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Bubblefast has had its headquarters in a relatively small office/warehouse space near our home in Gurnee, Illinois since 1999.  We love our office neighborhood – and our neighbors.  Bubblefast’s home is in commercial/industrial strip filled mostly with family businesses, each with its own unique style and story.

Allow us to introduce some of our wonderful neighbors –

The Little Gym – Tracie and Dave from The Little Gym have been our neighbors “forever”.  We’ve watched their sons Drew and Brock grow up (well, Brock’s only 3 but we’ve known him since he was born).  When our kids were younger The Little Gym was a great place to go play.  Drew and Brock are still frequent visitors.  When Drew walks in with Brock on his shoulders we know it’s time to take a break and play.  Drew fills us in on all the news in his life and Brock sets himself up on the floor to play with the cars and football that are always on the shelf waiting for him.  This week they stopped by when we were particularly busy.  No problem, the boys from the gym jumped right in to help.

Luckily, Sara was there to capture their hard work on video.  First video from my iphone- I think it’s a keeper!  Bubblefast Neighbor Video

Carpet Basics – This is the home of Brent and his family.  We’ve known Brent and his brothers and his mom for over 10 years.  They used to occupy the space next door to us.  They moved last year, but luckily only to the end of the parking lot.  This is a great family business providing all kinds of carpeting and flooring supplies.  The Carpet Basic dog, Quartz is a good friend of Kelev’s.  These are the folks that Steven goes on the road with in the summer.  We used to always know how the Cubs were doing because Brent would bang on the wall if anything good happened.  He has to bang a little harder now – we’re working on a new communication device.  Brent is also the one who took many of the pictures for the Bubblefast website – a man of many talents!

Sinobrite – This is one of our newer neighbors.  Sean moved in a couple of years ago.  He sells beautiful table runners, doilies, placemats and other home décor items.  We’ve met a lot of the family.  Sean’s, wife, daughter and dad are all frequent visitors.  Kelev looks forward to Sean’s daughter’s visits because that always means he’s going for a long walk.

Ekor Enterprise – Another family business.  This is the home of Ayol, who, along with his wife and his dad, sell a great variety of auto supplies.  When we need a replacement windshield wiper or headlight for one of our vehicles, we only have to walk down a few doors and we’re all set.  Steven has started making some deliveries for Ekor.  Ekor doesn’t have a website yet, but if you need any auto supplies, let us know and we’ll be happy to hook you up!

Six Color Print – This is where Steve “lives”.  Steve has been our neighbor for a few years.  Steve presents us with packaging challenges.  He often needs rather unusual shipping supplies for his big signs.  We love working with him to try to figure out how to safely and inexpensively protect his sign projects.  Steve also did the lettering on our door to let people know where they are when come to visit.

House of Prayer – These are our newest neighbors.  A friendly group under the religious leadership of Pastor Marc.   We were happy to welcome them to the neighborhood.  Never hurts to have a divine presence on the block!


What makes our neighborhood so special is the spirit of “family” that exists among us.  If anybody needs to borrow a forklift, pallet jack, a few extra hands to help unload a truck, somebody to put a sign on a door to say the owner is running a bit late, we’re all ready to lend a helping hand.  We’re so lucky to have such wonderful neighbors.  If you’re ever in the area, stop by and visit us.  We’ll be happy to give you the Bubblefast grand tour and to introduce you to our neighbors in person.

It is always nice when friends come to visit us at Bubblefast. The other day some very special friends paid us a visit: Rich and Nila  from Appealing Signs in Elk Grove Village, IL.  They are a home based family business that customize signs for personal or professional use.  You can visit their eBay store at AppealingSigns.

Rich and Nila also run a meetup group in Elk Grove called Chicagoland Area eBay Sellers.  As eBay certified Education Specialists, they started this group around 8 years ago to help fellow eBay sellers learn the ins and outs of selling on eBay.  Back then, maybe 2-3 people showed up at each meeting, held at a local Panera Bread.  Now, there are consistently 35-40 people who show up at every meeting.  Thanks to the Elk Grove Village bank and Trust, there is enough room for all. The bank allows Rich and Nila’s group to use their facilities (Free of charge!) every month to host their meetings.

Some meetings are extra special.  We often get guest speakers from around the country to give seminars and answer questions.  Sometimes eBay execs come out to give a talk or to just say thanks.

They sure have come a long way!

Rich and Nila selflessly volunteer so much of their free time to help other online sellers.  Through them Robin and I have come to know so many other sellers on eBay and other online venues.  They have become good friends of ours and we are proud to know them.

So, if you ever need a custom made sign for your business, automobile, van,windows or whatever, please be sure to make a visit to Appealingsign.com


Appealingsigns.com

Mitch & Leah have been friends of the family for over 20 years.  Michelle and Jenny grew up with their kids.  They used to live right across the street.   They’re emptynesters now, so they moved, but not far away.

Leah’s health hasn’t been the best over the last several years.  All kinds of breathing and heart issues have plagued her.

Right across the street from Bubblefast are a myriad of doctors’ offices.  Many times we get visits from friends after a doctor’s visit.  We received such a visit from Leah yesterday.

Leah came into our office beaming and smiling like we haven’t seen for years.  “I have good news!” she exclaimed.  “The doctor said I don’t need a defibrillator.  The medications worked and my heart is now beating 45% better than it used to.”

I am sharing this info with everyone because I think it nice to share good news every once in a while.  We are so happy for Leah!

- Mark Le Vine -
mark@bubblefast.com

The couple of weeks were a little crazy.  Two weeks ago we went to San Jose for the eBay on Location event.  We left on Wednesday and came back on Saturday.  No shipping on Monday due to Labor day.  If not for the help of two of our kids (Steven and Jenny) we would not have shipped for a week.  Even so, the first Tuesday back was a very busy day trying to get caught up.

So, we shipped Tuesday and Wednesday, but took off Thursday and Friday for the Jewish New Year.  That means that we had two short weeks in a row with very little time in between to catch up.

That brings us to Monday of this week.  What a crazy, busy day!  Not only did we have 5 days worth of shipping to do, but we also had three truck deliveries to unload!

The first truck consisted of unloading 250 bags of packing peanuts – only a few at a time.  Thank goodness our kind neighbor from the Little Gym helped us out.

Next we had to unload a pallet of boxes from our local distributor.  That one wasn’t so bad, it was only one skid.  However, we had to unload and repack each piece for our individual customers.

Lastly, our bubble mailer and bubble wrap truck showed up.  This one involves a lot of heavy manual labor and forklifting.

So, what does any of this have to do with brisket chili?  Our cousin Lenny happened to stop by while we were unloading our last truck.  Why?  Because he took his leftover homemade brisket and mixed it with his famous chili and brought some to us to snack on.  It was out of this world!  Thank you Lenny?

Another day in the life of Bubblefast.  You just don’t know what you’re missing . . .

Cousin Lenny came in to visit us yesterday ans tell us some jokes. Unfortunately, I cannot share any of them here! Coincidentally, while he was here, his compatriot Jerry showed up with a package he asked us to ship for him.

To add to the fray, the three neighbor kids showed up after their first day of school. They went straight to the back of the warehouse to build their bubble fort.

Its been an interesting day so far.  For some, school hasn’t started yet.  Kids seem to love Bubblefast.

Our little office complex has many family run businesses.  We often get visitors from kids of those families.  They just like to come here and hang out.

In fact, one store owner brought his neighbor’s kids and one of their friends.  Yesterday, they built a cave out of our packing peanuts.

Peanut Cave

Today, the three kids are rollerblading throughout the office and warehouse.

We really do have a lot of fun here!

Our friend and Bubblefast neighbor, Little Gym has Pet Week all this week.   I got to go there yesterday.  However, between all the bright lights and little kids, I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated.  I got a little wild and had to come back to Bubblefast after a very short stay.

Today, however, was a totally different story.  I went back to visit the little kids and had a blast.  I got to run around a little bit and play with the tiny gymnasts.  It was great fun!  (Even if some of the kids pulled my mouth and tail a little.)

What a difference a day makes!