Retail and Shopping
-
‘It’s not just retail. It’s hospitality’: Stonehouse Market store coming to downtown WheatonJan 17, 2026 1:45 pm - Fran Rouse shares a certain French sensibility through her expanding Wheaton business, Stonehouse Market. Her store in Town Square Wheaton has cookbooks, L'epicurien salted butter caramel spread, French soaps, and art Rouse brought back from a trip to Paris. A Francophile at heart, she’s opening another store, this one in downtown.
-
‘We still have plenty’: Retailers making sense of penny’s slow deathJan 17, 2026 11:15 am - Some businesses are rounding off cash transactions, others with high credit card transactions are unfazed after U.S. Mint discontinued penny production.
-
Minifridge recall expands to 964,000 Frigidaires after fire reports
Jan 15, 2026 4:00 pm - An appliance distributor is expanding a minifridge recall that now covers roughly 964,000 Frigidaire-branded products sold in the U.S., after multiple fire reports.
-
Sales tax in Deer Park may stay 8% for a while longerJan 14, 2026 2:14 pm - Empowered by a change in state law, Deer Park officials are considering leaving the overall sales tax on goods purchased in town at 8%.
-
McHenry GameStop among several closed in northern Illinois
Jan 14, 2026 11:49 am - McHenry’s GameStop is among several of the gaming and collectibles stores across Illinois that have closed in recent days or are about to be shuttered.
-
Luxury retailer Saks Global files for bankruptcy as it prepares to restructure
-
Painting brick buildings a popular trend, but not with preservationistsJan 14, 2026 4:00 am - Painting over brick is way to bring older buildings “back to life” and give a downtown streetscape a new look, but historic preservationists advise against it.
-
Bargain grocer Aldi seizes the moment and expands with consumers hurting
-
Don’t trash that battery: Rechargeables and others being accepted for recycling under new state lawJan 11, 2026 8:45 pm - With the groundwork for a new state law done and mechanisms in place, consumers now have places to take batteries rather than have them rolling around in kitchen drawers or gathering dust in the garage.
-
Trump store moving to Crystal Lake after eviction proceedings in Huntley