Business Comings & Goings: Furniture Store Coming to Former Dominick’s

Pete’s Fresh Market may have abandoned plans to move into the former Dominick’s on LaGrange Road, in favor of building a new store at 143rd Street and LaGrange Road at the former Terry’s Lincoln site.

But the grocery store chain based on Chicago’s southwest side has found a new tenant for the former supermarket at 15080 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park.

Michigan-based Art Van Furniture has signed a 10-year lease to convert the former food store into a 46,000-square-foot store at the Orland Greens Shopping Center. The project has an estimated cost of $2 million. Dominick’s closed in November 2011.

Art Van has plans for more stores for the Chicago-area.

“This is part of a planned expansion,” said Diane K. Charles, director of corporate communications for Art Van Furniture. “We hope to open six stores in 2013.”

The company is known for its quality furniture and mattresses.

It has opened several franchise operations in its home state of Michigan, but the Orland store will be corporate-owned, said Charles.

Charles said the company expects conversion to take from four to six months and that the store will employ from 60-80 workers when it opens later this year.

Charlie Poulakis, a spokesman for Pete’s Fresh Market, said Art Van’s lease on the building began last week.

Terry’s Lincoln closed last week.

Poulakis said Pete’s was not sure if it would build the new 80,000-square-foot store in Orland Park this year or in 2014.

My Bike closes in Tinley

My Bike of Tinley Park, a bicycle shop that has moved around downtown Tinley Park since it opened in 2006, closed recently at 17210 S. Oak Park Ave. The owner’s email address has been cancelled, the phone number has been disconnected and there’s a realty company sign in the window.

Dickey’s BBQ leaves Orland

Too many food choices along LaGrange Road in Orland Park apparently took its toll on Dickey’s BBQ Pit at 15110 S. LaGrange Road, which closed in mid-January.

The Texas-style smokehouse that opened in January 2012 had a bumpy run.

The original owners – two brothers – sold the franchise about six months after opening to the owners of a franchise in northwest Indiana. They shut the eatery down a couple of weeks ago.

A manager at the Schererville, Ind., location said, “There are so many restaurants we couldn’t compete.”

Diana’s Kitchen shuts doors in Tinley

Losing the contract as food vendor at the 80th Avenue Metra station in Tinley Park was apparently enough to force the closing of Diana’s Kitchen at 167th Street and Oak Park Avenue in downtown Tinley.

A few days after village trustees approved Parmesans Station as the new food vendor to replace Diana’s, which started serving food to morning commuters in October, the location next to the gas station at 167th and Oak Park went dark.

There was no official word about the closing on the eatery’s Facebook page, but its phone number is disconnected and there was a message asking if the establishment might be moving. There was no response.

The eatery opened in January 2011.

Office Depot has new digs

Office Depot, which in December closed its store at Orland Park Place, has reopened in smaller digs at 15202 S. LaGrange Road in the village.

The move to a smaller location was part of a corporate strategy to make the office products supplier more intimate.

The new store features some innovations including a Bluwire store-within-a store featuring tech and mobility products, a PC Bar where customers can sit down and plug in their laptop or tablet, a computer rental station, free Wi-Fi, a recharge station and free self-serve coffee.

The store also features a Print Shop for same-day business cards, copying, document shredding, custom printing, and packing and shipping.

Fifth Third Bank has Auto Show discounts

Fifth Third banking centers in Orland Park, Tinley Park and anywhere else in Illinois and northern Indiana have free discount coupons for the annual Chicago Auto Show that runs from Feb. 9-18 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

General admission to the show is $12 for adults (ages 13 - 61), $6 for children (ages 7 - 12) and $6 for senior citizens (ages 62 and up). Any child 6 years or younger may enter the show free of charge with a paid adult. Advanced ticket sales are available online at www.drivechicago.com.

Fifth Third Bank will host an interactive display at the show where the public can enjoy racing simulators and see the bank's #17 NASCAR Ford Fusion.

For information, visit ChicagoAutoShow.com.

To find a banking center, visit Fifth Third Bank.

Moraine Valley seeks interviewers

The Job Resource Center at Moraine Valley Community College is seeking employers to participate in Mock Interview Day on Wednesday, Feb. 20, from 2-5 p.m. in the Moraine Business and Conference Center (Building M), 9000 W. College Pkwy., Palos Hills.

Participating employers will engage in a formal, 30-minute mock interview with students, alumni and community members. During the first 20 minutes, employers will ask a series of general interview questions provided by the college. The remaining 10 minutes will be used to offer feedback and helpful tips to the interviewee.

Business people who would like to volunteer their time as interviewers should call 708-974-5313 or email jrc@morainevalley.edu.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com.

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You can also catch up on Comings & Goings in other parts of the Southland at www.southlandbusinessnews.blogspot.com.