Joliet's 2 Certified Foods Stores: What's Happening Now?

JOLIET, IL — After 37 years on the city's east side, Joliet's two Certified Warehouse Foods closed in the spring of 2017. One grocery store was on Jackson Street, the other on Richards Street across from Sugar Creek Liquors. On the plus side, both properties are in the midst of a substantial redevelopment, but only one, the Jackson Street building, will stay a grocery store.

Unfortunately for east-side residents desperate for the addition of a new grocery store, that may not happen until sometime in 2021.

In February 2019, Joliet Patch reported that the city of Joliet had put together a property tax and sales tax incentives package to attract Supermercados El Guero de Joliet to 118 E. Jackson St.

El Guero already manages shopping centers and full service supermarkets in six locations, including one in nearby Crest Hill. There are also three El Gueros in Chicago and two in Aurora. City of Joliet officials were initially under the impression that the grocery store renovations would start last summer and El Guero would open this year.

"The project is moving forward," city of Joliet economic development specialist Derek Conley told Joliet Patch last week. "They own the property, but they are very meticulous with how they do their designs."

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Conley said he's under the belief that the El Guero grocery store may take up more space than the Certified Warehouse Foods.

As for the property on Richards Street, that particular construction project has been in full swing since last summer.

Last week, Joliet Patch saw vehicles belonging to John Thayer Construction of Wilmington, one of the general building contractors, parked on the lot.

According to city of Joliet building permits, the new owners of the property are spending about $350,000 to renovate the former Certified Foods at 1225 Richards St. into a medical center.

The in-patient drug treatment center appears on target to open this year, the city said.

Once it opens, patients are expected to stay at the facility for several days at a time, and there will be strict guidelines in place for patients coming and going, Conley told Patch.

The idea of opening a new drug treatment clinic in Joliet could not come at a better time. The city's police chief told the Joliet City Council earlier this month that Joliet had a total of 33 heroin-related deaths in 2019, which is a greater total than the city had in 2018 and 2017.

The new east-side drug treatment center is expected to be operated by the Existential Counselors, which currently have a building on Joliet's Manhattan Road.

"Our philosophy is to provide all individuals challenged by addictions a therapeutic community that is affordable no matter the circumstance," its website reads.

Joliet Patch left a phone message last week with Dr. Bipin Sharma, counselor, supervisor and educator, of the Existential Counselors inpatient rehabilitation center, but he did not return the call.