Yahoo Finance Fifth Halsted Street Deli, Pepe’s reincarnation as ‘The Can’ and new pickleball facility all planned for Naperville
Naperville’s ever-changing business scene will see a few new faces — and changes — over the next couple of months, including another Halsted Street Deli location, the grand opening of nine freshly built pickleball courts and a reimagined version of the now-closed Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant.
Pepe’s, which shut its doors after 46 years in Naperville earlier this month, is on track to reopen as a bar-only business at 634 E. Ogden Ave. where Miss Kitty’s Saloon is located. Last week, the Naperville City Council granted the owners of the former Naperville Pepe’s a Class C tavern license for their new enterprise.
“It’s nice to know that we have the support of the city and the council, that they want to see us continue on,” co-owner Matt Rocush said.
Rocush, who co-owned Pepe’s for the past eight years with his wife, Sandy, and friend Rod Peterson, said that with their tavern license approved, the next step is formally purchasing their new space. The owners are in the process of acquiring Miss Kitty’s, according to Rocush.
“We are currently working on the legal documents, the purchase agreement and the lease,” he said, adding that both are “basically a formality at this point.”
Once the acquisition is finalized, Rocush hopes to have Pepe’s new iteration up and running by mid- to late February.
“The Can,” short for cantina, will just be a bar to start, no kitchen. There may, however, be live entertainment, Rocush said.
And looking ahead, owners are still committed to building out a kitchen at some point. It may take a while, but they hope to slowly bring the restaurant element back to their business model, Rocush said. He didn’t know when that’d be, but ventured it could be in a year.
Until then, he said, customers would be welcome to bring their own food in.
Getting to this point, Rocush said, has been “an emotional roller coaster ride.”
“Just seeing (Pepe’s) slowly dismantled is sad. But again, there’s a big part of us that’s excited to do this new venture,” he said.
Two new tenants for CityGate Centre
Halsted Street Deli & Bagel is opening its fifth Naperville spot next month at the CityGate Centre off Route 59. The new location will be housed on the first floor of the multiuse campus’ office building at 2135 CityGate Lane.
The deli will be open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Halsted has locations all over the Chicago area. Founded in 1988, the deli is well-known for its sub sandwiches. Other menu items include homemade soups, wraps, bagels and salads.
In addition to the deli, the CityGate Centre is also welcoming Apotheco Pharmacy to its business roster next month. Apotheco is a dermatologic pharmacy with locations across 16 states, including two in Illinois. It plans to add another at Suite 127 of 2155 CityGate Lane.
Construction underway at the Picklr
Save the date: Naperville pickleballers will have nine new indoor courts to try out come March 23.
The Picklr, a Utah-based pickleball chain, announced on social media last week that its new location planned for Fox River Commons shopping center at 704 Route 59 is officially opening in two months.
According to the Picklr’s Facebook page, construction on its 27,300-square-foot space is underway.
Naperville is one of three Picklr franchises soon headed to the greater Chicago area. Other locations have been announced for Villa Park and Mundelein.
Naperville in particular, however, has been on the Picklr’s radar for some time.
“We’ve been working on getting a facility open and ready in Naperville for a while,” Picklr co-founder Austin Wood previously told the Sun. “We were hearing about a lot of people playing pickleball there but that there weren’t enough courts for the area. Plus, Chicago’s the windy city. It’s cold. All those weather components get in the way of playing outdoors.”
Naperville Picklr memberships are now on pre-sale. The first 150 members to sign up will get a discounted rate of $109/month or $1,049/year, and the first 100 members to sign up will receive Picklr gear.
Tricoci Salon & Spa renovation
For the first time since its inception in 1998, Tricoci Salon & Spa in Naperville has a new look.
After two and a half decades, Tricoci recently revamped its 1512 N. Naper Blvd location, the Chicago area-based company said in a news release last week.
“We’re thrilled to unveil the reimagined Tricoci Salon & Spa in Naperville,” general manager Brittany Edgecombe said in the release.
Highlights include a new retail space and express beauty stations catering to clients pressed for time.
“Our goal,” Edgecombe said, “was not only to design a beautiful space for our clients and team members but to create an environment that resonates with the pulse of the Naperville community.
“The redesigned interior, expanded retail space and innovative new services all contribute to an elevated experience for our valued Naperville clients.”
