Shorewood Coronavirus: Family Store Open, Not Restaurant

SHOREWOOD, IL — Lots of small businesses have been hammered financially since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, and that's meant for tough decisions at locally owned businesses. Frank Kafka chose to keep his K's Liquors and Foods store open near Route 59. His brother, Mark Kafka, owns Mark's On 59, a restaurant in the same Shorewood strip plaza as K's Liquors.

Mark's On 59 has remained shuttered during the past six weeks. Mark's is known for its burgers, shrimp, poor boys and Italian beef.

"With Mark's, 90 percent of his business was sit-down traffic," Frank Kafka told Patch on Monday afternoon. "He's looking into opening sooner than later."

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Meanwhile, K's Liquors and Foods remains open daily. Beer sales remain strong, Frank Kafka told Patch. "But I don't see any increase in cigarette sales," he said.

"We're a family business, and we've been here more than 30 years," he said.

K's also sells lots of trading cards and related collectible supplies including card boxes and plastic sleeves. The store is stocked with thousands of trading cards including baseball and football cards from the 1980s and 1990s.

K's Liquors also sells fishing licenses and bait.

"We've sold more fishing licenses so far this year than all of last year already," Frank Kafka said. "Bait sales have picked up."

Frank Kafka told Patch his small, locally owned business has withstood tough times before.

When Route 59 was widened to four lanes, he said, business dropped by 50 percent during the road construction. Times were also tough after the 2008 economic recession.

And now, the coronavirus outbreak has put small businesses across the country in a bind of uncertainty, he said.

"Things were just starting to get better, and then (the coronavirus) happened," Frank Kafka said. "It's tough being a little guy compared to all these corporate big box stores."

On a positive note, "We have a lot of regular customers who know us, and we also live in town," the store owner said. "We don't have many travelers that stop in anymore."

Even though K's Liquors and Foods is along Route 59, its address is at 714 Cottage St. The liquor store and convenience store sells Illinois lottery tickets. K's remains open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

K's Liquors and Foods is one of about 25 small local businesses in Shorewood that have filled out Patch's simple online survey to let everyone know they are open and their current hours of operations during the coronavirus outbreak.

If you still want to add your business to Patch's list of open and closed businesses, you can do so here.

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