ROGERS PARK — An eye care clinic and new liquor store are nearly set to move into the former Isam's Liquor Store space on North Sheridan Road.
VZN Eye Care, currently located next door to Bruno's a couple blocks away, plans to relocate in about a month to a portion of 6816 N. Sheridan Road, said owner Atanas Kolez, whose wife is the business's optometrist.
Kolez said the new storefront is twice as big as its current home, where it has been located for the past six years.
But Kolez also said he's "a little worried" that his clinic's future neighbor would attract seedy behavior.
Liquor store mogul Pradeep Patel plans to open Hops and Grapes sometime in the next few months as long as his liquor store application, supported by Ald. Joe Moore (49th), is approved.
Patel contends that his store would be different than its predecessor, calling his concept the "Starbucks of liquor stores."
Moore has also assured the community that Patel, who runs Red Violin Liquor Store at Clark Street and Rogers Avenue, would not be a disturbance.
Kolez said his eye clinic would expand to offer more medical procedures — rather than mostly vision checks.
"The people need more than just vision checks," he said, adding that he would cut the store's inventory of eyeglass frames in half to make room for more medical equipment.
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