Remember those goofy pictures you used to take with your best friend inside photo booths?

A new local venture, Illini Photo Booth, is bringing that concept to weddings, class reunions, school dances and other events to add more fun and send everybody home with picture souvenirs.

The owners – Laura Redman of Urbana, her mother, Wanda Schmit of Catlin and Pam Taylor of Catlin – decided to launch Illini Photo Booth as a sideline serving the Champaign County area after seeing a photo booth used at a wedding in St. Louis, Redman said.

They'll rent the photo booth for events, deliver it and set it up and provide an attendant to make sure it runs smoothly throughout the event.

Guests can take unlimited pictures of themselves and get their keepsakes on a 4-by-6-inch sheet in 16 seconds. Pictures are available in color or black and white, Redman said.

The hosts also get a special keepsake – a CD with all the pictures on it, she said.

For information, see the Web site at www.illiniphotobooth.com or call 377-8177.

Redman said people who book the photo booth by the end of the month (for an event any time) will get a $50 discount.

Fitness facility opens

Cristal's Too, a new fitness center, has opened in the former Parson's Cleaners building at 238 N. Market St., Paxton.

It has six toning tables, each targeting a different area of the body and designed to be easy to use, according to owner Cristal Sheehan.

There are no membership fees. Customers can buy passes to use the machines for $5 per one hour session, or service packages for less.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Sheehan's hair salon, Cristal's Creative Images, adjoins the new fitness center.

For more information, call 379-2291.

Store to close

D&P Scrapbooking and Stamping, 901-B S. Neil St., C, will close by March 31 if the owners, Diane Pitman and Pam Osterbur, don't find a buyer for it by then, Osterbur said.

Meanwhile, the store hours have been reduced and everything is 40 percent off. Some of the store fixtures are also for sale. The store is open Wednesday through Saturday.

The owners opened the business about a year and a half ago and will be pursuing other interests, Osterbur said.

Moving in Rantoul

Janet Brotherton, owner of the Lindsey Lane Bridal shop, has purchased the old train station at 107 N. Kentucky Ave., Rantoul, and plans to relocate her shop there sometime in March.

Brotherton said her shop currently at 120 E. Sangamon Ave. needs more space, and the train station will give her that for dressing rooms and viewing areas and more parking.

The bridal shop sells discontinued and sample gowns at wholesale prices, along with prom dresses, accessories and flower girl dresses.

Brotherton also plans to make changes at two other Rantoul businesses she owns. The hair stylists at Studio 136 at 620 E. Champaign Ave. will move to Tangles salon, and Studio 136 will remain open as a tanning salon. Tangles, owned by Brotherton and her daughter, Lindsey Brotherton, is being moved from the south end of the train station to the north end, she said.

Tangles will be in its new space by about Feb. 16, Brotherton said.

A third business, Friends Antiques and Gifts, is now occupying a smaller area of the train station but still has the same amount of merchandise, said Joyce Peters, one of the owners.

Friends Antiques and Gifts plans a grand reopening Feb. 12-14 with door prizes, refreshments and discounts, Peters said.

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.