Oberweis Dairy Inc.'s first icecream franchise location now is open in a strip mall on the village's southwest side.

The Algonquin Oberweis, which is in the Briarwood Center on the northeast corner of Randall and County Line roads, serves ice cream, shakes, sundaes, yogurt and more. It also sells butter, cakes, cream cheese, eggs, ice cream, milk, juice, and pies.

Oberweis icecream franchise is the first business in Briarwood Center. Others that soon will open include Giordano's Pizzeria and Restaurant, Bedding Experts, and Randall & Vine Wine Shoppe. Space remains available, said Tim Opfer, a partner with Cary-based O&S Development, owner of the strip center.

"When I first heard about Oberweis' plans to franchise, I already was looking at other businesses," said Dominick Clarizio, who owns the franchise with his wife, Laura, and Mike and Traci Harrington. The store employs 24.

"The problem with the other businesses was that I wasn't a patron of them," Dominick Clarizio said. "I didn't feel I could endorse them. As an Oberweis customer for years, this is a product I can stand behind."

Lisa Anzalone was shopping at Wal-Mart across the street from Oberweis last week when she stopped in to buy ice-cream cones for herself and her two children.

"We have been waiting for it to open," the Huntley resident said. "We were happy to find out they were open. I wish I had opened an Oberweis. They have great ice cream. It is fresh, better than other places. It seems to be a profitable business."

Oberweis has been providing farm-fresh, bottled milk to homes since 1927 and making ice cream for more than 50 years. The company buys milk from family-owned dairy farms whose cows are not treated with synthetic rBGH hormones, which some studies have shown to be harmful to cows.

Its retail stores are located in Illinois, including McHenry, northwest Indiana and the St. Louis area.

Additional franchises are expected to open in Chicago and Brookfield, Wis., by the end of the year. Oberweis also plans to expand into Michigan and Ohio, the company said in a statement.

Source:Northwest Herald