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Best of Africa Food Store has relocated from 208 W. Griggs St. in Urbana, but it’s not closing down — on the contrary, it’s opening a new Champaign location at 1807 W. Bradley Ave., Suite E, on May 24 and is preparing to open another location at 202 E. University Ave. in Urbana.
“We are waiting for the final public health inspection,” said Memoire Budinbu, who co-owns the shop with Lissette Mbaki.
The Congolese couple opened Best of Africa Food Store on Griggs Street in 2015, and later added a restaurant called Mama’s African Kitchen.
Budinbu said he needs to focus on reopening his Urbana grocery store before reopening his restaurant, adding that the Urbana location may reopen its restaurant for carryout only.
“Mama Africa is our big dream to bring a different menu, a different culture to Champaign County, but we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Budinbu said. “It’s still a tough time for us.”
Get ready for the robot uprising
Yummy Future, a coffee shop and tech startup founded by University of Illinois students, is opening a second location at 401 Greene Street. Co-founder Garrett Yang expects the store to open in August.
The business is based around using robots to brew coffee — a robot named “Mozart” brews coffee at the store at 609 E. Green St. — and Yang said the new store will also have its own robots.
In discussing the expansion, he said he wants to provide added convenience to those living on the west side of campus and “serve the community better.”
“Our current store gets very crowded at times,” he added. “There’s no place to sit and study, so we thought opening another store would give everyone better customer service and more space.”
He told The News-Gazette that Yummy Future is also in discussions with universities about opening more stores on campuses.
Black Dog Urbana is still closed
After chatter on social media about customers coming in and out of Black Dog in Urbana, The News-Gazette reached out to co-owner Michael Cochran to see if there were plans to reopen.
“We’re pleased to hear there’s interest in Black Dog Urbana,” he said. “What we’re doing is maintenance and repairs. The building is vacant, but we’re continuing to maintain it and keep it in good condition so we can get it reoccupied. We don’t have any other specifics at this time.”
The restaurant’s Urbana location, at 201 N. Broadway Ave., has been closed since 2021, with owners saying the closure is temporary during the pandemic.
Listen up, listen up: A fantasy-themed mini-golf bar is in the works.
Ann and Chris Lukeman, co-owners of Champaign-Urbana Adventures in Time and Space, are planning to expand their business by opening a fantasy-themed mini-golf bar.
Ann Lukeman said she hopes to start construction soon and open the new facility in early 2025. The facility will open in a 16,000-square-foot space on the west side of the same building that also houses an escape game room at 302 North Broadway Avenue in Urbana.
“It will have a separate main entrance but will also have an internal connection to CU Adventures,” she said. “We will have two mini golf courses, a craft cocktail bar offering both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (including espresso drinks and sodas), and several private rooms that can be booked for parties.”
Lukeman added that the fantasy mini golf bar has a tentative name but isn’t ready to announce it yet.
When asked what prompted the expansion, she said it was because they have so many customers who complete all of the escape games the company offers.
“Once you play an escape room, you know all the puzzles and you never want to play it again,” she says. “Mini golf is great because it allows players to play it over and over again. I’m excited to use everything I’ve learned making escape rooms to create a mini golf experience that’s unlike anything anyone’s seen before.”
PrairiePlay is underway
The new Prairie Play playground at Meadowbrook Park is expected to open in late summer or early fall, with project manager Andy Rousseau saying installation of playground equipment is expected to begin soon.
“Much of the work has been completed on site, including demolition, drainage and preparation of the play area for final surfacing and installation of play equipment,” he said. “Work on the play area’s internal pathways is nearly complete.”
Maine Scoop opens in Rantoul
Maine Scoop’s fourth location opened Wednesday afternoon.
Owners Nick and Jessica Hanson said the store, located at 812 Broadmeadow Road in Rantoul, plans to hold a grand opening celebration and “fun grand opening specials and activities” in the coming weeks.
Plans for ATI in Germanville
A new ATI physical therapy facility will soon open in Tuscola, 704 N. Main St. in Jarman Plaza, developer Chris Robinson announced on social media.
This will be the chain’s second location in Tuscola, joining the store at 605 E. Southline Rd.
Local Asian grocery store to close next month
A representative for AM-KO Oriental Foods and Gifts confirmed that the business closed at the end of July.
AM-KO is located at 101 E. Springfield Ave. in Champaign. The building formerly housed a Piggly Wiggly, an Eisner’s grocery store and a United Auto Supply store.
AM-KO, formerly located at 32 East Greene Street, converted the building back into a grocery store by 1998, according to city records.
