Business Barometer
Delta adds Detroit to CIRA lineup
Vendors use ‘virtual farmers market’
State Farm buys Texas insurer
OSF adds Westminster clinic
BLOOMINGTON — Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington announced in September the resumption of flights to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, a major aviation hub, and the local business community, especially Rivian Automotive, welcomed the news. BLOOMINGTON — State Farm has agreed to buy Texas-based minimum-limits personal auto insurance company Gainsco in a $400 million stock purchase deal, the first acquisition of another insurance company in its 98-year history.
Aldi opens new store
BLOOMINGTON — Aldi has opened a new, 12,515-squarefeet grocery store at 907 Maple Hill Road on Bloomington’s west side, offering more space and more amenities such as added refrigerator capacity than its now-closed, smaller store at 1025 Wylie Drive.
2nd cannabis store coming to B-N
BLOOMINGTON — Market Wagon, a growing e-commerce delivery service connecting farmers with customers through a “virtual farmers market,” helped dozens of Central Illinois vendors such as PrairiErth Farms endure this summer after the pandemic hit local farmers markets. BLOOMINGTON — OSF HealthCare began offering primary care services late in the summer at Westminster Village Clinic on the campus of the continuing care retirement community, 2025 E. Lincoln St., Bloomington, and it was in conversations to offer similar services at The Village at Mercy Creek in Normal.
Normal raises gas tax
NORMAL — Drivers in Normal will pay 4 cents more per gallon of gas at the pump starting Dec. 1 after the Town Council voted in September to double the tax to 8 cents per gallon to pay for road and sidewalk repairs, mirroring a similar move by Bloomington city leaders in 2019.
BLOOMINGTON — Beyond/Hello LLC plans to open McLean County’s second adult-use recreational cannabis dispensary by year’s end at 118 Keaton Place, Bloomington, adding it to its current business at 501 W. Northtown Road, Normal.
UniFirst donates masks to local businesses BLOOMINGTON — UniFirst Corp., a Massachusetts-based supplier of work wear, protective clothing, floor care and safety products, donated 10,000 masks and several cases of surface sanitizer for the McLean County Chamber of Commerce to distribute to local businesses working to stay open during the pandemic.
Ferrero hosts COVID test site
BLOOMINGTON — Ferrero USA‘s candy manufacturing plant at 2501 Beich Road, Bloomington, hosted for three days in September a drive-up site where people could be tested for coronavirus for free.
Normal apartment complex in works
NORMAL — Plans for a five-story, student-oriented apartment building in Normal continue to move forward after the Town Council approved again in September the final plat for the project, which will replace three older buildings at 105, 107 and 111 W. Locust St.
YMCA breaks ground at OSF campus
BLOOMINGTON — Ground was broken in September for a 76,000-square-foot, $23 million Bloomington-Normal YMCA building and parking lot on the OSF HealthCare campus at 202 St. Joseph Drive, Bloomington, that also will house Easterseals Central Illinois and OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center programs.
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Limited Magazine | November 2020
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