A place to shop for your new countertop
As soon as the sign for the new Countertop Shoppe along Randall Road in Crystal Lake went up, the calls started coming in.
The doors weren't even open yet, but as the holidays were approaching, people were looking for a quick fix to help update their homes, manager Corbie Dimopoulos said.
When the business did open early last month, the customers started filing in. Once inside the 902-square-foot store they found samples of every kind of countertop available lining the walls.
"We were very busy in the month of December and we anticipate a good beginning of 2010," Dimopoulos said.
Dimopoulos credits the early success of the Countertop Shoppe in large part to the business' location at 1295 Randall Road.
The Countertop Shoppe is an offshoot of Heartland Cabinet Supply at 5002 Rickert Road in Crystal Lake.
Dimopoulos said as people were coming in to Heartland Cabinet Supply for cabinets and kitchen makeovers, they also were looking to update their countertops. And countertops were becoming very popular with people looking to make improvements in their home, so they decided to open a retail location, she said.
They found the location on Randall, which is near Galloway's Subs, and opened within a few months.
"We wanted to open up a retail outlet doing countertops and we found this location to be a very visible location," Dimopoulos said.
"I think it's mainly location. A lot of homes around here were built 15 to 20 years ago and I think people are looking to start to update them a little. A very simple fix is changing your kitchen counters," she said.
While there are many home improvement stores up and down Randall Road that also sell countertops, Dimopoulos says she feels the new business can compete because of its price point and its variety of offerings from laminate to Cambria Quartz.
All of the countertops sold at the business along Randall are fabricated right at the business' other Crystal Lake location, so they can offer them at an affordable price and bring them directly to the customers from Crystal Lake.
For information call (815) 477-8677.
Cheap soup: Well, at least this cold is good for something.
At the Barley House restaurant along Randall Road in Algonquin, they're pricing their lunchtime soup according to the temperatures outside.
For example, if the temperature reads 10 degrees outside of the restaurant at 1520 S. Randall at the time of your order, guess what you pay for your soup? Yes, 10 cents.
And if it's below zero out, they will pay you to eat the soup.
This deal runs through March 31, and another item must be ordered along with the soup. The offer is valid from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Get cozy: For the new year, Friday night pajama story time returns to the Barnes & Noble along Randall road in Geneva Commons.
This week's story time begins at 7 p.m. and is all about those lovable bunnies Max and Ruby.
There will be fun stories featuring the brother and sister duo, as well as coloring.
The event is free and pajamas are encouraged.
• Amy Williams' column covers all the news of business along the Randall Road corridor from Batavia to Crystal Lake. Contact her at randallbiz@comcast.net or (847) 894-5036.