South Cook News

The Village of Tinley Park recently celebrated their monthly local business spotlight.

At the April 18 Village Board meeting, Mayor Michael Glotz welcomed two very different businesses to the podium: Frankie’s Ristorante and Puppy Haberdashery.

“We're rebranding and kind of revamping in the sense that we want it to be more family friendly,” Angela Santoro, owner of Frankie’s Ristorante, said during the meeting. “We want, you know, couples to be like, I want to go get a good meal, but I don't want to feel like I can't take my kid and I don't want people staring at me because, you know, there's children here. So we're tweaking our menu. We're still keeping all of our awesome homemade pastas and the things that people know and love. But we are bringing smaller things, you know, making the music a little bit more upbeat and fun. Not just Sinatra like my father loves, but he'll get used to it. But we also want to make sure that people know, because I think the misconception is like it's only the place for a special occasion and we want people to feel like I'm driving home from work, call my wife, husband, whomever. Let's just go grab dinner at Frankie's with the kids, without the kids, whomever, friends, neighbors. So we've been working really, really hard the last few months and we're really excited to stay in Tinley for the next decade. We're not retiring anytime soon.”

Santoro attended the meeting on behalf of her and her brother Frankie. Their parents started the business in 1988 on the south side of Chicago and moved to Tinley Park more than 15 years ago, celebrating the anniversary of their opening the day before the trustees meeting. They recently decided to close their original location after 35 years to simplify their family business because they have several young children to manage. They did, however, sign another ten-year lease for their location in Tinley, combining their siblings, spouses and parents into the Tinley location for the foreseeable future. They hope to have their reopening in mid-May after renovations.

Lloyd Williams, owner of Puppy Haberdashery, attended the Village meeting to speak about their grooming salon and training center. The new business has become popular fairly quickly because of their artistic grooming options, giving dogs red ears and blue tails and quirky haircuts at the owners' requests. This marks their third location in the area, and they have enjoyed venturing into the area and making new connections with dog owners and lovers. They have noticed lots of support from community members who have taken advantage of their training services for young and old dogs alike. They are also certified to train owners in first-aid techniques for their pets in case of emergencies.