For an evening out, drop off your kids at Sprouts About
It's the perfect location for busy parents on the go.
Whether they need to go to the doctor, do some Christmas shopping or just take some time out together at the movies, the new Sprouts About drop-in day care center along Randall Road in Lake in the Hills is close by.
Laura Hopkins plans to open the DCFS-licensed facility at 61 Polaris Drive in September.
Sprouts About will offer full- and part-time day care, like other nearby facilities for children ages six weeks to 12 years old.
But Hopkins also is opening the center to parents who might want to just drop their kids off for one or two hours a week.
And, the facility will be open at night. So if you've been dying to catch that new movie with your spouse after work, you can drop your kids off while you go have a date night.
Monday through Thursday the center will open from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays it will stay open until 11 p.m. It will be closed on Sundays.
Hopkins, who has been a stay-at-home mom to her children ages 11, 8 and 5 for 11 years, knows this kind of center is needed in the area.
For many years, she's brought her kids along to doctors' appointments, nail appointments and to the grocery store.
She said if she knew there was a center nearby where she could drop the kids for a few hours on occasion and get some of those things done, she would have loved it. And she knew she wasn't the only one.
A few years ago, she looked into opening a drop-in center, but was looking for a model somewhere else to follow.
Finally, she found a place called dropindaycare.com that helped her with licensing and getting started. Sprouts About will be state-licensed, she said. Once parents register with the center, they are free to drop their children off.
Already, Hopkins said, she's received many calls from parents wondering when she's going to open. With everything from nail salons to coffee shops along the Randall Road corridor, Hopkins feels she's found the perfect spot to open.
For information, visit her Web site, sproutsabout.net.
Free speaker: If you're out and about doing back-to-school shopping at Geneva Commons this month, you might qualify for a free gift.
If you have receipts totaling $75 or more from the shops or restaurants at Geneva Commons, you could get a free neodymium speaker system, which works with iPods, mp3 players, CD players and PCs. You'll need to bring your receipts into New York and Company near the Bell Tower to qualify.
One speaker system is allowed per customer.
• 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.