TUSCOLA — Several new businesses are sprouting up around Tuscola — and it hasn’t taken any new incentives offered by the city.
“Our TIF (tax increment financing) program expired a couple of years ago,” City Administrator Drew Hoel said.
“I would like to think that all of the investment we made with our successful TIF district has created an environment that is attractive to start-up businesses and investors.”
An antiques store that has been joined by more than 30 vendors, coffee shop/events center, western wear shop, tavern, bar/eatery and two new restaurants have opened or soon will.
Sweet Petunia
Sweet Petunia antiques store, owned by Zena Onstott and Chuck Campbell, has opened in the former Old Navy building in the Tuscola Outlet Shops mall.
Onstott estimated there are 33 total vendors in the 16,000-square-foot space.
Sweet Petunia offers antiques, collectibles and home decor.
“This is a complete new venture for us here,” Onstott said.
Onstott has been interested in antiques from a young age.
“My mother collected and bought antiques, and I was going with her all the time,” she said.
“It was something I had a passion for. I like going to auctions.”
The idea of the store grew.
“Initially it was just going to use a small part of the building and use the back part for different items,” Onstott said. “When Sandy said some of her folks wanted to come (too), it grew and grew.”
Sandy is Sandy Decker, who formerly operated the Paddy Wagon Antiques in Tuscola. She is now one of the vendors at Sweet Petunia.
“I think she probably brought 13 people with her,” Onstott said, “and word of mouth got out, and we gained some other people.”
Onstott and Campbell also operate Amity Landscaping, which does mowing, landscaping and snow removal, and Tuscola Packaging in the red barn that formerly housed Amishland Buffet.
Onstott’s daughter, Reagan Onstott, will manage the business, and daughter-in-law Taylor Onstott will work there too.
Hometown Grounds
Samantha and Cody Shelmadine of Tuscola opened Hometown Grounds coffee shop/events center at 123 W. Sale St. in August.
“We’re doing really well,” Samantha Shelmadine said. “Our community has come out and supported us. Our city officials have been amazing.”
Pitching in to help have been her parents, Tim and Lynn Kohlbecker.
Hometown Grounds offers lattes, frappes, boba drinks and smoothies.
The business, which opens at 6 a.m., partners with Wildflour Bakery for pastries.
“We don’t do lunch food, so we don’t get a lot of traffic after 11,” she said.
The Shelmadines both have nursing backgrounds.
Samantha is on maternity leave from Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, where she is a patient safety coordinator. The couple have one son and two daughters.
Cody is a travel emergency department nurse who contracts with area hospitals.
Hometown Grounds’ 4,000-square-foot events center is open for birthday parties, showers, dinner parties and the like.
A children’s area with toys is also available.
Calf’s Western Wear
Leslie and Eric Carmona of Mahomet parlayed their love of horses and the ranch/farming environment into opening Calf’s Western Wear at 117 W. Sale St. in July.
“My husband’s dad owns a home in rural Foosland where we used to spend all our weekends,” Leslie Carmona said. “You would always see both of us in boots and western wear.”
She said the city of Tuscola and downtown businesses have provided them with a great deal of support.
The store sells boots, men’s and women’s belts, caps, stone hats, cowboy shirts, jewelry and other western items.
Living in Mahomet, Leslie Carmona said she grew up going to the outlet mall in Tuscola.
“A lot of people forgot downtown Tuscola was here,” she said. “Now we have these new businesses coming in.”
Bookie’s Tavern
Joining Calfs and Hometown Grounds in the same block are Bookie’s Tavern at 122 W. Sale St.
Kailan Kibler, who will open the business with her husband, Keagan, said the name of the business doesn’t completely reflect what it will offer.
“It’s more of a coffee and cocktail lounge,” she said, noting they picked the name “Bookie’s” because it had more of a sports bar feel.
Yes, there will be TVs for sports-watching, but there will also be a lot of music. A stage has been built with a wide variety of music to be offered from DJs to local bands to solo artists.
Kailan and Keagan Kibler, who live in Tuscola, have been working on the building since prior to Thanksgiving 2023. They’re saving a pile of money by doing the renovation themselves.
“My husband is a carpenter by trade,” Kailan Kibler said. “He’s been the contractor. We’ve done probably 90 percent ourselves.”
Kailan, a native of Bement, said she has been working in downtown Tuscola the last five years, part of that time at Cast Iron Pub.
“My husband was born and raised here. He said (downtown has) seen a huge improvement.”
No official opening date has been set.
Warrior Pub
Jeff Buckler, who also owns and operates Buford’s Pub in Sadorus and Buck’s Pub in Arthur, opened Warrior Pub at 600 S. Washington St., Tuscola, during the summer. He bought the former Double A Saloon from a friend and changed the name to Warrior Pub.
“Tuscola loves their sports, and I thought it’d be a good name for it,” Buckler said.
In that vein, the 56-year-old Buckler has named many of the food items after local sports heroes such as the Ringer Burger after the Ring brothers and The Wakefield after Fred Wakefield, who starred in football for Illinois and for eight years in the NFL.
Buckley believes in small towns.
“It’s a lot nicer in a small town,” said Buckler, a Tuscola resident who said the pub is a hit.
“People have really taken to it,” he said. “We sell a ton of burgers and a ton of grilled tenderloins. It’s hard to keep up some days.”
Buckler said he opened the place because he wanted to offer something other than Mexican food and pizza.
He said operating a business is not as easy these days, in part because “the government has got their hands in everything” and because of inflation, rising payroll costs and the difficulty finding help.
Buckler, who was in the tire business for 20 years, works seven days a week.
“I’m the janitor, accountant, cook, manager, orderer. I do it all,” he said.
“I’m just glad to be in a small community. I have good employees.”
New restaurants
Tuscola Breakfast Place opened Monday at 1003 E. Southline Road, but few other details about the business were available yet.
An announcement was made on social media that the restaurant would be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Sunday, with breakfast available. However, the owner, who also operates Mi Veracruz Mexican Grill in Tuscola, was not available to comment.
Also coming to town, possibly in February: Star 57 Diner at 1104 Tuscola Blvd. in the building that formerly housed Denny’s Classic Diner, which closed in 2021.
Leonita Zekjiri said she and her husband, Endrit, of Decatur will own and operate the eatery and retain the building’s retro look.
Leonita said they are not sure when the opening will take place.
The Zekjiris also own and operate Lakeview Family Restaurant in Shelbyville, which they opened in 2020.
“When everybody was closing (due to the pandemic), we were opening,” she said. “In 2020 I was saying, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to do it,’” she said. “I guess it was meant to be.”
She said Star 57 Diner will offer a full menu and will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“We’re very excited to be in the community,” she said.