It may well be a mixed bag — with very good news and poor news — for Highland Park, but Kari Guhl mentioned it is the ideal news for Sally’s Nuts.
The mother-daughter enterprise is moving across town and out of the retail enterprise, at least for now. Sally’s Nuts plans to leave 481 Roger Williams Ave. in the Ravinia enterprise district by mid April and settle into a industrial place at 1480 Old Deerfield Road, mentioned Guhl, who co-owns Sally’s Nuts with her mother Sally Schoch, of Wilmette.
“It’s bittersweet for certain,” Guhl mentioned. “It was a clear choice but that didn’t make it any a lot easier. Speaking from it emotionally, we all sit right here sniffling a bit (for the reason that) we’re not going to see our regulars. It is the ideal point to do but man have we created roots right here.”
Guhl and Schoch brought Sally’s Nuts to a Highland Park storefront in 2021 right after spending 4 years as an on the web enterprise.
The Highland Park shop opened in 2021 and sold Sally’s Nuts and a quantity of other snacks and treats.
In the course of the pandemic, Guhl wanted to get Sally’s Nuts out of a shared industrial kitchen, and they discovered an accessible storefront at 481 Williams Ave., the former residence of Shelton’s Ravinia Grill, a Highland Park institution from the 1940s till the 1990s.
Shelton’s served diner classics — burgers, hot dogs, pot roast and far more — to generations of neighborhood diners, from latchkey little ones to parents seeking for straightforward dinner out. It was even the setting for a scene from the 1983 film “Risky Business enterprise.”
Prior to Sally’s Nuts, the space was occupied by coffee shop and wine bar Hub and Spoke Provisions. It will quickly require a new tenant, and Guhl, who sold Sally’s Nuts goods as nicely as sandwiches and far more from the space, hopes to support uncover a single.
“We will do as a lot as we can possibly do,” Guhl mentioned, adding the location demands a sandwich shop. “We really feel obligated. Also, Shelton’s has such terrific lore to it. Everyone in the neighborhood has a story about Shelton’s. … It was a super iconic spot.”
With Sally’s Nuts move across town, the enterprise will return to its “true purpose” of wholesale, partnering with grocers and other retailers to sell Sally’s Nuts.
Guhl mentioned that side of the enterprise has continued to develop, and she demands far more space to accommodate present and future development. At the moment, Guhl acts as the distributor, driving orders to retailers across the location.
Schoch, who is going on 89 years old, continues to perform several days per week, and Guhl mentioned the modify is not only the ideal move for the enterprise but also for her mother, whose motto has turn out to be “just preserve moving.”
“Realistically and emotionally, I couldn’t in very good faith sign a different (lengthy-term) lease figuring out in 5 years she would be 94,” Guhl mentioned. “The enterprise itself is going to continue to develop in the way she actually wanted: to see her goods on far more grocery-retailer shelves.
“Having her have someplace to go and some thing to do has actually helped her keep with it and preserve active.”
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