Residents revel in Yorkville's new stores

August 23, 2008
By ROWENA VERGARA

YORKVILLE -- If it weren't for the arrival of stores like Kohl's, Super Target and most recently Marshalls, which opened this week, Tonika Flowers says she'd be searching for another community to live in, not Yorkville. Flowers is no shopaholic, but she is someone who needs to buy goods, clothes and supplies close to home. And everywhere she turns in Yorkville, medical offices, restaurants and retailers have been popping up. "I need to have somewhat of a city environment out here," the former Chicago resident -- who moved to Yorkville two years ago -- said Friday. She had been waiting for the opening of Marshalls all year.

And so, too, have many residents from Yorkville and its surrounding towns. Late Friday morning, Marshalls was brimming with shoppers picking up name-brand comforters, accent lamps, bath rugs, clothes and artwork. Marshalls is one of five retailers at Kendall Marketplace off Cannonball Trail and Route 34. Without a doubt, more women than men shopped the store, eyeing the endless rows of shoes, wedges and high heels in one area, and the mounds of handbags in another. One woman rolled two carts loaded with merchandise out to her van. She was purchasing items to fill her new home in Ottawa. Another woman, Irene Brown of Newark, found deals on kitchen and home decor. She plans to shop here for the holidays and anytime she needs gifts for her grandchildren, who "like upscale things," she said. "We've been wanting this store here. Now we don't have to shop 20 miles away out by the (Aurora) mall," Brown said.

Signs for PetSmart and Dots are also up at Kendall Marketplace. A Famous Footwear, Dick's Sporting Goods, Kay Jewelers and AT&T Store are still on the way this year, according to developer Mid-America Development Partners. Retailers Bath & Body Works, Ulta, Dress Barn and Verizon Wireless also are slated to open in 2009.

New resident Molly Miller said she couldn't have moved to Yorkville at a better time. Miller and her husband moved from Milwaukee six months ago, and have shopped at Super Target at least a dozen times and Marshalls twice this week. Amenities like convenient shopping close to home are what keep people like Miller and Flowers in Yorkville. "Yorkville is booming. When I was looking for homes, my Realtor told me this would be the next Naperville, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I made a good investment here," said Flowers, who works in Naperville as a project manager.