The old Brown’s Chicken building at 159th Street and Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park was torn down last week to make room for a new Smoothie King.

The property is fenced off as demolition work continues.

Brown’s closed shortly after the pandemic started last year and the property was purchased by PARTH37 in June for development as a new Smoothie King location. It is one of several possible new locations for Smoothie King stores in the south suburbs.

PARTH37 already operates seven Smoothie King locations, including ones in Orland Park and Mokena, and has plans to operate as many as 20 by 2023.

Tentative plans call for dual drive-thru lanes for the new building.

Smoothie King is devoted mostly to freshly made smoothies for dessert, as a snack and meal replacement.

Developers indicated to village officials at a meeting in September they plan to spend $800,000 on the new building. Village officials said they would seek a Class 8 property tax break for the property from Cook County.

Construction has not yet started and no opening date has been announced.

Smoothie King operates more than 1,000 stores in the United States.

Smoothie King is not the only project underway in the area. The parking lot in front of the former Burlington store to the west of the Brown’s site has also been fenced off as construction is set to begin on turning the store into a new Floor and Décor location.

Evergreen comic book shop closing

All American Comic in Evergreen Park is in the final days of its going out of business sale as longtime owner Carl Bonasera is retiring at the end of the year.

The store at 3576 W. 95th St. was holding a 40th anniversary sale when Bonasera decided to turn it into a retirement sale. The store, which opened on Oct. 17, 1981, will close Jan. 1.

Bonasera at one time had eight locations before he began downsizing in 1998 and one by one whittled the number down to one.

Prior to his role in the comic world, Bonasera worked as the art director at the Southtown Economist in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The last day open to the public will be New Year’s Eve. All of the shop’s new and back issue comics are now for sale for only a quarter each. Remaining hardcovers and paperbacks are 65% off.

After Christmas Eve, the shop will be holding a Final Big Blowout sale.

Marquette Bank opens in Tinley Park

Marquette Bank has opened a new Tinley Park location at 16700 S. Oak Park Ave. in a former Byline Bank building.

Marquette Bank will hold an open house from 2-6 p.m. Feb. 10 at the new location to introduce its new bank team to the community.

Orland agency donates $10,000 to Toys for Tots

Thanks to the community’s support, U.S. Marines Toys for Totsserving Will, Kendall and Grundy counties, was awarded a $10,000 donation from Kurland Insurance Agency in Orland Park.

The U.S. Marines Toys for Tots Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to collecting and distributing new unwrapped toys to less fortunate children at Christmas.

Matthew Kurland originally received a $5,000 donation for Toys for Tots from Liberty Mutual and Safeco Insurance. Community support helped double that total to $10,000.

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