Binny's plans to open Joliet store this fall after seeking right location for years

Binny's Beverage Depot plans to open its Joliet store this fall, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

The Chicago regional liquor superstore is moving into the former hhgregg store outside of the Louis Joliet Mall, a spot that the company found after more than 10 years of looking for the right location in Joliet, said Greg Versch, director of communications for Binny’s.

“We’ve been looking for a location in Joliet for something like a decade and a half,” Versch said.

Binny’s has 38 stores in Illinois, including locations in Plainfield, Bolingbrook and Mokena.

The stores feature large selections of beer, wine and liquor. The Joliet store won’t be any different, Versch said.

“It’s going to be what people expect from Binny’s,” he said.

The store will feature a wide assortment of products, including 3,000 wines, 2,500 spirits and 2,000 beers, Versch said. Store features will include a 25-door beer cooler, temperature-controlled wine cellar and walk-in humidor for cigars.

The former hhgregg store is about 22,500 square feet in size.

Versch said setting an opening day for the store is difficult at this point as contractors remodel the former electronics store for Binny’s. But the company plans to open sometime in the fall.

Binny’s would have moved into Joliet earlier, but it’s been a matter of location and timing, he said.

The store goes into one of the vacancies created amid the retail and restaurant upheaval that has been happening nationwide and in Joliet in recent years.

hhgregg vacated the Joliet store as that company went out of business a year ago.

Joliet Economic Development Director Steve Jones said he had suggested the vacant Lone Star Steakhouse, which has been empty since August as that chain closed many of its locations.

Jones suggested other businesses are interested in space in the mall retail district, although he would not be specific.

“I think there’s plenty happening behind the curtain,” he said.

A Toys R Us store in the mall area is closing. So is the Carson's store inside the mall.