Here’s the good news, there is a new bakery in town. Here’s the not-so-good news, the town isn’t Naperville, it’s Lisle. Given a choice between Naperville and Lisle, the owner chose Lisle, and she couldn’t be happier with her decision. In full disclosure, my wife and I know the owner (Darlene), She’s had years of experience honing her baking skills including most recently at Mariano’s (bakery department) on Naper Boulevard.
City officials don’t make it easy for someone to open a small business in Naperville, it takes more money, more time, more regulations, and more rope-jumping, other than that, Naperville makes it’s easy. Lisle on the other hand, made it so much easier with less fees, less time, fewer regulations, and no rope-jumping. Lisle helped by walking her through the process and being available. They made her feel wanted and valued. Lisle’s Economic Development Coordinator, Pete Kelly, exceeded her expectations, and he is doing what Lisle hired him to do, coordinating economic development for the City of Lisle. Everybody wins including the owner, the residents looking for a quality local bakery, and the City of Lisle.
The name of the bakery is ‘The Sweet Spot’ (630-357-1144), located at 6740 College Road, in the College Square Shopping Center, on the west side of College just north of Green Trails Road. The anticipated official opening date is June 10.
One less business in Naperville is not going to hurt Naperville financially. That’s the problem; city officials don’t care. If they did, they would make it easier for small businesses to make Naperville their home. So much for that small town feeling that helped Naperville flourish.
If Naperville city officials are looking for a great bakery, all they have to do is drive 1/4 mile east of Naperville and the ‘Sweet Spot Bakery’ in Lisle won’t let them down.
We had an office on fifth avenue next to Curves. When district 203 bought the building they threw the paying tenants out. Curves tried to relocate in naperville but was given the same treatment. They moved to Lisle in a week. Too many public employers full of themselves.
Naperville has no shortage of Bakeries. And the owners of all the ones I know are very happy in Naperville and had no complaints about working with city staff or meeting city requirements. Naperville has a lots of regulations and requirements that neighboring communities do not have, which is why the standard of living in Naperville, the quality of Education in Naperville and public safety in Naperville are Nationally recognized while Naperville’s Neighbors are not.
There is an old business adage or principle, “you get what you reward” and if you reward poor quality businesses you get low quality, which simply is not in Naperville’s best interests..
I hope than none of Naperville’s neighbors read this site. They will be dismayed to learn from the last comment that none of them are Nationally recognized. Surely there are other outstanding community choices other than Naperville? When you feel that you have nothing to learn, or can’t improve, that will lead you towards failure. That also applies to the city of Naperville.
There are many Outstanding communities in the US, but only a few of them are in Illinois and Naperville is one of those few, Lisle is not. The main reason Naperville has been receiving National recognition for decades is because it opens to improvement by its citizens, city officials and city staff.
Naperville was one of the first communities to adopt the National and Internationals building codes, which most major cities in the US have now done, but some of our neighbor still refuse to do. It is these standards or lack there of that make a major difference between Naperville and some of its neighbors.
In defense of Lisle, (an unusual position for us) Lisle has adopted the 2015 International Building Codes, Naperville is still using old codes from 2012. Most Lisle business owners complain that the Village of Lisle is far too strict at code enforcement. In the case of this bakery – why did they not open June 10 as planned?
The Sweet Spot Bakery had a spectacular grand opening today. The ribbon cutting was lead by newly elected Village Trustee Marie Hasse. Other than using an impressive 3-foot scissors, she had to use a 4-inch Office Max special. As with just about any new business opening, there were unexpected delays. The owner, Darlene McCoy, chose to wait until all the lights were green, rather than opening too soon. Additionally, the main uncontrollable delay was DuPage County; too few inspectors covering too large of an area.