New businesses open in Bloomington

Bloomington is pulling in new businesses. Three new enterprises are making the downtown area their home. The Underground, Yat's, and Megagrooves are all opening on, or within a block of Kirkwood Ave.\nShawn Laszlo, Denny Laszlo, and Steve Poole own the AT&T kiosk in the Indiana Memorial Union and decided to expand their business and open a wireless store, called The Underground.\nLocated on the corner of Kirkwood and Walnut Streets, the new shop is an AT&T wireless store with a theme.\n"The store was underground, and they call the subway in England the Underground, so we came up with a British theme," Shawn Laszlo said. \nShoppers can buy a full range of AT&T wireless products, including phones, faceplates and other accessories. Denny Laszlo believes many people are interested in using AT&T for their wireless company.\n"It has good coverage," he said. "In fact, they are putting new antennas in this area."\nIn addition to wireless phones and accessories, people can also purchase a wide range of British merchandise, including clothing, collectibles and food.\n"We have a pretty broad line of British tea, food, teapots, stuff like that," Shawn said. "We also have a lot of Union Jack stuff, like shirts and caps. We also sell everything you need for a traditional English afternoon tea."\nShawn and Denny said students from the United Kingdom have really enjoyed the store. British students have actually started a wish list of products they would like to be able to purchase from the Underground.\n"We have the wish list on the counter, and we've been ordering off the list. We're on our fourth sheet now," Denny said. \nAnother new business hits closer to home, culturally. A new restaurant, Yat's, is opening on the corner of 4th and Grant Streets.\n"Yat's is a Cajun Creole neighborhood joint," says Regina Vuscovich, owner of the business. \nYat's serves traditional Cajun meals, all served over rice. \n"We have a rotating menu," Vuscovich said. "There are eighteen dishes, which we rotate every day."\nEach dish comes with rice and garlic bread, and costs $5.\nVuscovich said, of their four other stores in Indianapolis, none of them really serve to a traditional college town.\n"This could change things," she said. "If it works, we might concentrate on college towns."\nVuscovich believes Yat's will cater to many different people's tastes.\n"We get teenagers that come in after school at 3:30 (p.m.) and get a good meal for five bucks. We've had CEOs bring their clients in…we have a huge demographic."\nVuscovich also thinks the atmosphere of the restaurant will help it thrive in Bloomington.\n"We play music like jazz and Frank Sinatra," she said. "It's a warm and eclectic place."\nYat's plans to open in about three weeks. For more information, visit the restaurant's Web site, www.yatscajuncreole.com.\nAlso new to Bloomington is a technological service business, Megagrooves, in Victoria Towers on Kirkwood Avenue. According to its Web site, www.megagrooves.com, it "provides audiovisual production services for individuals and organizations, including graphic design, photographs, audio recording, video production and web development."\n-- Contact staff writer Jenny Kobiela at jkobiela@indiana.edu.