It may possibly be a mixed bag — with great news and undesirable news — for Highland Park, but Kari Guhl mentioned it is the correct 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 selection but that didn’t make it any simpler. Speaking from it emotionally, we all sit right here sniffling a bit (mainly because) we’re not going to see our regulars. It is the correct issue to do but man have we produced roots right here.”
Guhl and Schoch brought Sally’s Nuts to a Highland Park storefront in 2021 immediately after spending 4 years as an on line firm.
The Highland Park shop opened in 2021 and sold Sally’s Nuts and a quantity of other snacks and treats.
Throughout the pandemic, Guhl wanted to get Sally’s Nuts out of a shared industrial kitchen, and they identified an obtainable storefront at 481 Williams Ave., the former dwelling 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 much more — to generations of nearby diners, from latchkey children to parents searching for basic dinner out. It was even the setting for a scene from the 1983 film “Risky Small business.”
Prior to Sally’s Nuts, the space was occupied by coffee shop and wine bar Hub and Spoke Provisions. It will quickly need to have a new tenant, and Guhl, who sold Sally’s Nuts solutions as nicely as sandwiches and much more from the space, hopes to support uncover one particular.
“We will do as significantly as we can possibly do,” Guhl mentioned, adding the location requires a sandwich shop. “We really feel obligated. Also, Shelton’s has such fantastic lore to it. Everyone in the neighborhood has a story about Shelton’s. … It was a super iconic location.”
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 requires much more space to accommodate present and future development. Presently, Guhl acts as the distributor, driving orders to retailers across the location.
Schoch, who is going on 89 years old, continues to function a number of days per week, and Guhl mentioned the modify is not only the correct move for the firm but also for her mother, whose motto has turn into “just hold moving.”
“Realistically and emotionally, I couldn’t in great faith sign a further (extended-term) lease recognizing 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 solutions on much more grocery-retailer shelves.
“Having her have someplace to go and some thing to do has actually helped her remain with it and hold active.”
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