Arby's Calls It Quits In Joliet: Route 59 Restaurant Boarded Up
JOLIET — If you were in the mood to visit Joliet’s one and only Arby’s restaurant building, the one with the drive-thru window at 2101 Route 59 next to the Champions Sports Bar, it’s too late.
On Monday, all the Arby’s logos and letters were stripped off the building on Route 59.
Plywood was put up over the windows to prevent vandals from breaking inside and stealing their valuable kitchen equipment and furnishings.
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The drive-thru menu was taken down as well.
A woman named Diana alerted everyone on Facebook through Brian Bessler’s Joliet Area Bar and Restaurant Guide on Monday afternoon about the demise of Arby’s.
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“Arby’s closed on Rt. 59 in Joliet/Plainfield. All signs taken down, and it’s boarded up,” she informed everyone.
“Was there a fire?” one person asked.
“I don’t think so. All the signs were taken down off the building, even the big street sign was being taken down by a crane today,” someone else responded.
“No they closed. Poor performance,” a third person replied.
According to its website, Arby’s considers itself a “fast-food chain, known for its roast beef, serving up hot & cold sandwiches, fries & shakes.”
This marks the end of an era for Joliet. The other Arby’s on West Jefferson Street closed about four years ago when the Louisiana-based Arby’s franchise owners decided to remodel their Joliet Arby’s on West Jefferson and reopen the restaurant as a Tex-Mex/Louisiana Cajun/Southern California Baja fast-food restaurant they called Amigeaux’s: Sophisticated Street Food.
However, the Amigeaux’s was a disaster, and it went out of business in about seven or eight months. The West Jefferson Street property remains empty, although Joliet Patch recently reported the building is for sale on LoopNet.com and that it will become a Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers.
Now that the Joliet and Plainfield area has no more Arby’s left, where can you go?
According to the Arby’s website, there are still Arby’s in existence at the Pilot Travel Center in Minooka on Ridge Road, 474 South Weber Road in Romeoville and the Love’s Travel Center off Interstate 55 and West Bluff Road in Channahon, and that’s about it.
Otherwise, you can drive all the way into Homer Glen, Lockport or New Lenox, where Arby’s are still in operation.
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