"This had been a former White Hen store," Chabris said. "It was underperforming and was not franchised, so when our lease was up, we decided not to renew."

Chicago Lids Locker Room opens

Chicago Lids Locker Room is now open at Chicago Ridge Mall in Chicago Ridge. The store is located on the main level near the food court and features a wide selection of sports apparel, authentic signed sports memorabilia from NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB, sports merchandise including jerseys, T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hats, tailgate gear and more. The Chicago Ridge location is the ninth for the chain.

For information, visit Chicago Lids.

Shoe Carnival opening 2 new stores

Evansville, Ind.-based Shoe Carnival is opening two new locations on Saturday, July 27, in Burbank and South Elgin.

 The retailer is opening at 9 a.m. at 4835 W. 77th St. in Burbank, and at 354 Randall Road in South Elgin. The first 100 customers at each store will receive a $10 reward card to use toward anything in the store.

Other grand opening events include:  A drawing for free shoes for a year at 10 a.m.; a drawing for $1,000 cash, courtesy of Skechers at 11 a.m.; doorbuster deals from 9 a.m. to noon; prizes and giveaways all weekend.

“We are excited to be opening a new store location bringing our customers a new spacious and inviting Shoe Carnival shopping experience,” Todd Beurman, Senior Vice President of Marketing, said in a release. “At Shoe Carnival we strive to give our customers a family friendly shopping experience with great deals on name brand shoes for the whole family.”

Shoe Carnival carries name brand shoes including Nike, Converse, Sperry, New Balance and many more. There are more than 360 stores in 32 states and Puerto Rico.

Ross Dress for Less opens in Crestwood

Ross Dress for Less, a discount apparel and home fashion chain, opened 20 new stores across the country on Saturday including a store at Rivercrest shopping center next to Ultra Foods at 13200 S. Cicero Ave. in Crestwood, a store at 1555 State Route 50 in Bradley, Hillside and two in Peoria. 

California-based Ross entered the Chicago market in the fall of 2011 when it opened stores in Matteson and Orland Park. Since then the chain has added stores in Bolingbrook and Calumet City and now has seven in the Chicago area. More stores are coming including one under construction in Tinley Park.

Ross stores typically carry brand name products priced 20 percent to 60 percent less than at department and specialty stores.

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.

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.