Wednesday, November 14, 2012
St. Charles economic development officials on Tuesday took brokers on a two-hour tour to show off 23 commercial properties, with stops at nine site.
If you happened to be in the new, temporary parking lot on 1st Street on Tuesday afternoon and wondered about the bus parked at its north end, it was part of a new tack in the city’s economic development efforts. Touted as the Broker Tour, members of the St. Charles Economic Development Department staff accompanied brokers on a ride around town to see 23 commercial properties that have office and other space available. The two-hour tour, which started at 3 p.m., included stops at nine of the properties where brokers could take a five-minute mini-tour of the site. St. Charles Economic Development Director Christopher Aiston said the intent is to showcase some of the property opportunities available in St. Charles. Inviting brokers to take a…
Monday, November 12, 2012
Bistro One West and Pi Pizza close for good, and Isacco Kitchen closes to retool. But other businesses are opening their doors.
If you’ve looked around downtown St. Charles over the past several weeks, you might have noticed there are a few less places to eat. That certainly was noticed by some of St. Charles Patch’s Facebook followers in recents weeks. Pi Pizza Perfection, 102 E. Main St., closed in late October. A city official confirmed the closure but had no details. While its website does not indicate it has closed, calls to the business are met consistently with a busy signal. The restaurant had served pizza, pasta and other Italian fare for more than a decade. Another casualty is Bistro One West, 1 W. Illinois St. St. Charles Patch learned last week the restaurant is closed, and a short, one-sentence statement on Bistro One West’s website adds further …
President Barack Obama’s re-election sparks hope, disappointment, even resilience among St. Charles small businesses.
The campaign rhetoric is over, the election won by some, lost by others. Barack Obama will lead the nation through a second term. Generally, regardless of who won and who lost — from the presidential race to congressional to state and local campaigns — most agree the economy remains in tough shape. Further, there are threats on the horizon that could throw the nation back into a tailspin: The so-called fiscal cliff — a dual tax whammy that will hit after the first of the year, largely because of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Short of congressional action, the outcome will be a significant increase in taxes that could trigger a renewed downward spiral into recession. Economic troubles that persist in the European Union will continue …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
‘Spend Local Awareness Week’ is Nov. 11-17 in St. Charles, but the emphasis will remain through the holiday season and will coincide with Small Business Saturday, which is Nov. 24.
If you haven’t thought about what you are giving to family and frends this holiday season, now is the time to start planning, and local merchants hope you will consider them as a source to shop. Spend Local Awareness Week is Nov. 11 to 17 in Downtown St. Charles, and it precedes Small Business Saturday, Nov. 24, which is a national day encouraging people to shop in local, brick-and-mortal small businesses. The Downtown St. Charles Partnership is asking residents to make downtown St. Charles a first priority to explore more than 40 independently owned stores from Century Corners to First Street, according to a release from the agency on Wednesday. Spend Local Awareness Week encourages the community to become aware of the great shops and …
Monday, October 29, 2012
With the production of “film stock,” or movie reels likely to end early next year, movie theaters like the Cascade face a hard deadline in 2013: Convert or close.
There are few drive-in movie theaters left in the Chicago area — only about a dozen still operate in the entire state, according to Drive-Ins.com, a website whose database is a museum of sorts for a once-ubiquitous movie venue that has all but disappeared. Drive-ins like West Chicago’s Cascade, 1100 E. North Ave., offer a nostalgic experience of a past when outdoor movie screens were more common across the country and were an inexpensive respite for families, couples on dates, or groups of friends wanting to break from the daily grind and enjoy an inexpensive evening of entertainment. But the past must catch up with the present, at least in terms of technology. The filmmaking industry has adapted to digital technology, making great strides…
41.911161
-88.180148
1100 E North Ave, West Chicago, IL
/articles/area-drive-in-cascade-west-chicago-plans-digital-conversion-over-winter
/locations/8124356
Monday, October 22, 2012
Jason Seelye is a systems engineer who didn't want to leave St. Charles when his company moved out East. So he stayed — and is working from home to develop mobile apps.
Jason Seelye loves his family and the St. Charles area, and when his company, Goodrich ISR Systems, asked him to move with it out East, he just couldn’t do it. “We really love the area … we didn’t want to leave the area or our family here,” said Seelye, who was a systems engineer who spent 10 years with Goodrich designing spy cameras for the military. Seelye accepted what he describes as a generous severance package and, at age 36, decided to embark on his own venture. He started Seelye Engineering in May 2012 with a focus on mobile application development. “We launched our first (and currently only) app, F-Stop Media Gallery on the Google Play Store on July 16th, 2012 and on the Amazon App Store on August 23rd, 2012,” he wrote in an email…
Friday, October 19, 2012
Third generation of the family joins Koehler, Koehler Inc.
In an age when family-owned businesses continue to close or be taken over by larger companies, it seems remarkable when one not only hangs on, but expands to make room for another generation. Yet that is exactly what Koehler, Koehler Inc. has done. On Oct. 1, Anna Koehler joined her father, Peter, in the business his father, Vince, began in 1952. Peter joined his father in the business in 1976, and took over operations in 2001. A lot has changed in the past 60 years, but perhaps not as much as just in the past decade or so, particularly as it related to technology and customer buying habits. Peter says that when his father started the firm in 1952, he was a life insurance agent for Phoenix Mutual with expertise in defined benefit pension …
Friday, July 27, 2012
The president's small-business comments upset many people and gave Republican Mitt Romney a point of attack. But Barack Obama said the comments were taken out of context. What do you think? Take the Patch Poll.
President Barack Obama's recent comments about small business created a firestorm that could become a focus of the 2012 election — even as Obama and his supporters say his comments were taken out of context. "Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own," he said during a July 13 speech in Virginia. "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help ... If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen." Take the Patch poll below: Who plays the most significant role in creating jobs and economic growth? That's not the entire speech, which you can read on the independent FactCheck.org. According to that post, the comments were taken out of context: "There’s no question …
Monday, January 9, 2012
Leave a comment to vote for your pick.
For many, the holiday season is a time to spread some cheer. Though some residents have concerns about the naughty occasional naughty person downtown, there’s still fun to be had by those who are nice and responsible. St. Charles Patch is looking for readers’ favorite place to enjoy the nightlife. Be it your favorite after-work watering hole or where you go to catch a show, there’s probably one place in St. Charles you consider the best. So, take a minute and imagine: It's Friday night. The kids are with a sitter and you can get away for a couple hours downtown. Where do you go? Follow St. Charles Patch on Facebook! As always with a Best of St. Charles article, you vote by leaving a comment at the end of this story. If you want to throw …
41.91346
-88.31482
McNallys Irish Pub
109 W Main St, Saint Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
997073
/locations/6149474
41.913826
-88.312441
Arcada Theatre
105 E Main St, St Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
1840369
/locations/6149475
41.91317
-88.31695
The Filling Station
300 W Main St, Saint Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
997067
/locations/6149476
41.91351
-88.314419
Hotel Baker
100 W Main St, St Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
997372
/locations/6149477
41.920787
-88.254611
Zanies Comedy Club - Pheasant Run Resort
4051 E Main Street, Saint Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
1910524
/locations/6149478
41.913334
-88.315792
Pub 222
222 W Main St, St Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
997105
/locations/6149479
41.913363
-88.315576
The Beehive Pub
204 W Main St, St Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
997384
/locations/6149480
41.91385
-88.31225
Thirsty Fox Pub
104 E Main St, Saint Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
996562
/locations/6149481
41.913494
-88.314542
Steel Beam Theatre
111 W Main St, Saint Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
996538
/locations/6149482
41.920787
-88.254611
Fox Valley Repertory
4051 East Main Street, Saint Charles, IL
/articles/what-is-your-favorite-nightspot-in-st-charles
997603
/locations/6149483
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Families can decorate cookies on Dec. 17 at Panera Bread's Orchard Road store.
- HOLIDAY GUIDE
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Family and friends can celebrate the holidays by decorating a freshly baked cookie at Panera Bread, 1330 N. Orchard Rd., in Aurora. Also, from December 5-18, Panera Bread will donate 10¢ for every Gingerbread Man Cookie sold to the Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Illinois.
eh_potthast
8:09 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Great idea, hopefully it gets results. Since we moved here 20 years ago, I have continually found St. Charles to be very light on significant employment opportunities. more ›