Customer, Lender File Suit in Wake of Grant's Appliances Closing

A Grant’s Appliances customer has filed suit against the company after failing to receive a washing machine after the store closed abruptly on Oct. 8.

According to a complaint filed by Joliet resident Marion Fuller, the store owes him $568.18 for failing to deliver the washing machine he purchased the day of the closing, the Herald-News reported. Fuller said he filed the small claims suit Oct. 14 after he was unable to reach anyone from Grant’s, 321 Republic Ave.

As of this week, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office has received more than 20 complaints from customers who say they paid for appliances they did not receive before the store closed.

Summitbridge Credit Investments IV LLC has also a complaint against the owners of Grant’s and its Joliet properties, the Herald-News reported. The suit alleges that Grant’s and WYOL LLC, which owns the Republic Avenue property, failed to make roughly $10 million in mortgage payments.

The Joliet store and four other locations — Downers Grove, Orland Park, Aurora and Merrillville, Indiana — closed with little notice the night of Oct. 8. The chain was founded in Joliet more than 90 years ago.

Customers and employees alike have complained that they were not given notice of the closing, and multiple shoppers said they paid for items that were never delivered.