Beloved Peoria business gets major upgrades - Peoria Journal Star
Beloved Peoria business gets major upgrades
What's happening at Emo's Dairy Mart? A Peoria tradition embraces the future
Leslie Renken
- Emo’s is getting free solar panels
- Why Emo's is installing heavy concrete tables to replace the aluminum picnic tables
PEORIA – The retro clown atop Emo’s Dairy Mart in Peoria will soon be sharing the space with something quite a bit more modern.
Emo’s is getting solar panels free of charge from Sun Collectors, a Peoria-based solar panel company.
“We’re trying to give back to the community,” said Mike Murphy, vice president of community engagement for Sun Collectors. “We wanted to pick one local area business that is here to stay in Peoria, like we are here to stay, and gift them a free solar panel system.”
With rebate money for solar panels available to residents and businesses across the state, new solar panel companies have been popping up to take advantage of the increased business. Sun Collectors was founded by Peoria residents about five years ago, and the owners don’t plan to go anywhere, said Murphy.
“What we’re trying to do is stand out because we want to be known as a company that’s not going to be leaving. We’re here to invest in our community, and we won’t leave once the rebates disappear,” he said.
On Monday, a crew replaced the roof on Emo’s in preparation for panel installation. The panels will save the business money on their Ameren bill, said Murphy. Since Emo’s is a seasonal business, when they are closed and using minimal power during the winter, they will be racking up credits which will be applied to their bill when the business re-opens and starts using more power in the spring.
“Two years ago, our utility bill doubled. It went from approximately $1,200 a month to about $2,500 a month,” said Bill Smith, who has owned Emo’s for 13 years. “If we can save anything on our utility bill, so be it. We’re looking forward to solar panels, we hope they work well. If they do, I’m gonna put them on my house also.”
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Efforts to prevent crime
Emo’s typically closes at the end of September, but this year they closed a couple weeks early to make some improvements to the building. In addition to the solar panels, they are also replacing their aluminum picnic tables with heavy concrete tables, an effort to deter another theft of the ATM machine at the business. That’s happened twice in the last three years.
“Approximately two months ago three people stole a truck from somebody on the north end and came up here and ripped the ATM machine out and threw it in the back of their truck,” said Smith. “They hauled it to the church two blocks down on War Memorial where they ran over it and kept ramming it until they finally busted it open and got to the money.”
The picnic tables, which weigh a couple thousand pounds, will be arranged to make it more difficult for a motorist to get to the machine, Smith said.
More: Here are 16 of our favorite things about Peoria
Leslie Renken can be reached at (309) 370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
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On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”