New Butera grocery store in Des Plaines to open in January
Butera Market will open its new grocery store in Des Plaines in January, though it couldn't work out a lease deal to keep the nearby Joe Caputo & Sons store open until then, officials said.
Paul Butera Sr., owner of Butera and Piggly Wiggly Midwest stores, said Friday renovations are already taking place at The Oaks Shopping Center on the northeast corner of Oakton and Lee streets, where he plans to open a Butera store inside a vacant former 63,863-square-foot grocery store space.
Butera/Piggly Wiggly acquired The Oaks property, along with the fixtures, equipment and inventory of the original 10,200-square-foot Caputo store at 959 E. Oakton St., during a May 12 public auction of Caputo's assets. Butera also acquired the Fox Fire Plaza at Hicks and Rand roads in Palatine, including the Caputo store there, and the Caputo store at 100 S. Randall Road in Algonquin, as part of its winning $32 million bid for company assets.
Caputo has been mired in financial troubles, resulting in closures of stores in Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights and Northbrook and a federal lawsuit seeking payment of $4.6 million worth of produce bills. An attorney for Anthony Marano Co., one of six produce wholesalers saying bills weren't paid, was appointed as a trustee to auction off Caputo's assets in order to repay the debt to the creditors. The company had become financially overextended taking over former Dominick's locations.
Butera said he sought to keep the Caputo store in Des Plaines open while remodeling The Oaks store, which at one point Caputo had planned to move to.
"I was told originally by the auctioneer when we bought (the assets) we'd be able to negotiate a lease," Butera said.
But negotiations fell through with the Caputo family, which owns the building. He says the two sides almost had a deal three times, but the price kept going up and became too much. The store shut its doors earlier this week, after 27 years in business.
Vito Caputo, who was involved in management of the Caputo stores with his brother Nat, is now working for Butera stores, Butera said.
It's unclear what will become of the vacant Caputo store. Neither brother could be reached for comment.
Employees have been transferred to other Butera stores, some have left, and others are being offered jobs once the new store opens in Des Plaines, Butera said.
Meanwhile, the former Caputo stores in Palatine and Algonquin are open under the Butera banner. The company plans to spend up to $400,000 on renovations to the Palatine store with new freezers, a bigger liquor department, and more groceries, Butera said.
In Palatine, Algonquin and Des Plaines, Butera says he plans to maintain Caputo's emphasis on fresh produce, but offer lower prices on meats and general groceries.
The family-owned Butera chain has 12 stores in the suburbs, and plans to open another in the next three months in Grayslake. Since 2007, the family has owned Piggly Wiggly Midwest, which currently has 105 locations in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Joe Caputo & Sons is separate from Angelo Caputo's Fresh Markets, which operates eight stores in the suburbs.