Joliet's Bakers Square Falls In Price Again

JOLIET, IL — For many years, the Bakers Square on Joliet's West Jefferson Street was one of the more popular restaurants along the corridor. Then came 2019. Both the restaurant and the restaurant chain were falling on hard times. The company closed the Joliet restaurant, 2211 W. Jefferson St. in March 2019. When the property went up for sale, the asking price was $1,250,000.

Nobody was willing to pay that kind of money for the Bakers Square location so it sat on the real estate market. The price was dropped to $850,000 and still nobody stepped forward to buy the property. Most recently, guess what? Another price reduction.

The price is now listed on the commercial website LoopNet for $795,000. The property includes more than 5,000 square feet of retail space. The building dates back to 1978.

"Free standing restaurant on Jefferson St available for sale or lease," the LoopNet advertisement reads.

During a recent phone interview, Joliet's interim city manager Steve Jones told Joliet Patch that he is not convinced the next owner of the Bakers Square property will want to keep it as a restaurant.

Jones said the dynamics of the sit-down industry remain in a state of flux amid the aftermath of the new coronavirus outbreak. Not everybody is warming up to the idea of indoor dining at restaurants, Jones said.

On a positive note, Jones said the Bakers Square property is along the main drag for Joliet's busiest corridor. So, the right type of business can do exceptionally well at that location, Jones said.

What do you think will happen with Bakers Square? Has the price finally dropped enough that a business investor will snap it up? What do you think could work at that location? Feel free to post your comments at the bottom of this article thread.