A record number of holiday shoppers are expected to make purchases this Thanksgiving weekend.
Local merchants hope to capture their share of the pie this Small Business Saturday.
The National Retail Federation estimates a record 183.4 million people will shop in-store or online from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. That’s up from 182 million last year and 18.1 million more than before the pandemic in 2019.
Shoppers will flock to the Southlake Mall, the Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets, Highland Grove Shopping Center, Shops on Main and other malls for doorbuster deals on Black Friday. Small Business Saturday encourages people to shop local.
Businesses across Northwest Indiana will offer deals, discounts, specials and giveaways. The Crown Antique Mall in Crown Point, Blue Ribbon Vintage in Crown Point, Sweet Home Indiana in St. John and L and M Jewelers in Lansing are among the many retailers running promotions. Cafe Fresco on the Old Lake County Courthouse Square in downtown Crown Point for instance will have a pop-up with several vendors.
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The Hobart Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Hobart Alliance and City of Hobart will host a Small Business Saturday celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in downtown Hobart. Shoppers can grab a bingo card at Wild Woods at 619 E. 3rd Street, fill it out as they hop from storefront to storefront and enter a raffle to win prizes.
Santa will pose for photos with kids and pets from 2-5 p.m. at the Train Depot where the Hobart Chamber of Commerce is situated at 1001 Lillian Street. The Hobart Garden Club transformed the Train Depot into a Santa’s Wonderland where every child can mail letters to Santa.
Hobart will have a tree lighting and fireworks from 5-7 p.m. at Festival Park. The evening’s festivities also will include kids’ crafts and an appearance by Santa. Green Door Books in downtown Hobart will have local vendors and a bag sale in which people buy a tote for $10 and fill it with as many books as it can fit. Butterball’s Pet Apparel will offer $5 gift certificates for every $20 spent in the store and people can get a $5 photo of their pet with Ms. Claus. Montego Bay Grille will host a number of vendors, including Coco’s Bath Spirits, Lake Street Sweets, Momma’s Makins and The Basement Bunch with Debbie Rodriguez.
Hungry House Boutique and Grooming will have free goody bags with purchases while supplies last, cocoa bars, raffles and 25% off products at its locations in Hobart, Valparaiso and St. John.
The Wildflower Boutique at 8203 Kennedy Ave. in Highland will have sales and offer a special ornament to the first 40 shoppers. Willow Blooms Boutique at 2540 45th Street in Highland will host other small businesses for a pop-up shop, including the Regardless Collection, Region ATA and Nevaeh Cosmeticx.
Willow at 206 S. Calumet Road in Chesterton also will host a pop-up with Grounded and Growing, Coyote Mint, Metta Clay, the Big Spoon Shoppe, Bella Node and JLP Decorative Art. The Big Spoon Shoppe is offering 10% off candles and canvas totes to the first 10 people to pour candles of their own.
In Lowell, Astral Auras at 304 E. Commercial Lane will have raffles, double points for loyalty members, free gifts if more than $30 is spent and “huge sales on your favorite mystical must-haves.”
In Hammond, It’s Just Serendipity and Gratefully Painted will offer deals. The ceramics studio at 737 169th Street in Hammond will let kids paint an ornament free for every adult who paints an ornament. It also will host Santa, have a Christmas tree raffle and offer a $5 certificate for every $25 gift certificate.
It’s Just Serendipity will give away swag bags for purchases over $25 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Small Business Saturday.
“We encourage people to shop downtown instead of shopping online,” owner Karen Maravilla said. “We encourage people to drop the mouse and get out of the house to support the small businesses in their communities and neighborhoods.”
Mind Benders Puzzles & Games in downtown Whiting offers stocking stuffers to anyone who spends at least $20. Small Business Saturday is when the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, owner Joel Bender said.
“We get people coming from all over Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” he said. “People start shopping for Christmas presents on Nov. 1 and some shop year-round. Our business has been growing for eight years and we do really well during the Christmas season. It accounts for a huge amount of sales for any retailer.”
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Sports bar, Honey Berry Cafe and mattress store opening; Monte’s Pub, Greek restaurant and Nick’s Tavern close
Open
The walls are covered in sports memorabilia like Bears jerseys, White Sox Southside banners, a basketball hoop with Bulls championship trophy posters and a larger-than-life picture of Michael Jordan. Bar stools represent different schools in the Big Ten.
“If you love any kind of sports, it 100% revolves around sports,” Castor said. “There’s so much sports memorabilia and pictures hanging up.”
Draft Picks also has a Golden Tee video game where one can play 18 holes, and a boxing machine where one can work out aggression by punching a speed bag.
The full bar serves beer, wine and liquor, including cocktails. It has a selection of draft beers, domestic beers, imports and craft beers. The 21+ establishment primarily functions as a bar and will have limited food options.
Joseph S. Pete
Open
The new sports bar plans to host athletes, both active and retired for autograph signings.
“It’s for the sports enthusiasts,” he said. “It looks great. It’s all sports, all the time.”
Draft Picks is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. For more information, call 219-841-9384.
Joseph S. Pete
Open
Draft Picks sports bar is now pouring cold beers in the glow of big-screen televisions just in time for the big game.
The bar just opened at 391 W. U.S. 6, which is a Valparaiso address but actually in South Haven. It’s located by Gyros Grill, a well-known local landmark.
Draft Picks has 12 high-definition big-screen televisions playing sporting events, including Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox and Cubs games. It even has a wall painted to resemble the ivy-clad outfield wall in Wrigley Field.
“It’s designed for sports enthusiasts,” said Sean Castor, who owns the building where the bar leases space. “The decor is all sports associated.”
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
It expects to employ 80 people at the Lansing restaurant, which is now hiring.
The traditional American menu includes two eggs any style, biscuits and gravy, a breakfast burrito, corned beef hash, benedicts, skillets, pancakes, waffles, crepes and French toast. The far-reaching offerings include lox and bagel, avocado toast, an acai bowl, steel-cut oatmeal, a power parfait and chorizo chilaquiles.
As the name suggests, Honey Berry Cafe will cater to customers with a sweet tooth with decadent offerings like Creamy Nutella Pancakes and the signature Honeyberry Pancakes that feature a berry mascarpone filling, fresh berries, vanilla cream anglaise and blackberry coulis.
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
Expect more refined culinary offerings than one might find at a greasy spoon diner.
Omelets include a fig and bacon with aged Havarti cheese and extra virgin olive oil; a California with olive oil-infused sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, provolone and fresh basil; and a wild mushroom with provolone, prosciutto, herb-roasted cremini and both shitake and oyster mushrooms.
Breakfast can be washed down with a number of cocktails like a Bloody Mary, a Bellini, an Irish Coffee, an iced coffee cocktail and a Blackberry Champagne Mule. It also will have freshly squeezed juices, smoothies, lattes and other coffee options.
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
Honey Berry Cafe is coming to take over the prominent spot that Bakers Square long occupied in Lansing.
Bakers Square, the long-running diner chain known for its pie, closed its location at 3545 Ridge Road just before the pandemic in January of 2020, when it shuttered nine locations, including its restaurant in Merrillville. It had been a popular breakfast spot in downtown Lansing but a new restaurant plans to fill that void with a more contemporary concept.
Honey Berry Cafe is now renovating the space. It’s a breakfast and brunch spot with a dozen locations scattered around the country, including in Brookfield, Hoffman Estates, Lombard, Roselle, South Elgin and Warrenville, as well as on State Street in the South Loop in Chicago.
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
Mattress By Appointment Schererville is coming to the Oakside Place retail plaza next month. The mattress retailer will open at 2137 U.S. 41 Schererville.
Merrillville-based Commercial In-Sites brokered the deal to bring in the retailer, which aims to discount its merchandise by 50% or more.
“Mattress By Appointment is a new ‘shop when it’s convenient for you’ concept,” Commercial In-Sites said in a news release. “They offer all the top quality brands that you will be looking for and by utilizing their national buying power, they are able to offer deep discounts off traditional retail prices as well as a friendly, no pressure environment.”
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
Lunch is also on the menu at the pancake house-style restaurant. Honey Berry Cafe will have a selection of salads, soups, wraps and sandwiches heavy on diner favorites like a club and a Monte Cristo.
A unique menu item is the Country Fried Burger in which a half-pound Angus burger is breaded and then fried in the manner of a Chicago-style breaded steak sandwich. It’s smothered with sausage gravy, sauteed onions and pepper jack cheese and served in a potato bun.
It also has special menus for seniors, kids and people sticking to heart-healthy diets.
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
The restaurant is targeting a spring opening.
Honey Berry Cafe plans to be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week.
For more information, visit honeyberrycafe.com.
Joseph S. Pete
Closed
Monty’s Eatery and Pub, a longtime staple in Highland, closed after being a fixture of Region nightlife for decades.
The tavern at 3447 45th St. sat right off the Erie-Lackawanna Trail and was a place to hang out and nurse a cold one in a plastic cup while hunched over the bar or perched on a high top. It’s been called a “workingman’s pub” that catered to a crowd of regulars. One reviewer even described it as “the best dive bar in Northwest Indiana.”
The small dimly lit tavern had neon beer signs, a jukebox, pool, darts, dollar beers, craft beer and pub fare like wings, burgers and a popular prime rib sandwich. It also had karaoke and allowed smoking long after many bars banished it.
The neighborhood pub was long a familiar sight in Highland, where its hand-painted sign featuring a martini glass clinking a frothy beer mug looked straight out of “Cheers” and hadn’t been changed in decades.
Joseph S. Pete
Closed
Tzatziki Greek Street Food has scaled back, closing its second location in Schererville.
The original Tzatziki, previously known as Stuffed Pepper, remains open at 7231 Indianapolis Blvd #2 in Hammond.
Tzatziki expanded to a take-out and delivery location at 332 Indianapolis Boulevard in Schererville in 2020. It specialized in traditional Greek fare like lamb, gyros, Grecian chicken, kabobs, moussaka, pastitsio, dolmades, spanakopita, baklava, melomakarona and of course lemon rice soup. It also carried Dragobobs, the marinated shish-ka-bobs originally from Hegewisch that are a staple of summer festivals in the Region.
It took over a former Rosati’s space in a newer strip mall that’s now available for lease.
Joseph S. Pete
Closed
Nick’s Tavern closed after a run of a few years in Cedar Lake.
The original location in Lemont remains open.
Nick’s, which was featured on “Chicago’s Best” on WGN, has been serving up cold beers and its famous one-pound Nickburger, since 1945.
It opened at 13231 Wicker Ave. in Cedar Lake in 2019, taking over the former Carlo’s Pizzeria/Big Butt BBQ space.
“Due to staffing and economic hardships, we can no longer sustain our day-to-day operations and business activities,” the business posted on social media. “This was a heartbreaking decision to make. We want to thank our staff and customers for the years of loyalty. Cedar Lake has become our second home, we have created great friendships both business and personal.”
Joseph S. Pete
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