Looting, fire and a pandemic can’t keep Valles Produce in Joliet down

One thing Elizabeth Tortellini of Plainfield misses since she moved is the hot carryout food from Valle’s Produce in Joliet and said, “everything there is good.”

When I (first) came into that store for some gorditas, I didn’t know what I wanted. I was pregnant and everything sounded so good and smelled great,” Tortellini said in a Facebook message. “A little Mexican lady asked me if I needed help looking for a certain kind. I responded no everything just looks so good. She saw I was pregnant, and she recommended me the best ones. I crave a lot of food from there. Since I’ve moved to the other side of town near south Plainfield, I haven’t had the time to head there for some more food.”

Valle’s Produce, a family-owned grocery store was vandalized and set on fire May 31 as part of the looting and rioting following a demonstration protesting the death of George Floyd.

The store, which also sells fresh meat, household items and hot foods through its carryout section, reopened in Aug. 3, 2020 after a GoFundMe page by Cassandra Trujillo, the owner’s stepdaughter, stared a GoFundMe page for Valle’s Produce, and quickly raised more than $27,000.

Heidi Valle of Joliet, co-owner with her brother Aldo Valle, said the store is doing well and the neighborhood surrounding the store is very supportive.

“I don’t know how to explain it well, but we are so grateful,” Heidi said. “We still have the same customers and I think we are seeing new people, too.”

In a June 2, 2020 Herald-News story, Cassandra said her father Cesar Trujillo and stepmother Heidi Valle of Joliet, bought the grocery store several years and invested their time and money into it, fulfilling their dream of becoming business owners.

“Our family grew up going to that store,” Cassandra of Rantoul said.

In an Aug. 3 Herald-New story, Heidi said the store owners wound up taking out a loan to help pay the store’s seven employees during the two months the store was closed.

“It was a long hard time for us,” Heidi said in the Aug. 3 story. “But thank God, we made it.”

Heidi said most, but not all, of Valles Produce’s customers are Hispanic. One way people discover the store is through social media.

Some members of the Joliet Area Bar & Restaurant Guide, which Brian Bessler began at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to support those businesses, were very enthusiastic about the hot food section of Valles Produce.

Shari Quint Conley said she loves their beans, rice and tamales and said she could “love off them.”

Wayne Ratajack feels the same way about the tamales.

“The tamales there are the best in town,” Ratajack said. “But don’t tell everybody (or) they will run out of them.”

Bernice Vargas said the mild tamales are the best – at least, that’s what her husband Lou Vargas (deceased) used to say.

“He used to go there every two weeks for their tamales,” Vargas said.

Valles Produce is located at 704 W. Jefferson St. in Joliet. Hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

For more information, call 815-722-1600 or visit vallesproduce3.business.site.