Bolingbrook's Old Big-Box Stores Are Turning Into Places to Play. What's Open, and What's Still Coming?

In May 2025, the building at 111 S. Weber Road was an empty Big Lots. On the first Saturday of August 2026, it held a grand opening with free open play, a fastest-serve competition, a DJ, a food truck and two touring pickleball pros, Megan Fudge and Ryler DeHeart. The day before, Mayor Mary Alexander-Basta and Mayor Emeritus Roger Clair attended the ribbon-cutting.

That building is the clearest example of something happening along Weber Road and Commons Drive. When a large store closes in Bolingbrook, the next tenant is increasingly a place to play, sweat or bounce. Over about 18 months, the Village Board has approved special-use permits for an indoor pickleball club, a 24-hour gym and two trampoline parks, all in former retail space. Some of those places are open now. Some are not yet.

The Mayor Said the Quiet Part About Footprints

When the board approved the first pickleball permit for the old Big Lots, the mayor explained why in one sentence.

"It's a great utilization of a space that was vacated, and I don't see another retailer being able to take up that much of a footprint."

That permit was for a different operator, Pickleball Kingdom. Its plans described courts, a pro shop, a snack bar and locker rooms, open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. By January 2026, the Village said The Picklr had applied for a building permit at the same address and planned to open later that year. So the use outlasted the first operator. Once the board had decided a former discount store could hold indoor courts, a second pickleball company stepped into the same building.

The scale is the reason a retailer is hard to find. The Picklr's Bolingbrook club covers 33,000 square feet, with 11 fully fenced indoor courts, five of them championship-sized. It also has a pro shop, a fitness area, a wellness space, a lounge and private event space. Very few store formats need that much floor space anymore. A sport that needs room to run does.

The Same Night, a Trampoline Park on Commons Drive

The pickleball approval did not come alone. At the same board meeting in late May 2025, the Village also approved a commercial-recreation special use for Nova Adventure Park at 390 Commons Drive, in the Bolingbrook Commons Shopping Center. The mayor listed what was planned:

• Wall-to-wall trampolines
• Basketball and dodgeball courts
• Obstacle courses, a zip line and rock climbing
• Children's activity areas, an arcade and party rooms

"It's got everything we need right here," she said. "For kids of all ages." The proposed hours ran to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

As of early October 2026, we could not confirm that Nova Adventure Park has opened. We found no opening date and no official website. For now, treat it as an approved plan, not a weekend option.

Farther down Commons Drive, the Commons already has an anchor that runs around the clock. Crunch Fitness at 352 Commons Drive needed its own special-use permit. The property sits in a B-2 business district, and the gym asked to operate 24 hours a day. The Village's Spring 2026 bulletin calls Crunch an anchor tenant of the "newly remodeled Commons Shopping Center." In this case the shopping center got remodeled around a gym, not a department store.

North Weber Is the Next Test

The third piece is on North Weber Road. In September 2025, the board approved a special use for Big Air Trampoline and Adventure Park at 161 N. Weber Road. The company says it will be its first location in Illinois. The board documents show a business planned around the school day, with these hours:

Weekday doors open at 3 p.m., when school lets out. The plans also include a café serving pizza, chicken tenders, fries and slushies, plus 12 to 15 full-time jobs and 25 to 50 part-time jobs. That is a lot of staff for a former store, and a lot of first jobs within reach of Bolingbrook households.

In August 2026, the company announced a 25,000-square-foot park opening in late August or early September. The attraction list includes a sports court, a battle beam, extreme dodgeball, a climbing wall with an air bag, a ninja ropes course, a double zipline and four private party rooms with karaoke. A parents' lounge with a TV wall is planned too. As of October 4, Big Air's official Bolingbrook page still says "Coming Soon." Before you promise anyone a birthday party there, call ahead.

Close by at 153 N. Weber, the former OfficeMax building is hosting a seasonal Spirit Halloween. The chain uses vacant retail space for annual pop-ups. It's a short-term tenant in another large empty box, just up the road from where the long-term ones are going.

What Open Looks Like Right Now

Here is the current status of the indoor venues that have come up through the board since 2025:

1. The Picklr, 111 S. Weber Rd. Open since its Aug. 1 grand opening.
2. Crunch Fitness, 352 Commons Dr. Open 24/7.
3. Big Air, 161 N. Weber Rd. Announced but not yet confirmed open.
4. Nova Adventure Park, 390 Commons Dr. Approved in 2025, with no opening confirmed.

There have also been losses. Petland Bolingbrook and Aquarium Adventure, a longtime option for a rainy afternoon with small kids, had their last public day on Sept. 20. Until Big Air or Nova opens, families looking for indoor play this fall have fewer choices than they did in summer.

The Promenade Is Trading Stage Time for Tables

The Promenade's changes follow a related pattern. CG's Comedy Club there held its final shows on July 31 and Aug. 1, and no new location has been announced. In the same months, two sit-down restaurants moved in. Gia Mia, an Italian restaurant and pizza bar, took over the former Bar Louie space at 619 E. Boughton Road, and the center now lists it as open. Bullvino's, a Brazilian churrascaria, opened at 639 E. Boughton Road after a soft opening planned for early July. Farther west, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill opened its first Illinois restaurant at 1246 W. Boughton Road with a ribbon-cutting in May.

So the Promenade's entertainment this fall comes from dinner and free events, while ticketed indoor play is clustering on Weber Road and Commons Drive. Bullvino's is adding live music to the mix, with a Samba Night on Friday, Oct. 16, from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.

An October Built Around Indoor and Free

The rest of the month's calendar comes from the Park District and the Promenade. Several events are free, and two of them move indoors or onto a pool deck.

• Friday, Oct. 16, 5:30 to 8 p.m. Freaky Fun Friday at the Bolingbrook Recreation & Aquatic Complex, 200 Lindsey Ln. It's free, with trunk-or-treating, a haunted house, games and food trucks.
• Saturday, Oct. 17, 6 to 8 p.m. Parkie's Floating Pumpkin Patch. Pool-deck admission is charged per person.
• Saturday, Oct. 24, 4 to 7 p.m. The Promenade's free Spooktacular Halloween Festival, with a costume parade, games, a character meet-and-greet and trick-or-treating at the stores.
• Sunday, Oct. 25. The Promenade's Halloween Pet Costume Parade. Check-in is at 1:30 p.m., with lineup at 2 p.m. on Sandburg Way near Macy's.
• Friday, Oct. 30, 12:30 to 2 p.m. Halloween Hangout at Annerino Community Center for ages 3 to 13. It costs $5, and the Park District encourages pre-registration.

The Park District already showed how fast plans change this time of year. Fall Fest on Sept. 19 moved indoors because of the forecast, with only limited outdoor activities. If you're mapping out an October 16 evening, Freaky Fun Friday wraps up at 8 p.m., and Samba Night at Bullvino's runs until 10:30.

When a big-box store along Weber Road goes dark now, the Village's own record points to the likely next tenant: a gym, a court club or a trampoline park. If you own a building near one of these corridors and want to know how that shift could change its value, Taylor Dixon Group can walk you through it. Get your free home valuation.