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As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention— and in the case of Rebekah Cain, it's also the mother of a new business: Bunny Bounce.
"I had first heard about soft play toddler parties when I was looking into having my son's first birthday party, but there is no one providing the service in the Champaign area," she said. "I decided to invest in some equipment myself. My first soft play party booking client asked if I had any bounce houses to add on. This resulted in me venturing into that arena as well. Things just took off from there!"
Bunny Bounce is based in Mahomet and serves the Champaign-Urbana area and East Central Illinois. Cain is the owner, and her husband, Dylan, also helps with operations.
She started the business in May and based the name off her son's beloved bunny lovey.
"It is a very soft, gentle animal and I thought the name would be very child appropriate, since our target demographic is toddlers up to age 8," Cain said.
Bunny Bounce's focus on younger ages sets them apart from other party rental services, she said. The business also provides smaller bounce equipment than other companies and mostly caters to residential parties and small private events.
Despite only being open for a couple months, Bunny Bounce is already busy.
"The community has really supported us and we have had bookings every single weekend," Cain said.
"A great run": Longtime shoe store to close this fall
A regional business that has been owned and run by the same family for over 80 years is coming to an end.
Mosser's Shoes announced earlier this month that it will be closing after 83 years in business, including 48 years in Champaign.
Jim Piercy, who co-owns Mosser's with his wife, Jani, said that the store may close in late September, depending on how long its inventory lasts.
"It's been a great run," he said.
As part of its final season, Mosser's is offering a variety of sales, including 10% off one pair of regular-priced shoes, 15% off two pairs, and 20% off three or more pairs, said JP Piercy, who runs Mosser's with his parents. Other family members are also involved with the business.
Jani's maiden name is Mosser, and her grandfather started the business in 1941 in Danville, Jim said.
The business's Springfield location closed May 31, and all of its inventory has been relocated to the Champaign store at 6 Convenience Center Rd. The Danville location closed "many years ago," Jim said.
Some health issues in the family were involved in the decision to close for good, he said.
In discussing their plans, Jim said, "JP's middle brother, John, several years ago, with us, started a real estate business with rental property. And we have that business in Chicago principally. ... We've been helping John with it as support staff, and we'll ramp that up."
As they look forward to what's next, the Piercys have put the building on Convenience Center Road up for sale. More information is available atloopnet.com.
"We're thrilled, very grateful for all the years we've been able to do this," Jani said. "...We're very grateful for the customers and the relationships we've had over the years."
Clock is ticking on Baldarotta's fundraiser
With less than two weeks to go until its July 10 deadline, a crowdfunding campaign to help Baldarotta's Porketta & Sicilian Sausage open a new brick-and-mortar location is still looking for more support.
The business launched the 30-dayKickstarter campaign to raise $35,000 earlier this month. As of Wednesday morning, $12,800 had been pledged.
"It is an all or nothing campaign, so in order for us to raise the funds, we've got to at least hit our goal," said Paris Baldarotta, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband, Jordan. "And we've got a lot of cool rewards for our backers."
Depending on a backer's level of contribution, rewards include various food items, invitations to a grand opening party and catering services. Some of the higher-level categories include one free small gelato every week for a year at $250 and one free sandwich every week for a year at $600.
Baldarotta's is currently located in the Lincoln Square Mall. Its owners hope to open a new location at 208 W. Griggs St., formerly home to Best of Africa's Food Store and Mama's African Kitchen.
At this point, the move isn't possible without meeting their $35,000 fundraising goal, Paris said.
"If everything goes to plan, I would say early fall (for an opening)," she said.
The couple added that if they are able to move into the new location, they would likely keep "at least the sandwich side" of the Lincoln Square shop open.
However, it's possible they might move out eventually if they found someone else to lease the space and the new tenant got approved by the mall.
The Baldarottas said they're excited about the Griggs St. location due to its size, brand-new commercial kitchen, and proximity to downtown Urbana and Boneyard Creek.
"We feel really strongly about this, and we think it's going to be really cool for the Urbana community," Jordan said. "I feel like it's something that's lacking in Urbana and in that area specifically. So we've got some really big ideas. We don't want to just be a deli/sandwich shop; we want to be able to host events there and block parties, stuff like that. It's a really cool space to be able to do all of that."
