JEFFERSON PARK — American Science & Surplus is staying in Chicago for the rest of the holiday season, pushing back its move to Park Ridge until early next year.
The popular seller of educational science items and other oddities announced in October its Jefferson Park store, 5316 N. Milwaukee Ave., would soon move to 27 N. Northwest Highway in suburban Park Ridge.
But construction and permitting delays pushed back the move date from October into November, cutting it too close to a busy holiday season to move, store President Patrick Meyer said.
“It starts to get too busy to even think about a move,” Meyer said. “Plus, it requires a lot of help from the warehouse, and we’re in the middle of mail-order season, so it’s postponed, and now we’re looking at the second week of January.”
American Science & Surplus has called the Northwest Side home for more than 60 years. Over the past five years, the store faced financial challenges due to a decline in visitors, and the owners made the difficult decision to leave the city, Meyer previously told Block Club.
The Park Ridge location, which will be a roughly 10-minute drive from the Jefferson Park location, will have more of a neighborhood feel and be walking distance to several grocery stores and restaurants, Meyer said.
The store has two other locations in suburban Geneva and Milwaukee.
Meyer, who has never moved a store before, doesn’t want to rush anything.
“I was very naive in thinking we could get there early, in October,” he said. “We want to take our time moving, and I want to make sure we’re doing it right.”
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