Boxes of Girl Scout cookies are shown. Thin Mints, Samoas and other popular Girl Scout Cookies can be ordered online and delivered directly to your door.
Thin Mints, Samoas and other popular Girl Scout Cookies are back again, and now they can be ordered online and delivered directly to your door because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana officially kicked off the 2021 cookie season, but the coronavirus pandemic has forced local troops to adapt and innovate to an era of social distancing, such as by offering contact-free pickup and delivery orders. The nation's largest largest girl-led entrepreneurship program is partnering with Grubhub so you can buy Caramel deLites and other Girl Scout cookies from a local troop even if you don't know any Girl Scouts.
Next month, Grubhub will directly ship Northwest Indiana residents Girl Scout Cookies, or send gift boxes to family and friends.
The Girl Scout Cookie Program long has taught girls how to run a business, such as by operating in-person booths or selling door to door. Girls are young as 5 participate in the cookie program to learn about entrepreneurship, sales techniques and the value of hard work.
While the Girl Scouts of America has had a digital platform since 2014, the pandemic forced Girl Scouts across the country to adapt the same way small business owners had to last spring, such as by setting up drive-thrus or selling Girl Scout Cookies on social media.
"Girl Scouts are innovators. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our troops and teams are creating new ways to engage girls in Girl Scouting," said Nancy Wright, the CEO of Girl Scouts GCNWI. "In a year where everything looks different, people will savor the simple joy of eating their favorite Girl Scout cookies and smile — knowing they are investing in the future of girls at this critical time."
Girl Scouts in Northwest Indiana and across Chicagoland will be running their cookie businesses online and through social media this year, getting a chance to learn about the ins and outs of managing e-commerce, such as how to track and fulfill orders. Starting on Feb. 19, they will be able to make contact-free cookie orders for pickup or delivery through Grubhub, which is waiving all fees so as not to reduce troops' proceeds.
All purchases from Girl Scout Cookie sales support local troops, councils and their leadership programs.
For more information or to order, visit www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org/cookies or text COOKIES to 59618 starting on Feb. 1.
NWI Business Ins and Outs
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Screaming Monkey Comics, Smoochie Pooch, JunkVets, OJ's Gametime, Duluth Trading Company, dentist office open, Ben Mollin Hair Education closes
Like Superman coming back from his much-hyped death at the hands of Doomsday, Screaming Monkey Comics has returned from the dead.
The comic book shop, which had a popular run in downtown Crown Point from 2002 to 2008, before the Great Recession hit like The Thing after declaring "it's clobberin' time," was revived a little more than a year ago at 21 Ridge Road in Munster, just a few Pym Particles from the state line.
Author John Yeo and Chicago advertising graphic artist Christina Yeo opened the shop that sells comics, collectibles and games in a clean, well-lit environment.
"We just went on with our lives, but realized after 12 years we missed it and had the money to do it better now, so decided to give it a better try before we got too old," John Yeo said.
No monkey business, Screaming Monkey Comics reopened just a few months before the coronavirus pandemic raced across the world like The Flash, but the store quickly regained a loyal following.
"Everyone has been incredibly supportive," he said. "It's actually been a pretty solid first year."
Screaming Monkey Comics owner Christina Yeo explains how the store was revived in Munster
"It's really a three-way store"
The Yeos were both collectors who loved the industry.
"I've always been a comics collector and she's a huge fan of artwork," he said. "We both like games and basically brought all those hobbies into one store. It's a comics and collectibles store. That's the best way to put it."
Named after an old family joke John Yeo will tell you personally if you come in, Screaming Monkey Comics doesn't monkey around when it comes to the primate decorations that include many dolls, drawings and an action figure of Gorrilla Grodd. Regular customers donate any ape-themed decorations they have in a spirit of monkeyshines.
"It's really a three-way store between comics and graphic novels, collectibles, and gaming supplies and gaming nights we have two or three times a week in a game room in the back," he said. "A couple times a year we'll use that room for other things, including comic book drawing classes. We try to do a lot with the community, give the people a place to go to just have fun, you know."
The store even features a Wall of Crap display that showcases ridiculous comics like "Alf Censored," "Superman Meets the Motorsports Champions," "The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man," and "NFL Superpro featuring Spider-Man," a bizarre crossover which the comic book artist allegedly created to score Super Bowl tickets.
"None of it is for sale. It's just a cool, decorative piece," he said. "It's kind of like a museum piece. People pass by on their way to the game room, so we put together this wall of books we're embarrassed that exist, and our fans are too. I don't see it in other stores."
Screaming Monkey Comics owner John Yeo explains how the Wall of Crap came to be
'Munster hadn't had a store in quite a while'
Christina Yeo said Screaming Monkey Comics goes out of its way to differentiate itself from other other stores, such as by being better organized and less cluttered, better lit with natural sunlight, and by having a separate game room so kids aren't playing Magic: The Gathering or Dungeons and Dragons in the middle of the retail floor while customers are trying to shop. It also offers discounted value packs of used comics that collect issues to combine an entire storyline, similar to a graphic novel.
The store also posts a weekly podcast on Facebook and YouTube discussing comics, movie and pop culture news, sometimes interviewing local comic book artists.
Screaming Monkey Comics still draws many of its old customers from Crown Point but fills a void in Munster, Lansing, the south suburbs and west Lake County, Christina Yeo said.
"Based on the map ... stores were all going east and stores were in Illinois but there was nothing in the middle," she said. "So based on the map I plopped right in the middle. Since we live really close I also know Munster hasn't had a store in quite a while. Lansing Card and Comics was there for over 25 years, it was there forever, but it closed down. Somebody then put in Stand-up Comics around the corner but that didn't last long."
A walk through Screaming Monkey Comics in Munster
'We want to bring the comics and gaming world into Munster'
Screaming Monkey Comics was in a tough location before, but built a following through excellent customer service, she said.
"We wanted to bring the comics and gaming world into Munster in a comfortable environment where the floor wasn't crowded, basically," she said.
For more information, call 219-301-7920 or visit screamingmonkeycomics.com.
Open
Smoochie Pooch, a pet groomer with locations in Valparaiso, Portage, Crown Point and Fort Wayne, is expanding to Schererville.
The grooming service, which also has mobile groomers that will do professional grooming of the coats of both dogs and cats at customers' homes, will open its latest location in the Lincoln Ridge Plaza on Schererville.
Smoochie Pooch will open at 304 W. Lincoln Highway in Schererville, where it will offer a variety of services like skin care and spa therapies. It also offers a boutique selection of pet food and supplies.
“Smoochie Pooch is a great fit for the center," said Brett McDermott with Latitude Commercial, which represented the landlord. "They have multiple locations throughout the area and add to the strong mix of tenants currently in Lincoln Ridge.”
Relocated
JunkVets moved to a new location in Lansing.
The junk removal company acquired a 2,400-square-foot warehouse on 177th Street in Lansing that it has relocated to.
The company offers junk removal across the Chicagoland metro and makes a point of hiring veterans.
“This building meets the needs of JunkVets and the seller was very satisfied with disposing of an unneeded asset," said Latitude Commercial President and Co-Founder Aaron McDermott, who brokered the transaction. "Everyone walked away satisfied in this transaction.”
Open
A longtime East Chicago sports bar has a new owner, name and look.
2nd String Quarterback Sports Bar & Grill at 719 W. 151st St. in East Chicago was acquired by Oscar Juarez. He extensively renovated the sports bar on Indianapolis Boulevard and reopened it as OJ's Gametime.
The bar now features many photos of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, including a massive mural of Jordan hitting the game-winning shot against the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals.
"It's a laid-back neighborhood sports bar," he said. "We freshened up the bar but it's still a nice little tavern."
OJ's Gametime offers about 20 different beers in bottles and cans, liquor and pub food such as hot wings, chicken tenders and pizza.
When playing, local Chicago sports teams are on the television there.
For more information, call 219-354-0586.
Coming soon
Dentist Abhishek Nagaraj will open his latest office in the new Shops of St. John at 9484 Wicker Ave. after Commercial In-Sites of Merrillville helped broker a deal.
It will be Nagaraj's fifth location. His TruBlu Denistry also has offices in Chicago, Burbank and Hegewisch just across the state line.
Open
Duluth Trading Company has come to Orland Park on an outlot of the Orland Square Shopping Mall, across the street from Trader Joe's and Party City.
The Wisconsin-based retailer that started in northern Minnesota's Rugged Iron Range is a fast-growing lifestyle brand that specializes in workwear, casual wear and accessories for "the modern self-reliant American who leads a hands-on lifestyle and values a job well-done." Its 64th store and third in Illinois is located at 29 Orland Square Drive.
“We are excited to open our third Duluth Trading store in the Chicago metro area,” said Steve Schlecht, executive chairman and CEO of Duluth Trading. “Duluth Trading fans around Chicago have been shopping with us for years, and now they have a new location convenient to the south suburbs. We are delighted that our loyal customers can now enjoy three ways to shop — in-store, curbside and online — to experience our innovative solution-based apparel for men and women.”
For more information, visit www.duluthtrading.com or call 708-675-2060.
Closed
Ben Mollin Hair Education has gone the way of its sister business Angel Hair Cafe in downtown Griffith.
The trendy boutique hair care and beauty salon at 140 Broad St. has been run for the last few years by Ben Mollin, a South Side Chicago native who starred in Bravo's "The Shear Genius." The salon, which specialized in bridal services, makeovers and hairdressing education, closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
His wife Angela's Angel Hair Cafe, which offered vegan and organic fare to cyclists along the nearby Erie Lackawanna Trail, had previously closed. Mollin continues to offer one-on-one education to hair stylists online via Facebook through his Ben Mollin Project page.
If you would like your business to be included in a future column, email joseph.pete@nwi.com.
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