RoCA opens on Court Avenue

The newest downtown dinner restaurant opened last week at 208 Court Ave., where the Sbrocco wine bar used to be. Three real estate brokers, Tyler Dingel, Todd Millang and Brian Martin, own RoCA, and its managing partner is Jason Kapela, co-owner of Louie’s Wine Dive in Des Moines. The unique name is short for Restaurant on Court Avenue. RoCA’s hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. It is closed Sunday and Monday. Call 515-282-3663, visit www.rocadsm.com or find it on Facebook.

Gateway Market’s ‘Wine Lady’ creates wine club

Abbe Hendricks is Gateway Market’s resident “Wine Lady,” and she’s started a club for dedicated wine drinkers and connoisseurs alike. A $50 per month membership gets a 10 percent discount on all wine purchases at Gateway, two bottles each month chosen specially for club members, a two-piece set of Riedel stemware, a reusable wine bag and a first opportunity for tickets for special tastings, dinners and winemaker events. The next level subscription is $100, and members get a 15 percent discount on Gateway wine, four bottles a month, a decanter from Riedel and everything else included in the $50 membership. Call Gateway Market at 515-243-1754 to sign up; the first delivery is in January.

Urgent Care center opens in Ankeny

The Iowa Clinic in Ankeny opened the new center at 1410 S.W. Tradition Drive. Doctors Matthew Otis and Timothy Colby are on staff at the new Urgent Care, which treats non-emergency issues ranging from sore throats and sinus infections to minor burns and fractures. It is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Call 515-875-9696, visit www.iowaclinic.com/UrgentCare or find it on Facebook.

Six CherryBerry locations closed in October

A lack of demand for frozen yogurt is causing six metro locations of CherryBerry Yogurt stores to close by the end of October, according to franchise owner Bill Byrne. The closing locations are 810 North Ankeny Blvd. in Ankeny, 4521 Fleur Drive and 5828 Douglas Ave. in Des Moines, 1960 Grand Ave. in West Des Moines, 1611 Sunset Square in Norwalk and 245 E. Hickman Road in Waukee. Byrne, who is the chairman of Byrne Cos., which also owns Taco John’s of Iowa and operates 19 central Iowa locations, said all CherryBerry employees will be offered jobs with Taco John’s.

La Mie Express to open in downtown Des Moines

La Mie will open a second store with an abbreviated menu and ready-to-go items on or before Nov. 15. La Mie Express will be located at 1220 Locust St., where Hotshots Craft Hotdoggery, Host and Flour Pizza previously resided. The new menu will offer similar items, but with a focus on pickup. Salads, sandwiches, soups, desserts and pastries will be among the list of prepackaged items made on site for breakfast and lunch. The restaurant will also have in-house dining with seating for about 20 people. La Mie Express will be open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Downtown skywalk section closes for construction

The stretch of skywalk connecting EMC Insurance Cos. to Wells Fargo and spanning from Eighth Street to south of Walnut Street, closed on Oct. 20 for about two years while EMC begins demolition on three century-old brick buildings to make room for a new four-story office. The closure will cut off workers at Wells Fargo, Nationwide and other businesses west of Eighth Street until at least November. At that point, a section is expected to reopen through the Partnership Building, the section that closed after the March fire in the Younkers building. The EMC project is just one of several others that will cause sections of the skywalk to be closed in the next years. Most will only create longer routes, but some will temporarily cut off entire office buildings from the system.

Hy-Vee’s chief executive named Retailer of the Year

Randy Edeker, chief executive of Hy-Vee Inc., was honored as Retailer of the Year at the Iowa Grocery Industry Association’s Hall of Fame dinner on Oct. 22. Edeker, a 30-year Hy-Vee veteran, was nominated for the award by his peers. He became the top executive for the West Des Moines-based grocer in May 2012. Prior to that he served as the company’s president and COO. Dave Spuehler, account manager at Bimbo Bakeries USA, was also recognized by the association as Volunteer of the Year. CV

Submit your information on business openings, closings, expansions or people in the news to Eleni Upah at eleni@dmcityview.com.