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Air Kube employee Ella Stumpf plays an interactive trampoline game in Hammond on Tuesday.
Projectors display a rock climbing game at Air Kube in Hammond.
Air Kube offers trampoline Dodgeball, climbing walls, and jungle gyms at Hammond's Kube Ice Rink.
Kids will be able to reach new heights at Hammond's Kube Sports Complex, which built a new jump park meant to be a regional attraction.
The hockey and ice skating arena at 2825 J.F. Mahoney Drive just off the Kennedy Avenue exit on the Borman Expressway has added a huge trampoline park called Air Kube. The massive family attraction features many bounce areas, a ninja obstacle course, trampoline basketball, rock climbing walls, interactive video games and a kids' playground with a ball pit.
Featuring a cute Yeti mascot painted on a few walls, the Air Kube jump park is part of the $7.5 million Kube Sports Complex that serves as home ice for the Purdue University Northwest, Bishop Noll Institute and Munster High School hockey teams, as well as club teams and youth hockey. The 94,000-square-foot facility by Dowling Park hosts youth travel sports tournaments, open skates for the public to go ice skating, and hockey, ice skating and figure skating classes.
The hockey arena at the former Hammond FOP site in Hammond's Hessville neighborhood serves as a regional destination.
"We added a trampoline park that's interactive and really cool," Kube Sports Complex's Amy Radolak said. "It's like Sky Zone. It's a huge trampoline park for kids through adults. But it's not just a huge open area. There's a big open space and different things like the ninja obstacle course."
The Air Kube trampoline park can accommodate up to 200 people at one time, owner Frank Buck said. It can be rented out as a whole for parties, corporate retreats or other private events or host multiple birthday parties at the same time.
The facility has four birthday party rooms that seat up to 20 people. The Kube Sports Complex also has concessions and a bar overlooking the indoor ice rink, the first of two planned there.
The Kube Sports Complex invested about $1.5 million in the new family attraction to diversify its business.
"You have to build your hockey groups and youth groups. It takes five years," Buck said. "This helps pay for the ice, which is very expensive. We brought this in to help."
Air Kube also caters to visiting hockey families with kids playing.
"During tournaments, there are a lot of families that want family activities to do. They might have kids too young to play hockey or watch the games," he said. "A lot of people also have parties: birthday parties, office parties, Christmas parties."
Attractions include interactive video games where kids are physically in the game, such as a version of ping pong where they bounce around and swat the ball back and forth. The games will be regularly updated to keep people coming back.
"If someone comes and beats your record and gets the high score, it will text you that there's a new high score," Buck said. "It will alert you. We want kids to compete. Competition builds character. We tried to make a lot of it interactive so kids aren't just jumping around."
Kids and other visitors can gain admission for 60 minutes, 90 minutes or 120 minutes and must rent special socks for $3 to bounce around.
Air Kube is currently open from 12 p.m. through 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and will update its hours on its website.
For more information, visit kubesports.com, airkube.active8pos.com or call 219-230-7200.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is now serving its popular bowls, burritos and tacos in Dyer.
The quick-serve chain opened Tuesday in a 2,350-square-foot building at 935 Richard Road, just off U.S. 30 next to Jelly's Pancake House.
The fast-casual Mexican eatery known for its fresh ingredients and customizable menu options has a digital order drive-thru pick-up lane known as a "Chipotlane."
The restaurant employs about 25 workers and has about 40 seats for indoor dining, as well as an outdoor dining area. It's located in a newly constructed standalone building estimated to cost around $3 million.
The Dyer Chipotle is open daily from 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.
A popular food truck is going to bring its barbecue and American fare to downtown Griffith.
East Chicago chef Kenny Beckett has been "grilling and chilling" with his Parlay Grill and Catering for years. It's been a staple at local festivals, including events at Wicker Park in Highland and Central Park in Griffith.
He's now working with building owner Aaron Barnes to open a brick-and-mortar Parlay Grill and Catering at 105 N. Broad St., the site of the former Tapas Cafe in Griffith.
Barnes, who also owns the Collectors Cave and the Woodmar Laundromat, said the restaurant would open on Jan. 3 after a soft opening last week.
"He's got a clientele and people tell him he should open a restaurant because they love his food," he said. "We've been remodeling because it was a high-end Spanish joint with a lot of yellow, brown and green. We've been painting and all that fun stuff."
The new restaurant will be decorated with a sports theme with Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, White Sox, Cubs, Purdue, Indiana University and Notre Dame memorabilia. People will be able to buy jerseys right off the wall if they like.
It also will play off the parlay theme.
"There will be four or five televisions playing sports," Barnes said. "There won't be gambling but there will be a beat-the-chef parlay where you can get 10% off, that kind of thing."
The menu will include rib tips, chicken and Region-style smashburgers like those served at Schoop's. Sides will include loaded baked potatoes and mac and cheese.
"The mac and cheese has a special blend of cheese. It's really good," Barnes said. "He's really invested in the food. The truck often sells out."
Parlay Grill and Catering will seat about 20 people in its dining room, including on community-dining wood tables that will seat four or five people each. The owners are seeking a beer and wine license.
"We want to represent breweries like Wildrose and all those guys in the community," Barnes said.
The restaurant also will offer takeout and delivery through Uber Eats and GrubHub.
Initially, the 1,600-square-foot restaurant will employ just the chef and his fiance in the front of the house.
"We liked the historic downtown area," Barnes said. "The Rock 'N' Rail Festival is right outside. It's the center of the community. You can feel it right there on the main drag."
Townspeople have been excited to get another dining option.
"People have been knocking on our door since we put black plastic on it, asking what's opening," he said.
It will be open 2-10 p.m. every day but Monday.
Salon Savage is now cutting and styling hair in Dyer.
The beauty salon opened at 200 Monticello Drive in the Dyer Professional Center. It's located inside Savage Suites, which is leasing out private salon suites for licensed cosmetologists and barbers.
"It's much smaller but it's like My Salon Suites," owner Chelsi Savage said. "I put the furniture in and built out the suites for hairstylists."
It's currently one of the few tenants in the office building off Sheffield Avenue between Walt's Food Center and Stardust Bowl in Dyer.
Salon Savage provides both women's and men's haircuts, as well as coloring, facial waxing and other services.
"I style hair for weddings," Savage said. "I actually do a lot of education for my clients like if they're struggling to curl their hair. If I know that in advance, I'll book extra time for education."
Savage has wanted to be a hairstylist since high school.
"I started out at a Hair Cuttery and then went to work for a private salon," she said.
It was a sometimes difficult journey.
"I followed my dreams," she said. "I was kicked out of the house at 18 because I didn't want to go to college. There was the stigma I was too smart for beauty school. There was a stereotype that hairstylists are not smart, which is not true. I went from having nowhere to go to owning two businesses. It's been a crazy ride. I was a cocktail waitress at White Rhino and put myself through school. It's been wild and sometimes crazy."
She thought Dyer was a good location when striking out on her own, one that would allow her to maintain her existing clientele while serving the community.
"I didn't want to move too far," she said. "Going from Highland to Crown Point seemed like a big leap. This is a low-traffic area, which seemed good for my clientele. I don't really do walk-in and then can get in and out of the parking lot without having to fight traffic."
She was glad to launch her own business and said Savage Suites offers rentable suites for other hairstylists who want to work for themselves.
"There's an amazing work-life balance where you have complete control of your schedule," she said. "A lot of places you work for don't pay enough in commissions. You get to decorate the place how you want. When you're working for someone else, it's someone else's vision. When you work for yourself, you have your own freedom."
Savage sees clients by appointment. Other stylists who rent space there will make their own hours.
"It's all private salon space for rent," she said. "You're not sharing a space with anyone who's touching your things. You have storage. And there's only going to be four of us, not 30 spaces, so you won't get lost in the hustle and bustle."
She hopes the business takes off enough where she can travel around the country in a van to participate in beauty shows around the country.
"I would love to expand to more locations in the future, but I'm focused on this right now as I don't want to get too big for my britches," she said.
Savage Suites provides a high-end salon experience that's still down to earth, she said.
"I don't feel every salon is welcoming to everyone," she said. "This is somewhere you can come when dirty from work or crying from a breakup. It's a safe, welcoming space."
Savage also placed a Little Free Library inside the lobby.
"Everyone is welcome," she said. "It's a welcoming atmosphere."
For more information, call 708-420-1633 or find the business on Instagram.
A JJ Fish & Chicken replaced the short-lived Hip Hop Chicken on U.S. 20 in Gary's Miller neighborhood.
The fast food chain took over the space previously long occupied by a KFC at 5729 Melton Road, where it has a drive-through and dine-in seating.
JJ Fish & Chicken, which has more than 130 locations, serves fried chicken, wings, gizzards, fish sandwiches, shrimp, whiting, trout, tilapia, catfish, ocean perch, flounder, scallops and oysters. Sides include hush puppies, okra, mushroom and mac and cheese bites.
If you would like your business to be included in a future column, email joseph.pete@nwi.com.
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Sip, McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, furniture store opening; closings include Jelly, Tapas Cafe and Cousins Subs
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Joseph S. Pete is a Lisagor Award-winning business reporter who covers steel, industry, unions, the ports, retail, banking and more. The Indiana University grad has been with The Times since 2013 and blogs about craft beer, culture and the military.
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Air Kube employee Ella Stumpf plays an interactive trampoline game in Hammond on Tuesday.
Projectors display a rock climbing game at Air Kube in Hammond.
Air Kube offers trampoline Dodgeball, climbing walls, and jungle gyms at Hammond's Kube Ice Rink.
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