Local businesses popping up: New shops include beauty salons, mall stores, restaurants
|
|
| Buy Sauk Valley Media Photos » |
In an economy still trying to recover, there are hopeful signs all around the Sauk Valley. New business are cropping up all over. Here’s a sampling:
■ Over in Dixon, the pub formerly known as Fuel Discount Liquor, at 506 Chicago Ave., is now The Garage Bar and Grill.
New owners Mark and Lisa Kennay hope to add a kitchen by the first of the year and will offer burgers, hot dogs and appetizers. Reach them at 815-284-4528.
■ Ronda’s Pantry Castle, 504 S. Galena Ave., is now Shelley’s Foots Bar and Grill.
New owner Shelley Bilodeau brought with her an all new menu, which includes sandwiches, burgers, pork tenderloin, wraps, salads and appetizers. The number is 815-284-9484.
■ Sterling native Josh Rodriguez, who worked for Culligan for 14 years, has struck out on his own, opening Kokomo Water Conditioning. He serves Lee, Ogle, Whiteside and DeKalb counties, selling water conditioning and purification systems, and delivering salt and eventually bottled water.
Learn more at www.kokomowater.com, or call 815-625-5700.
■ In Sterling, Mike Wei, 39, who’s the owner of First Wok in Rock Falls, is renovating the former Ponderosa/Herb Cellar at 3106 East Lincolnway in Sterling. He plans to open the Asian Buffet in April; it will offer Chinese food and Mongolian stir fry.
Wei is remodeling the kitchen, putting up new dry wall and doing electrical work. When all is complete, the building will have 500 more square feet, for a total of 6,000. Workers alerady threw up a new roof, and there are plans to redo the parking lot.
Wei hasn’t determined how many employees he’ll need, and doesn’t have a final cost of the project.
First Wok, which opened in 1995, has a lot of customers that come over the bridge from Sterling on their lunch breaks. He didn’t want them to have to rush through their lunch hours, so he’s opening a restaurant for them.
And “it’s a good location. That’s important,” Wei said.
The Rock Falls restaurant can be reached at 815-625-8878.
At the mall
Northland Mall has four new, albeit temporary, tenants for the holiday season.
Gieson Motorsports, which has a store at 800 E. U.S. Route 30 in Rock Falls, opened an apparel store in the mall last month. It sells shirts, helmets, beanies, hats, motorcycle DVDs, clothing, toys, gloves and blankets, promoting the vehicles and accessories it sells in Rock Falls.
“We’re the apparel,” store manager Katie Grossman said. “We wanted to get the brand names out to other people. ... We wanted to bring it out to people who don’t necessarily have the motorcycles or the jet skis, but like the clothes.”
Most people think of motorcycles, ATVs or jet skis when they think of Giesons.
“We wanted to change how people look at us.”
Gieson may keep the store open past the holiday season. “So far it’s been a success and it’s been a lot of fun,” she said.
Learm more about Gieson’s at www.giesonmotorsports.com; the number is 815-626-1751.
Returning to the mall for the season are Chapman Motor Sports, a NASCAR-themed gift store run by Brenda and Wes Chapman, of Sterling; JoAnn Frederick, 70, of Prophetstown, who sells homemade jewelry, crafts and Christmas-themed woodwork; and Rick Schmotzer, 58, of Princeton, who sells handmade jewelry, native American jewelry and hats.
Reach Frederick at 815-537-2455 or 2918.
Two new businesses opened in Northland earlier in the year: Yasmine Johnson opened B Silver in August and is selling jewelry from a kiosk; Sports Zone opened in September and sells professional sports team pennants, stickers, signs, clocks and trash cans, among other things, in its shop.
Schmotzer’s number is 815-210-0882.
There will be some closures next month. FYE is leaving the mall in January, as is Waldenbooks. Furry Babies closed in October.
Downtown Sterling.
Downtown, the former Rock River Collection Agency office at 312 Locust St. will become a La Mex restaurant.
Owner Rodolfo Carlos, of Morris, owns five other La Mex restaurants, which serve fine Mexican cuisine, in Morris, Pontiac, Downers Grove, Orland Park and Joliet.
Kevin Heller, owner of RRCA, sold the 5,000 square foot space to Carlos last month.
“I wanted a viable downtown business that would add to the environment and culture of downtown,” Heller said.
“I think the community has a flavor for it. Mexican food can come in different varieties.”
RRCA now is at 201 E. Third St.
And Bella Vita Hair Design opened in August at 202 E. Third St. See photos of their fancy new digs and catch up with Lindsay Herrera and her team on Facebook, or call them at 815-626-2200.
Over on the east end of town, Community State bank is wrapping up construction on its new branch in the 3200 block of E. Lincolnway. Work is expected to be done by the end of January.
And although it is not a new business, Kroger, 2301 Locust St., has expanded its hours, to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“This store has shown steady and predictable growth in customer accounts and sales,” said John Elliott, public affairs manager for Kroger’s central division. “It is the belief of the local management that the trend would be strengthened further by the move to 24 hours.”
Kroger managers believe it will do well, even though there are two other 24-hour grocery stores, County Market and the Super Wal-Mart, in Sterling.
“We don’t make decision based on competitors actions,” Elliott said.
Call 815-625-6405 for more information.
In Morrison
Bambi Cassiberry has opened a new photo studio, A-List Photography, at 127 E. Main St. Call her at 815-441-8244 for more information.
RE/MAX Sauk Valley, headquartered in Sterling, has moved from 3200 E. Lynn Blvd. to bigger digs at 110 E. Lynn Blvd. Read about it on Page D1
Give us a call
Have you recently opened a new business?
Has your business recently moved or remodeled? Let us know. Contact Assistant Managing Editor Kathleen A. Schultz, at kschultz@svnmail.com or 800-798-4085, ext. 528.
