Carson's, Von Maur Openings Seen As Economic Boosters For Orland

ORLAND PARK, IL — Carson's lovers, rejoice! The shuttered shop is returning to Orland in May as newly configured store with new owners.

Village Manager Joseph La Margo said the new Carson's will be opening at 66 Orland Square Drive in an out-lot adjacent to Orland Square Mall on Orland Square Drive, otherwise known as the Mall Ring Road. The store is expected to open during the first week of May.

Hours and other details are not yet available. However, Merrillville, IN-based CSC Generation bought bought the intellectual property of Carson's and six other Bon-Ton store brands for $900,000 in a bankruptcy court-supervised auction. CSC plans to focus on online shopping in this version of Carson's, and to improve the shopping experiences in the brick-and-mortar store. Some changes include opening the store only when customers are more likely to shop.

The company's Evergreen Park Carson's, for example, is open for walk-in retail from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, and for online order pickups Monday through Wednesday. CSC Generation said in a news release that the new Carson's will provide its former loyal customers with the "brands and prices they know and love along with new services ranging from interior design to personal styling."

In other retail news, work on the upscale department store Von Maur is well underway and the village expects the store at the former Carson's site to open before Thanksgiving. Village officials enticed the retailer to come to Orland by offering tax incentives of about $8.5 million. Village officials have said that the region will benefit from Von Maur's expected investment of $25 million because the store is expected to create about 225 jobs and will lend prestige to the village's shopping centers.

The Toys R Us location, however, will sit empty awhile longer. La Margo said there have been no formal petitions made for redevelopment of the site.