It's Your Business | Best of Africa's Food Store moving, expanding

Jun. 9—Best of Africa's Food Store has moved out of 208 W. Griggs St. in Urbana but is not closing its doors. On the contrary, the business opened a new Champaign location at 1807 W. Bradley Avenue, Suite E, on May 24 and is working to open another shop at 202 E. University Ave. in Urbana.

"We're waiting for last inspection for the public health," said Memoire Budimbu, who co-owns the business with Lisette Mbaki.

The Congolese couple initially opened Best of Africa's Food Store on Griggs Street in 2015 and later added a restaurant, Mama's African Kitchen.

Budimbu said that they need to focus on opening their Urbana grocery before reopening the eatery. He added that it's possible that the restaurant may reopen at their Urbana location as carryout-only.

"Mama Africa is our big dream, to bring a different menu, different culture in Champaign County, but let's see," Budimbu said. "It's still a hard time for us."

Yummy Future, a coffee shop and tech startup founded by University of Illinois students, is adding a second location at 401 Green St. Co-founder Garrett Yan estimated that the shop will be open in August.

The business is based around using robots to prepare coffee, and one such machine known as "Mozart" does so at the shop's 609 E. Green St. location. Yan said that the new shop will have its own robot as well.

In discussing the expansion, he said that they want to provide more convenience to people living on the west side of the campus and "better serve the community."

"The current location's sometimes very packed," he added. "They don't have places to sit and study, so we thought opening opening one more location could help everybody get better customer service and more room."

He told The News-Gazette that Yummy Future is also in talks with the university about opening more locations on campus.

After some buzz on social media about people coming and going at Black Dog in Urbana, the News-Gazette checked in with co-owner Michael Cochran to see if a reopening might be in the works.

"I am happy to hear that people are interested in Black Dog Urbana," he said. "The activity that is being seen is us doing maintenance and some repairs. Even though the building is vacant, we have been maintaining it and trying to keep it in good condition and ready to be occupied again. I don't have any other concrete information at this time."

The restaurant's Urbana location at 201 N. Broadway Ave. has been closed since 2021, with owners saying the move was temporary amid the pandemic.

Anne and Chris Lukeman, co-owners of Champaign-Urbana Adventures in Time and Space, are planning to expand their operations with a fantasy-themed mini golf bar.

Anne Lukeman said that they hope to start construction soon and open the new venture in early 2025. It will be located in a 16,000-square-foot space on the west side of the same building at 302 N. Broadway Ave. in Urbana that also houses their escape rooms.

"It will have a separate main entrance, but will also connect to CU Adventures internally as well," she said. "We are planning to open with two mini golf courses, a craft cocktail bar serving both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (including espresso drinks and soda), and several reservable private rooms for parties."

Lukeman added they have a tentative name for the fantasy mini golf bar but are not ready to announce it yet.

When asked about the inspiration behind the expansion, she said that they have many customers who work their way through every escape room the business offers.

"Once you've played an escape room, you typically don't want to play the same one again, because you know all the puzzles," she said. "Mini golf is great because it's an experience players can do over and over again. We're so excited to use everything we've learned in making escape rooms to create a mini golf experience like no one's ever seen."

The new PrairiePlay playground in Meadowbrook Park is on track for a late summer or early fall opening, with project manager Andy Rousseau saying that installation of playground equipment should begin soon.

"Lots of the site work has been completed; demolition, site drainage, preparing playground area for final surfacing and installation of equipment," he said. "Interior path work for the playground has almost been entirely completed."

The Main Scoop's fourth location opened its doors Wednesday afternoon.

Owners Nick and Jessica Hanson said that the shop, located at 812 Broadmeadow Rd. in Rantoul, will have a ribbon cutting and "some fun Grand Opening specials and activities" in the next few weeks.

Developer Chris Robinson shared on social media that a new ATI Physical Therapy location is coming to Tuscola soon and will be located at the Jarman Plaza at 704 N. Main St.

This will be the chain's second spot in Tuscola after its 605 E. Southline Rd. location.

A representative of AM-KO Oriental Foods and Gifts has confirmed that the business is closing at the end of July.

AM-KO is located at 101 E. Springfield Ave. in Champaign. The building was previously home to a Piggly Wiggly, an Eisner's grocery store and a United Auto Supply store.

City records show that AM-KO, which had previously been located at 32 E. Green St., converted the building back into a grocery by 1998.