Monday, Sep. 21, 2009

Downtown Collinsville bar and grill plans to expand

An expansion is underway at Fifth Quarter in Collinsville. Owners Roger and Diana Schuerbaum bought the downtown bar and grill at 118 E. Main St. over a year ago. They initially renovated and reopened the business in July 2008. They are now knocking down a wall to expand into the building next door, at 116 E. Main St. Roger Schuerbaum said the addition will almost double the space and could wrap up within the next two to two-and-a-half months. You can call him at 346-6659. ...

Babies R Us in Fairview Heights will be one of 260 sites that retailer Toys R Us has selected for expanded toy selling during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Katie Reczek, of Toys R Us Inc. Corporate Communications in Wayne, N.J., confirmed that the metro-east location at 114 Commerce Lane is included in the "Holiday Express" promotion that will also be located within 350 Toys R Us stores. The Christmastime expansion will create approximately 4,000-square-foot shopping areas with these stores. Management at the Fairview Heights store do not know yet when the expansion will get underway. Once it begins, it is expected to run through mid-January.

You can call the metro-east store at 398-7099. ...

A new T-shirt retailer and art shop has opened at 101 E. Main St. Generations T-shirts and Urban Art Coop, which includes a group of local artists who promote and sell their art, opened over the weekend. You can reach both businesses by calling 343-4206. ...

Sleep Disorders Center has just opened a new location at 310 N. Seven Hills Road in O'Fallon. Call 628-2502 for more information. ...

Screamatorium, at 1703 N. Belt West in Belleville, will open Friday for the season. The haunted house opens for its second consecutive season at the former Bel-Air Bowl building. Through Halloween, it will be open 6 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and also Oct. 11. ...

A Wood River company has made strides to provide "greener" cleaning products. Maid to Shine has been producing cleaning products since 1993 and recently teamed up with Better Life, a St. Louis manufacturer that specializes in green cleaning products. The metro-east company is using sugars, starches and amino acids -- all natural and have a rapid biodegradation rate, in their cleaning products -- as opposed to chemicals found in traditional cleaning solutions that can cause breathing difficulty, skin irritation and headaches. ...

Among the participants at the annual Italian Fest celebration held last Friday and Saturday in downtown Collinsville was Pasta Fare. This was the fourth year for the Fairview Heights Italian restaurant, which was selling Italian chicken salad at its booth. The restaurant at 5900 N. Illinois St. is an enterprise of the Illinois Center for Autism and provides vocational training focusing on the life skills in training those with autism. For more information or for lunchtime reservations, call the restaurant at 692-9077. To find out more about the Illinois Center for Autism, you can reach the Fairview Heights office by dialing 398-7500. ...

And finally, you can put your artistic skills on display Saturday when Metro Arts in Transit invites you to help paint a MetroBus in downtown St. Louis. The public is invited to paint the bus from noon to 2 p.m. at 3617 Grandel Square. The event is being presented by the Missouri Botanical Garden EarthWays Center and Missouri Coalition for the Environment. The bus will be decorated with outline drawings depicting ways to "live the green life." Funding for this project comes from the Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. To learn more about Metro Arts in Transit, visit www.artsintransit.org or call (314) 982-1412. For more information about the Green Homes Festival, visit www.greenhomesstl.org or call (314) 577-0220.