Struggling Jefferson Street Plaza Gains New Tenant

JOLIET, IL — One of Joliet's most underutilized commercial strip malls has been in the 2100 block of West Jefferson Street. Check Into Cash, a one-stop money shop for cash advances, was the only business operating. Check Into Cash was flanked by two large empty storefronts, but now one of them has been filled.

World Vape & Tobacco Wholesale store opened this month on the west wing of the commercial building at 2157 West Jefferson St. Window displays advertise cigar accessories, CBD White Owl, glass pipe hookahs as well as Swisher Sweets cigars black and mild.

Joliet Patch visited the new West Jefferson Street business twice over the past several days, but one of the employees wanted Patch to interview his brother. Although Patch furnished a business card to the new Joliet business, the employee's brother never called back.

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World Vape & Tobacco Wholesale is adjacent to the empty Bakers Square restaurant that has remained for sale since it closed in the spring of 2019.

Bakers Square is next to the empty Senor Tequila property.

That property is now owned by Basinger Pharmacy though Basinger's plans to tear down the old Senor Tequila property and build a new pharmacy and liquor store on the site have not panned out since the Joliet City Council reviewed the project four years ago.

Several months back, Basinger's erected a chain-link fence around the perimeter of Senor Tequila after the property had become a gathering place for homeless people and drug addicts.

In December 2017, the Joliet City Council rejected a proposal from Thaer Jbara, Kenjal Patel and Silken Patel to open a large volume liquor store called the Joliet Market in the still-empty 12,000-square-foot storefront next to the new World Vape & Tobacco Wholesale and the Check for Cash store.

Although the petitioner had 12 years of experience selling alcohol, the Joliet Market project met opposition from the owners of Basinger's Pharmacy and Tom Knorr of Sidelines bar, Joliet Patch reported at the time.