The playground at Ackerman Park in Evanston. Photo: Kelly Martin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5
A Chicago business that pairs a coffee bar with an indoor playground for children was considering an Evanston location in January 2014.
Little Beans describes itself as a family café and play space. Parents order coffee drinks and snacks while children move through an indoor village built for play, learning and crafts. The pitch is simple: a place where a parent can sit down with a latte while a toddler or school-age child burns off energy, which matters in a Chicago-area winter.
The possible expansion was a proposal at that point, not a signed deal, and no site had been announced.
How the Evanston plan played out
The idea did eventually become a storefront. The Daily Northwestern reported in February 2015 that Little Beans Café opened at 430 Asbury Ave., at the corner of Oakton Street, in the former Osco drugstore building. The paper described it as the company’s first location outside Chicago and the first indoor playground of its kind in Evanston.
The Evanston space was much larger than the owners’ Chicago café. According to the Daily Northwestern, it included a play area for younger children, a ninja warrior obstacle course, a karaoke room, a half-court gym and a drive-thru window. The business also planned classes, workshops, children’s parties and a summer camp, and it served children up to age 12.
The business was started by Shannon Valko and her brother, Rob Spengler. Valko told the Daily Northwestern that she began the company about four years before the Evanston opening, when her son was an infant. She had first looked at opening a franchise of a children’s recreation center, the paper reported, before deciding to build her own concept.
An indoor option for families
Parks, the lakefront beaches and the public library’s children’s rooms handle much of the demand for family activities in good weather. Between November and March the choices narrow, and a supervised play space with a café attached offers one more.
Sources: Daily Northwestern, Feb. 12, 2015.
Rachel Lindqvist covers community life, the lakefront, dining and the arts for The Evanston Edge.
