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Courtney Dickman, left, and Fai McAlister prepare for customers at Dickman's new gourmet frozen yogurt shop in downtown LaPorte.
LAPORTE — A 22-year old LaPorte woman stepped away from the classroom to answer what she feels is her greater calling in life.
Courtney Dickman and her mother, Michelle, recently opened a gourmet frozen yogurt shop in downtown LaPorte. Her grandmother, Mary Tagler, is also a partner in the operation.
Downtown Delights, at 702 Lincolnway, is a self-serve operation with indoor seating in one of the newly refurbished buildings in the downtown.
Dickman was an elementary school teacher when her mother, Michelle, impressed by a frozen yogurt shop elsewhere, sensed a need for such a business here and pitched the idea to her daughter.
She was also well aware of her daughter’s interest in running something like a coffee shop or small café someday.
At first, Dickman said she dismissed the thought of switching gears so quickly.
But, after giving it more thought, Dickman said she realized going into business where she could be her “own boss” was a better fit.
“I decided, you know what, this is the perfect time for me to step away and give it my all,” she said.
Ride along with Officer Jimmy Weller as he patrols the region's border of Lake Michigan as part of the Lake County Sheriff's Marine Unit. Video by Connor Burge.
Downtown Delights offers eight different flavors of frozen yogurt in 16 ounce cups customers grab and fill themselves from an ice cream machine.
The flavors include Death by Chocolate, New York Cheese Cake, Mango, Non-fat Banana and Vegan Vanilla.
Customers can also make their way to over to a bar featuring more than 30 flavors of toppings. There are candy toppings such as Twix and Reese’s along with sauces like hot fudge and hot caramel. Other toppings vary from cookie dough and brownie bites to strawberries and pineapples.
“Anything you can think of for any ice cream or yogurt topping, we have it,” Dickman said.
Dickman said strawberry-banana and mixed berry smoothies will also be on the menu. She said those flavors were chosen from her taking a social media poll.
Dickman said the shop will be open year-round with free hot coffee and hot chocolate provided with any purchase to help draw enough customers during the winter.
Soho isn't just a trendy neighborhood in New York City or London anymore.
SoHo Sweets Creamery and Cafe is now serving scoops of ice cream in downtown South Holland.
The ice cream shop and cafe moved into a historic home at 16129 South Park Avenue. It serves Sherman's ice cream, breakfast, lunch and Smalltown Coffee from Crown Point.
It offers takeout and dine-in in a modern but quaint ambiance.
SoHo Sweets Creamery and Cafe sells ice cream by the scoop, ice cream sandwiches, shakes, hot fudge sundaes and root beer floats. The coffee menu includes drip coffee, cold brew, espresso, mocha, latte and Americana.
Food offerings are light, such as a breakfast burrito, smoked gouda and egg on a house-made biscuit, Cajun biscuits and gravy, a parfait, an egg and cheddar croissant and brown sugar bourbon oatmeal.
SoHo Sweets is open from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
A new Balkan grocer is offering imported ethnic fare in Northwest Indiana.
Aroma Euro Market opened in Lincoln Ridge Plaza on U.S. 30, about a mile east of U.S. 41. The small market, which is locally owned and operated by the Krajisnik family, leased 2,100 square feet at 212 W. Lincoln Highway.
It aspires to be Northwest Indiana’s go-to spot for all things Balkan.
“We are very happy to open in this highly trafficked plaza. Aroma is a perfect fit for the area," said Myles Rapchack with Latitude Commercial, which represented Aroma Euro Market in the deal. "I have no doubt they will be extremely successful as their passion for the business showed throughout the entire process. They are going to be a great addition to Schererville and the surrounding communities.”
The store has an extensive deli selling a wide variety of sausages, bacon and other cured meats. It sells a variety of imported groceries from Eastern Europe, including mineral water, juices, sauces, seasonings, soup stocks, pasta, sweets and breakfast cereals. It also carries wine, coffee, tea, pickled fish, vegetables and cooking pans.
Aroma Euro Market is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Hammond's Couch Potato Furniture is now permanently inert, but it will soon be replaced by a new furniture store.
Icon Home Furniture plans to open in the former Couch Potato Furniture space at 7111 Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond.
The retailer signed a long-term lease for the 11,500-square-foot storefront, which has been used as a furniture store since it was built in 1956. Icon Home Furniture will sell couches, dinner tables, dressers, beds and other furniture to the local neighborhood market.
“With its large showroom and open space design, this is an ideal location for a furniture store," said Antony Miocic of Crown Point-based Latitude Commercial, which brokered the transaction. "Hammond residents may remember this building as being Leonard’s Furniture for many years. I hope Icon Home Furniture stays with the community as long as Leonard’s did."
Tropical Islands Cuisine is bringing "food and traditions closer to home" in Merrillville.
The restaurant at 40 W. 80th Place in Merrillville specializes in authentic Filipino-Asian cuisine like boodle sa biloa, crispy seafood kare-kare, lechon kawali, chicken curry, tropical chicken inasal, pinoy barbecue, pritong isda, pork adobo, menudo, eggrolls, noodles and jasmine rice. It offers an array of seafood, pork and pinoy dishes, as well as tropical house specials. One can get squid grilled in banana leaves, Filipino sweet-style spaghetti with Siopao pork asado or pork asado in steamed buns.
Tropical Islands Cuisine also offers smoothies, bubble teas, desserts and tropical fusion juices. It has a bar with karaoke and an Asian grocery store.
The restaurant has a buffet on Sundays and delivers free within five-miles with a minimum order of $50, so long as customers tip the delivery driver.
For more information, call 219-262-7890, email tropicalislandsllc@gmail.com or find the business on Facebook.
Smiles on Randolph opened "Indiana's state-of-the-art dental med spa" on U.S. 30 in unincorporated Crown Point, just east of the Hobart city limit.
Dr. Chanbo Sim is the head of the 10,000-square-foot two-story facility at 8000 E. Lincoln Hwy. The newly constructed building features 25 dental rooms, a large conference room and private patient reception areas with the aim of providing an upscale experience.
Smiles on Randolph offers a wide array of dental services, including general dentistry, emergency surgery, restorative dentistry, cosmetic procedures and orthodontics. It also provides cosmetic services like botox fillers, coolsculpting and cold sore laster treatment.
The dental office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
For more information, visit smilesonrandolph.com or call 219-356-8000.
NWI Eye & Laser Center is relocating to a new location at 851 Eastport Centre Drive in Valparaiso.
Chester Architectural & Construction Services will soon break ground on a new building for the eye care center.
NWI Eye & Laser Center offers an array of eye care services, including eye exams, eyeglasses, eye surgery, eye disease treatment and LASIK corrective procedures.
For more information, call 219-464-8223 or visit www.nwindianaeyeandlaser.com.
After more than a month's hiatus to reassess because of the labor shortage, The Wurst is again serving artisan meats in downtown Griffith.
The acclaimed whole animal butcher, which got a glowing profile by a Chicago Reader food critic, reopened 130 N. Broad St.
It's debuting new international sausages made with locally sourced meat, including South African Boerewors, Linguica, Fwereh, Jamaican Goat Curry, Welsh Lamb Sausage, Morcilla and Navajo Blood Sausage. It also continues to carry sausage favorites like Polish, Italian, Loukaniko, Kolbasz, Andouille, Chorizo, Cajun Boudin, Cevapi, Longanisa and Merguez.
There's more on the way and we didn't forget Oktoberfest is right around the corner.
Amici's Grill and Pizzeria opened its second location at 1409 Lincolnway in Valparaiso.
The popular Italian restaurant on Ridge Road in Highland established its second location near the Valparaiso University campus. The restaurant serves pizza, pasta, salads, sandwiches and its famous garlic knots.
The Valparaiso location also have gyros plates, burgers, Greek fries, spicy baked feta, fried provolone and a Tzatziki plate.
For more information, visit www.amicigrill.com or call 219-286-6293.
Pepe's has closed in Calumet City.
The longstanding regional Tex-Mex chain long had an eatery at 943 River Oaks Drive near the River Oaks Center. The family-friendly restaurant, which has multiple locations across Northwest Indiana and Chicago, is known for its tacos, Chihuahua cheese-stuffed tacos, burritos, enchiladas and margaritas, as well as daily food and drink specials it runs throughout the weeks.
If you would like your business to be included in a future column, email joseph.pete@nwi.com.
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NWI Business Ins and Outs: A Simple Greek closes; Poke Bros, Chick and Shake, Bean Me Up Roastery, Naf Naf Grill, Domino’s and JEM MedSpa opening
The airport authority board on Wednesday approved a contract with the firm Mead & Hunt to perform a series of analyses and forecasts.
"Over the past several years, there have been many quarters, and even years with zero profit sharing at USS. That's why we also need reliable wage increases."
The United Steelworkers union and Cleveland-Cliffs reached a tentative agreement for its mining ad pelletizing workers.
A new owner has taken a majority stake in the Chicago Skyway, the toll bridge linking Northwest Indiana to the city.
Twisted Sugar is opening its first Midwest location in Crown Point this week and will soon have a second gourmet cookie shop in Valparaiso.
New owner 45th Street Partners LLC bought the shopping center last year and has invested $325,000 into freshening up the property.
An 11th-hour aversion of a freight rail strike is being hailed as a win for workers, consumers and Northwest Indiana industry that's heavily reliant on rail transportation.
Local companies could get a big break and be given the chance to stock their products at Meijer superstores around the Region and the greater Midwest.
“Rather than working in silos there is both a want and need to collaborate to bring incremental change to our workforce.”
Courtney Dickman, left, and Fai McAlister prepare for customers at Dickman's new gourmet frozen yogurt shop in downtown LaPorte.
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