Archive for April, 2008
April 17th, 2008
Colorlab Custom Cosmetics, the Rockford based company that has retail cosmetics counters in Paris and London, San Francisco and Chicago, is providing the makeup for the models in the fashion show at the All Star Salute to Service Excellence 2008, a benefit held by the Northern Illinois Branch of the Arthritis Foundation on Fri., April 25.
The event, on the Friday of Administrative Professionals Week, is offered by the Arthritis Foundation as a way for local employers to thank support staff. At Cliffbreakers Lexington Hotel, 700 W. Riverside Blvd., Rockford, it starts at 11 a.m. with a social hour and silent auction, and includes a noon luncheon. The fashion show, from 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m., features social and work-related apparel modeled by local rheumatologists and sponsors.
Colorlab will be applying the makeup for the models. It also produced a signature color lipstick which the All Star committee was allowed to name; the name chosen was “Casablanca Kiss.” Everyone who attends the event will be given a lipstick donated by Colorlab and a signature tote.
Colorlab was founded in Rockford in 1996 by Mary Swaab. Its Chicago locations include a flagship store at 857 W. Armitage, and the cosmetics counter at Macy’s at 111 N. State St. Its cosmetics also are available in Rockford by appointment, by calling the company’s headquarters at 815-965-2001.
Colorlab cosmetics are customized at the counter for each individual customer, by hue and formulation, like a cosmetics lab at the counter.
Reservations still are available for the All Star Salute to Service Excellence 2008 event, said Vickie Fogel, director for the Northern Illinois Branch of the Arthritis Foundation. The final deadline for reservations is Thurs., April 24, she said. For more information or for reservations, call the Arthritis Foundation office at 815-971-6380.
April 11th, 2008
Rinku Patel plans to open her fourth local Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins store on April 22 or 23 — about five days before the due date for the birth of her second child. She already has a two-year-old son. This juxtaposition does not seem to faze her a bit.
“I’m not the kind of person who can sit at home,” she told me on April 11. “With my first pregnancy I worked till the day I had to go to the hospital.”
Equipment is being set up now for the opening of Patel’s latest store, at 6747 Broadcast Parkway in Loves Park, in a new building across from Peak Sports Club. Rinku Patel and her husband Chirag Patel are owners and franchisees for Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins for the Rockford area.
Their other three locations opened in 2003 — at 2542 S. Alpine Road and 3511 E. State St., Rockford and 1550 E. Riverside Blvd., Loves Park — all in previously built stores that had been closed.
They now plan to close the East State Street store on April 30, and open in a different place in downtown Rockford; that location still is under negotiation.Â
The Patels moved to the Rockford area from Chicago when they purchased the local franchise. It was their first time owning a Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins, but the business is nothing new to Rinku Patel. Her parents owned some Dunkin’ Donuts stores in the Chicago area, and she spent many years helping out in the family business.
April 10th, 2008
A new restaurant, Southern Butterfly, has opened at 1406 N. Main St., Rockford, in the spot where the Waffle Inn used to be.  While it offers some “soul food” specials, Southern Butterfly really is a family style restaurant with menu offerings such as club sandwiches, hamburgers and vegetarian dishes, said co-owner Kim Hunt. “We do say ‘We cook with soul,’” she told me this week.
The restaurant’s other co-owner is Hunt’s mother Earma Maypray. Both are from Rockford; Hunt has owned two previous restaurants here, Kemra’s Soul Food Cafe and Nawlins. It’s Maypray’s first time in ownership in the restaurant business.Â
 ”She (Hunt) does all the cooking and I do the management — and assist her in cooking now and then,” said Maypray, who had planned on retiring on her 65th birthday this year but decided to join in the restaurant venture to help ensure income for her daughter Kim and grandson Donavon.
Why the North Main site? Maypray also works for the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and she said when her daughter was looking to open a restaurant, ”I thought this would be a good area because i know how hard the city is working to build up this North Main area and the downtown area, and I wanted to contribute.”
While the restaurant does not yet have a Web site, Maypray said she plans to register with the Rockford Chamber of Commerce and get assistance from the chamber in building one.
The restaurant’s specials include include all-you-can-eat fried chicken on Wednesdays and all-you-can-eat pork chops on Thursdays, said Hunt. Fridays are Cajun night with red beans and rice, gumbo, Jambalaya, dirty rice and Cajun corn bread. Regular menu items are offered during those times as well.
Once the weather gets better, said Hunt, she also plans to offer ribs and pulled pork cooked outdoors but served inside the restaurant.
 Southern Butterfly opened March 9. For hours and more information on specials, call 815-962-8005.
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April 8th, 2008
Again, not necessarily coming or going, but pretty darned interesting!
Patch Products is looking for people who like to play games — board games, card games and dice games, that is.
The Beloit based manufacturer wants families and groups of adults to help it test new games it is developing. The company makes family entertainment products — like games and puzzles — which are sold at major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Toys “R” Us and K Mart.
The game testing sessions last about an hour. They allow the people at Patch Products to watch a game being played, and to get feedback from unbiased players.
You can sign up by snail mail by sending your name, address, phone number and e-mail address to:
Game Testing!
Patch Products
1400 Inman Parkway
Beloit WI 53511
Or you can e-mail your information to patch@patchproducts.com with “Game Testing!” in the subject line.
The manufacturer is looking for testers of all ages, but if you’re a kid, you should ask your parents to sign up as a family.
Once Patch Products gets the information, it communicates with potential testers via e-mail to set a time to come to its Game Testing Room at its headquarters and play a game. Afterward, the testers are asked what they like or didn’t like about the game, and how they would improve it.
April 2nd, 2008
Riverside Pavilion retail center — 5875 E. Riverside Blvd., at the corner of Mulford Road in Rockford — has been through a major renovation. This week its merchants are celebrating with prizes and discounted specials, culminating Saturday with the “Riverside Pavilion-Ace Hardware Big Game Give-Away” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors can register all this week to win a new 42-inch LCD HDTV: the “Big Game Give-Away” grand prize to be awarded that day.Â
The 87,000-square-foot retail center was acquired in 2007 by Paul Hemmer Companies — a Cincinnati, Ohio-based real estate development, building and construction services firm — and then went through the renovation. Ace Hardware then opened as an anchor store. Other businesses at the center include Cardinal Fitness, Island Tan, Domino’s Pizza, Hallmark, Moto Photo, ADT, Concord Custom Cleaners, Great Clips, Island Tan and Weight Watchers.
April 1st, 2008
After almost 80 years of manufacturing and selling mattresses and bedding products, Rockford Mattress Co.’s owners have decided to close. The company has stopped manufacturing mattresses and now is liquidating its inventory.
The Powell family, which owns the business at 212 Seventh St., is not sure when it will close its doors for good. Sales have fluctuated over the past five years, and the Powells knew by December that they’d need to close. Several factors led to the decision, they said: industry changes, rising costs of materials, and the overall economy.
You can read the full story, “Needs outweigh wants: Rockford Mattress to close,” at BusinessRockford.com here.
April 1st, 2008
Not a coming or going, more like a doing:
Locations of The UPS Store around the country, including the one at 7431 E. State St. in Rockford, are teaming up with the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation for its first-ever year-round Toys for Tots Literacy Program.
Through the month of April, The UPS Store will be selling $1 donation cards. For every dollar donated, a book will be given to a local economically disadvantaged child, courtesy of Scholastic, Inc.
The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. network is the exclusive sponsor of the Toys for Tots Literacy Program. Since 2005 it also has been a national sponsor of Toys for Tots.
You can find more information at www.ToysforTotsLiteracy.org.
