Halloween is six weeks away, so what better time for those seasonal Halloween stores to start coming back to life like reanimated ghouls?
Spirit Halloween, a seasonal retailer that operates in empty storefronts in the weeks leading up to Oct. 31, has already opened seven of its planned eight Southland locations.
Spirit stores are now open at 204 Orland Park Place in Orland Park in the former Stein Mart store, at 11185 W. Lincoln Hwy. in Frankfort in a former Sports Authority store, at 6501 W. 95th St. in Chicago Ridge in a former Sears store, at 7750 S. Cicero Ave. in Burbank, at 13406 S. Archer Ave. in Lemont in a former OfficeMax store, at 3128 Voyager Lane at Louis Joliet Mall in Joliet, and at 15 N. LaGrange Road in LaGrange in a former Pier 1.
Opening soon, according to the Spirit website, is a location at 17810 S. Halsted in Homewood in a former Party City store.
There’s at least one store open in northwest Indiana, according to the website.
The store is at 1525 U.S. 41 in Schererville in a former Dress Barn store.
Spirit stores generally stay open through Halloween week.
For a complete list of stores in Illinois and northwest Indiana, visit www.spirithalloween.
Also open for those that want to get an early start on the season of the witch is a Halloween Land Superstore on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
The store at Ford City shopping center, 7601 S. Cicero Ave. opened Monday.
Party City said it would be opening Halloween City stores inside 31 Party City locations in the Chicago area leading up to Halloween.
Raising Cane’s to open next week in Orland Park
Raising Cane’s chicken restaurant has announced it plans to open the doors to its Orland Park location on Tuesday, Sept. 21.
The restaurant will open at 15011 S. LaGrange Road. It’s one of the restaurants going up on the former site of a Toys R Us.
Typically, Raising Cane’s has opening day giveaways for the first 20 people to visit the eatery.
It will be the chain’s third south suburban location. The first opened in on Valentine’s Day in 2017 at 11006 S. Cicero Ave. in Oak Lawn. Another location opened later that year in Evergreen Park.
Other locations are in Naperville, North Riverside and Harwood Heights.
Hours are expected to be Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight.
The store will employ around 85 workers.
The company was founded by Todd Graves in Louisiana in 1996 and named for his yellow Labrador.
Auto mechanics strike drags on
As the strike by members of the Automobile Mechanics Local 701 against members of the NCDC enters its seventh week, the union announced last week that a counterproposal from the auto dealers was substantially unchanged from its previous proposal.
More Top Picks Best Popcorn Makers
According to the union, more than 70 new car dealerships have reached agreement with the union under a so-called Defector-based agreement. An estimated 50 dealerships are still in the NCDC.
Local 701 voted overwhelmingly to authorize this year’s strike, which began at midnight Aug. 1.
The same union workers were on strike for nearly seven weeks in 2017 before both sides agreed on a four-year deal.
Striking workers have free COBRA insurance coverage through Sept. 30.
South Division Credit Union merges
Members of South Division Credit Union in Cook County will now have access to expanded products and services following the recent merger with Scott Credit Union, which is headquartered in Edwardsville.
The merger was approved with a vote of the membership of the former South Division Credit Union and the approval by the boards of directors of Scott Credit Union and South Division Credit Union. Having received final regulatory approval, the merger was effective Sept. 1.
South Division Credit Union has branches in Evergreen Park, Midlothian, and Chicago and has 5,500 members and 20 employees.
Bob Bong is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].