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Party Animals moving, adding coffee shop
Children's celebration, gift store finds larger space downtown
by Martha Quetsch
Downtown Elburn has been an ideal location for Party Animals, with the business growing so much that it requires more space, owner Cindy Thul said. So she decided to relocate the store from 108 N. Main St. to a larger site in the same block.
Thul, of Elburn, plans to move Party Animals this fall to the former Gliddon Drug’s location, 116 N. Main St. The store hosts kids' theme parties and sells children's gifts.
Thul is renovating the first floor for her store, which will have a commercial kitchen for candy-making and cookie parties. She also will open a coffee shop onsite.
“I've heard so many people say they want a coffee shop downtown,” Thul said.
“I'll have a little area for toddlers to play, too.”
The former Gliddon's space has been vacant since the pharmacy closed in May 2007. Thul is renting the more than 3,000-square-foot space on the first floor from the building's new owner, E & H Acquisitions.
Thul said the space is more than three times larger than Party Animals' current site. She hopes to move her business in by the end of October. That is when her lease ends at the 108 N. Main building, owned by a St. Charles corporation that has not identified a tenant to replace Party Animals.
During Party Animals busiest season, the fall, the store hosts nearly 25 children's parties per month. Currently, Thul offers 16 party themes, including pirates, princesses, ceramic and medieval.
With the larger location, Thul plans to add more themes, she said.
09/05/2008
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