The planned opening of a pawn shop in the former Hollywood Video storefront in downtown La Grange faces a "vigorous fight" from the La Grange Business Association, its president, Michael LaPidus said in an email sent to its members Tuesday evening.
Sign in the window at 71 S La Grange Rd announces the coming of what critics label a "pawn shop."
LaPidus, who owns the Roly Poly Sandwich shop, encouraged all LGBA members to attend its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Thursday, June 11, at 8:00 a.m. at Palmer Place Restaurant & Bier Garten, 56 S La Grange Rd, to discuss the matter. The public also is welcome to attend.
In the email, LaPidus said he learned that the pawn shop has signed a one-year lease, and that a mattress shop was a possible tenant for an adjacent storefront.
A pawn shop, LaPidus wrote, "does not bring the shoppers and consumers we need to fill our stores and restaurants ... devalues the progress this village and business community has made over the last decade to make La Grange a top 10 downtown in Chicago ... will in fact have a long term reverberating affect on our property values, both residential and business [and] does not compliment the businesses and restaurants we have in town and will never, no matter how “upscale” it looks be a business others will look at positively when starting or relocating to La Grange."
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Roly Poly Sandwich shop? Is that one of your "high end" restaurants? Move into the 21st century, and don't profile a very legitimate (and needed) business like a pawn shop. If current zoning does not restrict it, let it in. And, yes, those customers eat sandwiches, too.
Posted by: Level Player | June 11, 2009 at 09:31 AM