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March 19th, 2008
Brio, the restaurant and wine bar at 515 E. State St., Rockford, has started an “Industry Night” each Monday night for fellow workers in the restaurant and bar industry. On Monday nights, anyone working in that industry — except for fast food restaurants — can bring a current pay stub from his or her employer, purchase one alcoholic beverage at regular price, and choose an entree free from Brio’s Industry Night menu. Currently there are three entrees on that menu.
Catering director Sandy Johns said Brio started the program March 10, “to have fun and relax with the people who know our business.
“Monday nights typically are slow nights for people in the industry, so it’s a good night for those people to come together and have some fun,” she said. Monday night the 17th, the restaurant had a couple of tables full of industry folk, Johns said.
“We haven’t really been measuring how many extra industry people we’ve gotten yet,” she said. “We haven’t really gotten the word out yet.”
Johns said she does have ideas for trivia games and other fun activities to add if the Industry Night really takes off.
March 13th, 2008
People in the Rock River Valley seem to care a great deal about their restaurants. By far the most comments I get on this blog are about restaurants either coming here or leaving.
When I wrote in January that Buffalo Wild Wings was planning to open a restaurant at 6275 E. State St., Rockford, sometime this summer, one enthusiastic reader responded:
“LOVE LOVE LOVE BWW!! I used to live in Bloomington and worked at the one there….I never liked wings or spicy things until I started sampling the buffalo menu. The atmosphere is fun and upbeat and even though it is a sports bar, its dining rooms offer a family setting as well. In Bloomington it is always busy! So good and so much fun! I can’t wait!1
Also in December after I wrote that the Del Taco restaurant at 1555 W. Lane Road, Machesney Park, had closed, I got several disappointed responses. One reader wrote,
“We live 15 miles from the Del Taco, but we loved it so much we went anyway.”
Another said,
“That’s sad. We lived in Southern CA for a few years and loved Del Taco. After we moved back to the Chicago area we actually drove 100 miles to this location. Luckily, one opened up about 10 miles from us in Oak Lawn, IL. I really hope it stays open.”
Responses were mixed to the opening of the new Ember Restaurant and Bar in A Perryville Place, 6957 Olde Creek Road, Rockford. Some people gave it rave reviews, others simply said, “don’t.” I got by far the most responses about this restaurant — both positive and negative — so I guess that means a lot of people are trying it out!
March 6th, 2008
Check out vintage and modern furniture during an open house — Fri., March 7Â and Sat., March 8Â — for Nest, a new store at 218 E. State St.
The store, which opened in December, is owned by Rockford resident Christopher Furney, who also is the president of the nearby Haight Village Neighborhood Association. It features mid-century and modern furniture and other unique home-decor items that Furney has collected during the past decade.
The open house runs from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and noon to 8 p.m. Saturday. Refreshments will be served. Call 815-222-8624 for more information.
March 5th, 2008
A new Asha SalonSpa is scheduled to open in early April at The District at CherryVale, the new lifestyle center at CherryVale Mall, 7200 Harrison Ave., Cherry Valley.
It will be an Aveda Lifestyle SalonSpa, which means it will carry the full line of Aveda care products for hair, skin and nails, and provide all Aveda signature services. The spa will have a nail bar for manicures and pedicures. Among other services, it will provide hair coloring, facials, massages and body waxing.
The spa will be the fifth Asha SalonSpa; the other four are in the Chicago area, where the company is based, said Kathleen Bergeron, managing partner of the entire Asha SalonSpa collection. Construction on the new CherryVale salon started in mid-January, and training and a soft opening will start at the beginning of April, said Bergeron. Grand opening parties will start around April 20, said Bergeron.
Bergeron opened the first Asha SalonSpa seven years ago. She will be commuting daily from Huntley to help with the new location. Team leader Maureen O’Rielly will be running the salon.
February 29th, 2008
Juventas Medical Spa is celebrating its grand opening March 6 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Its owner and manager, Dr. Joseph Eckburg, has been a family practice physician in the Rock River Valley area for 13 years. He has received certifications in laser procedures, sclerotherapy and Botox/Juvederm injections, according to a release from the company.
The spa, at 7117 Crimson Ridge Drive, Suite 3, Rockford, has been open since Feb. 18 — and up through its grand opening date, is offering special rates of 40 percent off all treatment packages as well as Botox for $9 per unit (its normal price will be $12 per unit).
Services at the spa include photo facial rejuvenation, microdermabrasion, chemical peels, laser hair removal and laser vein therapy among other procedures.
February 27th, 2008
A few weekends ago, when planning a school-related trip into Chicago with some friends and considering what stores to visit in our few hours of shopping time, I had my heart set on finding an extra-warm down-filled coat I’d seen in L.L. Bean’s catalog. But I was disappointed to discover there was no L.L. Bean store in Chicago. In fact, there was no L.L. Bean store anywhere outside the Northeastern U.S.
Evidently I was just eight months early.
The Maine-based outdoor gear and apparel outfitter announced this week that it plans to open its first retail store outside the Northeast this September, and it will be in the Chicago area. The new 30,000-square-foot store is planned for The Arboretum of South Barrington, a retail, dining and entertainment center being developed at the northeastern corner of Route 59 and Higgins Road in — you guessed it — South Barrington.
The Chicago area store will be L.L. Bean’s 10th outside of Maine. The company also plans to open retail stores in New York and Pennsylvania in 2008, said Carolyn Beem, manager of public affairs. It would like to have three or four stores in the Chicago area in the next two or three years, she said.
February 24th, 2008
Off-price retailer T.J. Maxx will be moving to Machesney Park in March and closing its East State Street store in Rockford.
T.J. Maxx plans to open its new Machesney Park store, in Machesney Crossing at 1009 W. Lane Road, on March 13, with grand opening hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The current T.J. Maxx Location, at 6363 E. State St. in Rockford, is scheduled to close March 9.
The new Machesney Park store will carry a larger accessories department than a typical T.J. Maxx store — including handbags, jewelry and luggage — according to a press release from the company.
T.J. Maxx, based in Framingham, Mass., has more than 800 stores in 48 states.
First Rockford Group is the developer of Machesney Crossing, a retail complex at the southeast corner of Illinois 251 and Illinois 173.  Retailers began opening in its main 220,000-square-foot inline building in October and November 2007.Â
February 17th, 2008
Heavenly Ham in Rockford and the Rock River Valley Pantry have joined together to bring special ham dinners to families in the community this Easter. This program hopes to provide meals to 2,000 families in need this Easter in the Rockford area.
Individuals and businesses can participate by donating to the program. For a donation of $25, Heavenly Ham will put together a platter/basket of food that will consist of one pound of ham, two pounds of a side dish, 12 rolls, and a pie. The meal feeds four people. The Rock River Valley Pantry will distribute these dinners to local families that may otherwise go without a meal this Easter.
Businesses that choose one of the sponsorship programs will be recognized in local print media and have their logos on the outside of the boxed suppers they made possible. Members of the community may also donate for a complete meal to a single family ($25) or to four families ($100).
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 33,000 people living in Winnebago County - including more than 12,000 children under the age of 18 - that fall below poverty guidelines.
Orders are being taken now through March 10. To participate, stop by either Heavenly Ham at 7451 East State Stree, Rockford, or the Rock River Valley Pantry at 1080 Short Elm Street, Rockford. For more information, contact the Rock River Valley Pantry at (815) 965-2485 or Heavenly Ham at (815) 395-1426.
February 11th, 2008
A new service from online mall search site NearbyNow gives shoppers a way to find and reserve gifts at CherryVale Mall using their mobile phones.
Most of the mall’s retailers are now on board with the service, said Cindy Hindes, CherryVale’s marketing director. Shoppers can log on to www.nearbynow.com and choose the “product search” button to navigate through the process — or on to CherryVale Mall’s Web site at www.shopcherryvalemall.com and choose the “product search” button in the upper right hand corner of the homepage.
Or, even with standard text messaging service from a cell phone, they can text CV to 632729 to connect directly to CherryVale Mall’s stores, receiving a response showing a mobile menu. The menu allows mobile phone users to search by product, stores, sales or another shopping center.
For instance, said Hindes, a shopper can type in “diamond heart necklace” as a text message on a mobile phone, then see all the stores in the mall that carry such a necklace, look at prices, and then reserve a necklace at a particular store to be picked up later.
February 8th, 2008
Rockford-based Colorlab Custom Cosmetics is holding the official launch of its first U.S. retail stores — in Chicago — on Feb. 12. This includes its flagship store at 857 W. Armitage, as well as the cosmetics counter at Macy’s at 111 N. State St. The company also has a cosmetics counter at Macy’s in San Francisco at Union Square.
The U.S. retail locations opened in December 2007, but this month marks the official launch event, said Justine Markese, senior brand manager for Colorlab.
The company, founded in 1996 by Mary Swaab, launched retail cosmetics counters in Paris in 2005, and in London in 2006.
Colorlab cosmetics are customized at the counter for each individual customer, by hue and formulation, like a cosmetics lab at the counter. Because they’re customized on-site with the customer, they’re not available online but only by purchasing them in person, said Markese.
Before the Chicago and San Francisco stores, the only other way people could get the cosmetics in the U.S. was by appointment at the company’s headquarters in Rockford at 1112 5th Ave.  They still can do that by calling 815-965-2001 to to make an appointment.
While the company has plans to roll out retail locations in other markets as well, “we were very happy we got to start in our own backyard in Chicago,” said Markese. “It was important to start (the U.S. retail enterprise) in Chicago, because it was close, and we could hold its hand.”
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