El Guero supermarket in Joliet to help fill grocery gap on East Side

Super Mercados El Guero is expected to open its East Side supermarket in June, filling a grocery vacancy created seven years ago.

That’s when Certified Warehouse Foods, the last mainstream supermarket on the East Side of Joliet, closed its two stores on Jackson and Richards streets.

El Guero will open at the former Certified Warehouse Foods location at 118 E. Jackson St.

The Joliet City Council last week approved a liquor license for the new store as well as extending a tax incentive package that covers the redevelopment project for a second time. The project has taken several years longer than expected.

El Guero will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood, said City Council member Cesar Cardenas, who represents District 4 where the store is located.

“Even though they are a family-owned store that is over 40 years old, I believe they compete with Jewel with the options that they have,” Cardenas said.

Cardenas noted that El Guero has six stores in the Chicago region, which gives it the wherewithal to compete with chains such as Jewel-Osco.

Local shoppers likely are familiar with the business, since the nearest El Guero is in Crest Hill, where the business took over a supermarket location on Theodore Street that was vacated when the Eagle grocery chain went out of business.

El Guero appeals to Hispanic shoppers but carries a wide product line to serve a mainstream market.

The appeal to Hispanic shoppers, however, caused concern among smaller Hispanic grocers, many of which are located on Collins Street and not far from the new El Guero location. They objected to the $1 million-plus tax incentive package that the city offered El Guero.

City officials, however, had heard for years about the lack of supermarkets on the East Side and went ahead with the El Guero deal.

The incentive package was approved in early 2019, and El Guero originally was expected to open in summer 2020.

Cardenas, who was just elected to the council in 2023, said he believes there is enough business for El Guero and its smaller competitors.

“I do believe that the city has grown, and there are more than enough options for everybody,” he said.

Although the opening of El Guero will come four years later than first projected, it still will be the first supermarket to open on the East Side since the closing of Certified Warehouse Foods.

The other Certified Warehouse Foods location at 1225 Richards St. is occupied by a drug rehabilitation center, a use that raised objections from some community leaders in a section of the city that does not have many retail options close to home.

“They’re looking for a grocery store in their own district,” said Council member Suzanna Ibarra, who represents District 5, which includes the Richards Street location.

A Family Dollar store on Richards Street offers some grocery options, but no fresh produce or meat.

Ibarra said she was told by the city’s former economic development director that there are not enough residences in the area to support a supermarket. But she said a store could appeal to a potential customer base that includes the large number of warehouse workers in the southeast section of the city.

A store that thrived with business from warehouse workers could offset some of the local dissatisfaction with the growth of the logistics business in that section of the city, which Ibarra said is the biggest concern in that area.

“We definitely need a grocery store,” Ibarra said. “Beyond truck traffic, that’s the second most requested thing for residents in my district.”