It's Your Business: This Is It banks on megastore appeal
This Is It Furniture is going LARGER LARGER LARGER.
In fact, pretty soon owner Mike Namoff won't even be calling it a store anymore.
He'll be rechristening it a "megastore" after he moves from his 20-year spot at 1615 W. Springfield Ave., C, to a new and larger location – the old Hobby Lobby building at 2002 Glenn Park Drive, C.
Namoff said he has a bit of remodeling to do on the old location of Hobby Lobby, which moved next to Market Place Mall, but he's set to open the new place Nov. 1.
"It's a big white box. I'm going to put a wall up, carpet it and go," he added.
Namoff said his new store in Danville, which opened three months ago, is larger than the one in Champaign and is doing more business. He thinks a larger store in Champaign would do more business, too, and the end of his lease on Springfield Avenue offered him an opportunity to move and expand.
"Really, I just ran out of room," he said. "I need more parking. I need more space."
The new store will carry more furniture and bedding, including an expanded line of Ashley furniture, Namoff said.
Meanwhile, he's running an I'd-rather-sell-it-than-move-it sale at the current store.
And he's gearing up to make some new commercials, he said. Expect to see appearances by his children, who appeared in his boisterous "downer downer downer" commercials when they were little and aren't so little anymore. His two sons are 16 and 11, and his daughter is 13.
"People tell me they saw my kids grow up on TV," Namoff said.
Child care center to move
Bundles of Joy Learning Center will move to a larger building at 1508 Ridgeway Ave., C, by the end of the year, says owner Darlene Anderson.
Now at 2909 Watterson Court, C, Bundles of Joy will be able to about double the number of children it can enroll to 83 in the new building, she said.
Anderson purchased the building, a former dance studio, and will remodel it with the help of a $668,000 Small Business Administration loan.
Anderson said she accepts infants through 12-year-olds and offers preschool and after-school care. Among the learning programs for enrollees are Spanish and sign language. There are some openings for preschoolers, she said, and she is keeping a waiting list for new students after the move.
Fix-it shop for guitars
Longtime guitar player Hector Trevino has started The Guitar Workshop at his home in Urbana.
He will handle adjustments, repairs and modifications of acoustic and electric guitars by appointment only.
Trevino, who has been playing guitar since the 1960s, said he learned how to care for and repair guitars about six years ago and is now making it a full-time second career.
For information, he can be reached at 766-5033.
Giant consignment sale returns
One Week Boutique will hold its fall consignment sale Sept. 14-17 at the former Rhodes Furniture building at 912 W. Anthony Drive, C.
The sale will feature more than 400 sellers bringing baby, children's and maternity clothing, toys, strollers, books, playground equipment, nursery furnishings and other items, according to owner Donna Pepper.
Sellers earn 70 percent of what the items go for, and unsold items can be donated to Crisis Nursery and the Center for Women Transition.
Sellers get a chance to shop early. Hours for the public are: noon to 7 p.m. Sept. 14, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 15-16, and 2 to 7 p.m. Sept. 17, with the last day being a half-price sale. For more information, see www.oneweekboutique.com or call 344-6631.
Now open at new clinic
Carle Clinic's new facility in Urbana, at the corner of Windsor Road and Myra Ridge Drive, has opened a convenient care center for walk-in patients.
It is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and is closed on holidays.
Are you opening a new business or changing something at your existing business? Debra Pressey can be reached by phone at 351-5229 or 800-252-3346; by e-mail at dpressey@news-gazette.com; or by regular mail at The News-Gazette, c/o It's Your Business column, P.O. Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677.
