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Caputo expected to open new Des Plaines grocery next month

A shuttered Joe Caputo & Sons grocery store in Des Plaines will soon be back in business.

Des Plaines city officials confirmed that Nat Caputo, owner of the grocery business, has received building permits to open Joe's Fresh Market at 959 E. Oakton St. The new market could open by the first week of February or sooner, officials said. Joe Caputo & Sons - separate from suburban franchise Angelo Caputo's Fresh Markets - was forced to close the store last summer after 27 years in business.

Before the closure, the company had been mired in financial troubles. It closed stores in Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights and Northbrook and faced a federal lawsuit seeking payment of $4.6 million in produce bills.

In a May public auction, the owners of Butera and Piggly Wiggly grocery stores won a $32 million bid for some of the Caputo's assets. The property included The Oaks Shopping Center at the northeast corner of Oakton and Lee streets, along with the fixtures, equipment and inventory of the 10,200-square-foot store at 959 E. Oakton St.

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.

Paul Butera Sr., owner of Butera and Piggly Wiggly Midwest, has said he tried to negotiate a lease to keep the Caputo store at 959 E. Oakton St. open while his company remodeled The Oaks property. The plan fell through, however, and the store closed in July.

Nat Caputo could not be reached for comment.

  The shuttered Joe Caputo & Sons grocery store at 959 E. Oakton in Des Plaines is expected to reopen next month as Joe's Fresh Market, sith officials said. Chacour Koop/ckoop@dailyherald.com
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