Joliet 7-Eleven Store Bites The Dust, Goes Out Of Business

JOLIET — If you’re wondering why all the green Waste Management dumpsters are occupying the corner parking lot at Joliet’s busy intersection of McDonough Street and Larkin Avenue, that’s because this particular Joliet 7-Eleven — the one that was the site of multiple armed robberies during the past several years — has gone out of business.

The 7-Eleven signs have been stripped out off both sides of the buildings.

On Monday, Patch reported that leaders of the multinational convenience store chain 7-Eleven announced plans to shutter hundreds of locations across North America, leaving some of its Illinois stores potentially headed for the corporate chopping block.

7-Eleven, owned by Japan-based Seven & i Holdings, operates more than 300 stores in Illinois, including more than 100 in Chicago. Company officials revealed plans to close 444 stores across the United States, Canada and Mexico last week during an earnings presentation.

The lack of success facing 7-Eleven has now hit home, in the city of Joliet, the city of champions.

Larkin Avenue 7-Eleven Kept Joliet Police Busy

In 2023, Joliet Patch wrote multiple crime stories about repeated armed robberies taking place inside the 7-Eleven store at 325 S. Larkin Ave. while employees were working and customers were around. Joliet Patch reported that Johnathon Steele, 50, was the gunman who walked into the Joliet 7-Eleven store twice in one week and wound up inthe Will County Jail, Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English said.

In 2018, Patch reported that the Joliet Police Department arrested two men in connection with an early morning armed robbery at the 7-Eleven. The two unsuccessful robbers were 26-year-old Alec Klocek, who hails from Plainfield, and 42-year-old David Tovar of Joliet’s east-side, police reports reflect.

In 2017, Patch reported that the Joliet Police Department investigated an early morning armed robbery that took place at the 7-Eleven store. The crime occurred around 1:30 a.m. Police Chief Brian Benton said the robber wore a white bandana to conceal his face. He also pulled out a knife, threatening one of the employees.

If you’re thinking the old 7-Eleven at Larkin and McDonough would be a great location for another Chick-fil-A, that is not going to happen.

Chick-fil-A has already received Joliet City Council approval to tear down the vacant Steak N Shake restaurant just one block to the north.

If the empty 7-Eleven won’t be a Chick-fil-A, perhaps it could become a Jack in the Box? After all, Joliet just approved plans on Tuesday night toopen a Jack in the Box drive-thru restaurant at the vacant Arby’s restaurant on Route 59, between Shorewood and Plainfield.

Maybe, just maybe, the company executives at Jack in the Box will realize that the former 7-Eleven at Larkin and McDonough could be a goldmine.

We’ll just have to wait and see. After all, there’s always a chance that the 7-Eleven will remain vacant, just like the once mighty Long John Silver on West Jefferson Street.