Why I Oughta...

For the past 10+ years, I've been sitting at this desk for a couple of days each week.   And by calling it a 'desk', I might be being generous.  It is really a table.  With two tiny, slim drawers.  But, I call it my 'desk' when I refer to it.  "Put it on my desk."  Or "I think it is on my desk."  Nat bought it at West Elm when we were first moving into our old house.  When she bought it, I was setting up a tiny home office.  Upstairs in what would become our little nursery outside of our master bedroom.  It is a stable, even surface.  And compact in size.  When #1 arrived, I relocated downstairs to a first floor bedroom that was larger.  But, the small desk was going with me.  And there it lived for seven or so years.  After a few years in storage, we moved it into my new office in our new house.  Until now.  Nat found me a new desk - a desk that I've admired but figured was out of our leag...

This one feels different than the last time .  I posted a similar picture and post back in 2015 when we moved out of our first house.  Today, we're living in our #newoldfarmhouse after moving out of this sweet house that we've been fortunate to live in for two years.  I'm so grateful that Equation Boy/Man and Vic were so generous to host us while we were homeless in their house.  We were just down the block and our family felt normal - somewhat.  This home provided us shelter and a place to grow our family.  Most of all, it provided us peace of mind.  We were safe and sound and we had the time to make a new, new plan and execute that plan. I know we can't ever likely say 'thank you' enough to Vic and Equation Boy/Man, but I hope they know how grateful we are for their hospitality. So long, Indiana Street.  This certainly isn't a good bye.   Just a 'see you later'.

When we first moved to town, t here was an Anderson's bookstore right in the Elmhurst City Centre .  For real.  Then they closed down, scurried back to Downtown Naperville and a weird hookah place opened up in the same location just north of Francesca's on York.  Today?  That tobacco/hookah place is now closed and gone with the windows paper'd over and a 'for lease' sign up in front.  We lose another retailer and the associated sales tax, but we get a brand-new opportunity for something great.  I would think that parking is one of the tough parts with this location, but with the new apartment buildings gaining occupancy just north of this, there should be some demand for the space, right? But then again, right across the street from this is that other newly renovated set of storefronts ( where the old Salt Creek Pottery was located on the east side of York, just south of City Hall) that are all totally vacant, too.  Perhaps, retail isn't in the E...

What was Wok 'N Fire just six months ago is now an empty restaurant as Bok Choy has announced their closing in the Elmhurst City Centre.  The sign thanks customers for 15 years of support and asks them to visit the Addison location.  We only visited Wok n' Fire once during our 10 years in town and didn't make it into Bok Choy, so this is hardly a loss for the dining scene for our family, but it is a shame to see another place go in the City Centre.  New places have come ( Red Arrow Tap Room ) and are on their way ( Beerheads ) but we'll just have to add this to the long list of "So Long..." posts here on the blog about vacancies in the Elmhurst City Centre. A few of the most recent: So Long, Theatre History Society of America So Long, Salseria in Elmhurst City Centre So Long, Cold Stone In The Elmhurst City Centre

Earlier this week on my walk to the train, I noticed this "Office Suites Available" sign at 152 York Street - right sandwiched between the Gaming Goat and the York Theatre .   The door leads to a 2nd floor suite that used to be occupied by the Theatre Historical Society of America .  Yeah...the Elmhurst City Centre used to be home to them.  And they were tucked away in a 2nd floor suite above the York Theatre.  But, now they're gone. Turns out, last summer, news broke that the group was moving to Pittsburgh .   Somehow, I missed all of this.  And that, right there, might have been the problem.  We just weren't paying attention: After more than two decades in Elmhurst, the Theater Historical Society has decided to move its headquarters to Pittsburgh.  In a newsletter published on the organization’s website , the board of directors said the move is motivated mostly by the space limitations of their location above the York Theater, 150 N. Y...

If you walk by the Salseria on the east side of York Street right in the heart of the City Centre, you'll come across a few signs announcing the closing of the restaurant including the one above and the one below that say "See you Soon" and "Thank you Elmhurst for 12 great years". They also herald a new concept coming to the location:  Victory Meat and Seafood. When I came across the news of the Salseria being closed, I had to ask Nat how many times we went there.  The answer?  Just twice. And both times, I guess we didn't love it.  But other folks must have, right?  No way a place survives for 10+ years without being pretty good? The new place is going to feature " 5-varieties of fresh Oysters daily ", so it will be a bit different and will likely fill a need in town, but because they're going to be opening in August of this year, we'll have to think about coming back as 'tourists' to the Elmhurst City Centre. So long,...

If you walk past Hartmann Jewelers on the east side of York Street - just across the tracks - in the Elmhurst City Centre, you'll see this:  papered up windows.  And a little note that says that they're closed.  The note says that if you left a piece with them, they'll be in touch to get it to you. There were once three jewelry stores in the City Centre.  There's Cottage Hill Diamonds (still there!), plus this place Hartmann and one other.  Can you remember? Well, it wasn't so much a jewelry shop as it was a pawn shop.  Yep, for a sad period of time, we had a "GoldMax" on the west side of York Street in the City Centre.  This was back in 2012 . We've been in Hartmann a few times, but it was ONLY ever on the downtown Trick-or-Treat days when the kids wandered in there to pick up a lollipop or Tootsie Roll.  Oh well, I guess part of why they're closing is the community didn't support them. There was once three.  Now there's just o...

In a bit of a bummer, the MOD Pizza place on St. Charles near Route 83 is closed up and gone.  This place was right next door to the big hockey store on the south side of the road.   I covered the opening of the store back in September of 2015 and I really liked the place .  I guess that the people of Elmhurst voted with their wallets and decided to support other places. The sign in the window claims that they 'moved', but we know better, right?

At one point, I have to think that Elmhurst and our City Centre was one of the sweet treat capitols of the world.  We had - what - three yogurt shops.  And two ice cream shops.  And a shaved ice place.  All within like three blocks of each other. Now we're down to three total.  TCBY on the yogurt side.  And BrainFreeze on the ice cream side.  And the shaved ice place that operates seasonally. And that's because the Cold Stone Creamery on the east side of York - right across from the bowling alley - is shuttered.  That sign was posted on the windows earlier this month and if you walk by the place now, it is empty.  All the signage inside and out is gone.  The fixtures and furniture...gone. And while we're saying 'so long' to this place, I have to raise my own hand and say 'sorry'.  We just flat out didn't support this store.  Not sure the reason, but it wasn't in our world and didn't appeal to us.  Maybe our kids are...

If you walk by the storefront just south of TCBY on the west side of York Street in the Elmhurst City Centre these days, you'll notice that there's a 'for lease' sign up in the old Meeder Remodeling location.  They were in this spot for about a year or less only - as I posted about them moving out of their location further south here on the blog last December . If you drive down south on York near the Prairie Path, you'll see that they've relocated down there, which is great and means that they didn't close up shop. As for the City Centre, we need a mix of uses - from retail to restaurant to services to offices.  And Meeder was a part of that mix.  They didn't generate a ton of foot traffic, but I am guessing that they employed a staff that worked in the City Centre everyday that provided needed customers to the other tenants of the City Centre. Because storefronts are so scarce, I'm always going to advocate for office/showroom uses like thi...

Downtown Elmhurst just lost another business with the closing of Goalie's Goodies on the west side of York Street, just one block south of the tracks.  If you walk by it today, you'll see this brown papered-up window along with this small sign that says they're moving to River Forest.  Sad news for Elmhurst. I covered the opening of Goalie's Goodies here on the blog back in the end of April of 2013 .  So, she made it for just under three years in Elmhurst. For those of you following along, you'll remember that Goalie's Goodies took the spot of the short-lived Bleeding Heart Bakery . We shopped - what I'd call - regularly at Goalie's Goodies.  We'd buy packs of their corn for my Dad or for other gifts/parties.  And the girls just loved the stuff, so often times we'd have dinner at Pints or somewhere else, and we'd end up at Goalie's Goodies for a few tiny bags of Cheese corn. On her website , Debbie (who I think *is* the Goalie!...

If you walk by Mimmo's pizza place on York Street in the Elmhurst City Centre today, you'll see the front window covered in black plastic wrap.  Are they closing?  It is pretty odd because they have a 'Drivers Wanted' sign still up in the window and the menu and other promotional posters all hung between the glass and the black plastic. Anyone have the details? (**Update on 4/19/16:  Heard from a source who is in the know that it looks like Mimmo's is being bought-out by another 'smallish family-owned pizza chain'.  So...it looks like this place will keep serving pizza and salads and such.  That's good for the City Centre.  Once it reopens, I'll be sure we give it a shot!) I don't think it is a remodel because the place was gutted and cleaned up right before they opened not all that long ago.  Unfortunately...we've NEVER been there.  Yep...maybe that's part of the reason for the black plastic.  Blame people like us who never patr...

 If you head over to Downtown Elmhurst today, you'll find this enormous hole in the ground at the site of the old Plass Appliance building on York Street.  It appears that the plan for the "York Building" - which includes condos upstairs and retail on the first floor is moving forward fast. With the Plass building down, it sure does make that building that holds Nu Crepes look better/more accessible, right?  Hopefully, the design of the new York Building will make that walkway/alley a bit more pedestrian friendly.  That...plus the new garage back there should mean more foot traffic.

Just two days after I posted about the Elmhurst Olive Oil Company closing on York Street , comes this photo studio leaving York, too.  Same side of the street as the Olive Oil Co and just south of construction going on at the old Plass Appliance site. The one thing that sticks out about this place is the weird bunny stuff.  Around Easter-time, they always had bunny and baby/kid photos in the windows and kept bunnies in cages right in the front window.  It always struck me as a bit weird.  But, based on how many bunny photos they had up, lots of parents must have loved the idea. So long, MWD.  I hardly knew ya!

We lost another retail business on York Street in the Elmhurst City Centre. This time, Elmhurst Olive Oil Company has closed their doors and the landlord has a 'for lease' sign up. We covered this place back in 2011 here on the blog when they opened. They made it four years and couldn't make it through the holidays this year.  This place replaced "Let's Have a Party". I think we stopped in there once in the four years it was open.  Well...besides the times when we went to the City Centre for Trick-or-Treat'ing over the years.  And that, folks, is part of the problem.

This notice was posted on the front windows of Cocomera - the yogurt shop on the east side of York right across for the York Theatre. I covered the opening of Cocomera back in August of 2012 here on the blog . Sad to see them go, but the space is huge (always seemed way to big for a yogurt shop!), so I'm hopeful that we'll get something interesting in that location soon. Here's a post that showed the space BEFORE Cocomera (it was a salon that failed) and talked about how Inland was marketing the place.   This is the second yogurt place to open and close in the City Centre.  The first was YogenFruz up the street.  This leaves TCBY (which I think is Nat's favorite of the three anyway!) as the last remaining location of the great early/mid-20-teens yogurt craze in Elmhurst.

If you drive down York Road towards the City Centre these days you can't help but spot the big demolition job taking place on the west side just south of the CVS/Panera. Coming down are Pauli's gas station and a few other random buildings.  And in their place?  Something called the Elmhurst 255 built by Morningside USA .   From the listing on their site: 192 luxury rental units in downtown Elmhurst, two blocks from the Metra station 12,000 sf of new retail space available Spring 2016, with 150 public parking spaces and outdoor cafe seating. Divisible 1,400-6,000 sf. Click for more information . Public event plaza with bandshell A public bandshell?  That's pretty cool.  The City Center lacks one important feature that all downtowns *should* have:  a gathering place.  Think place to light the town Christmas tree (I know, I know...we do one down by the police station, but...that's not quite right.), have free concerts, show movies, etc. ...

Spotted this "moving sale" sign hanging in the window of Salt Creek Pottery on North York Street in Elmhurst.  Salt Creek Pottery is (currently) located on York Street just north of where the Palmer underpass re-joins York by the Starbucks in the City Centre.  It is one of the very few businesses on the east side of the street between City Hall and the newish Yoga place on the northeast corner of Palmer and York.  The white-brick building is full of vacant store fronts and likely suffers from a lack of street-parking access that would encourage a lot more drive-up/walk-ins. Anyone know where they're moving?  Another location in the City Centre?

Another day, another blow for the Elmhurst City Centre.  This time, it is in the form of the departure of the Runner's Soul from York Street.   Now, we're down to having one running store with Fleet Feet remaining.  So sad to see these guys go as they added some nice retail diversity to York Street. The sign in the window says that they've moved to LaGrange but it looks like they just consolidated to that one store.   Posted on their site is this note : The Runner’s Soul - Elmhurst   Now Closed Thank you for all your support! We’ve consolidated into our larger location in La Grange in order to serve you better with our programs

Another loss in Downtown Elmhurst as Leonard's Fine Mens Clothing store is 'quitting business forever'. Have to admit that I've never stepped foot in the place, so I'll take some of the blame, but this is another open storefront in the City Center and one less reason for some folks to head down there.  Sad for the business.  Sad for Elmhurst.