Val’s Fresh Market marks anniversary

FOX LAKE – Five years ago, as the calendar ticked toward Thanksgiving, Jerry Casciaro and his crew were working frantically.

Casciaro had bought the former Hi-Lo grocery on Towne Center Lane in Fox Lake and was trying to meet his own deadline to open the doors.

“We were working night and day to fix this place to where it looks like it looks today,” Casciaro recalled. “People in the neighborhood used to come in and ask when we were opening, and we’d tell them around Thanksgiving. We did rush and did finally open on Thanksgiving.”

That was five years ago Sunday, Nov. 21, and the owner of Val’s Fresh Market is hosting an anniversary celebration from Sunday through Thanksgiving to mark the occasion. But he remembers that first day like it just happened.

“It was a pretty good day – I wish we’d have opened two weeks sooner,” Casciaro said. “But people around here didn’t want to go far to drive, so they figured let’s go over there. And when they found out our prices are cheaper than the other ones, they said this is the place to go. At least, that’s what I think happened.”

The anniversary comes one month after the Val’s Finer Foods in Johnsburg closed its doors for good. Casciaro said the recession had hurt his business, too.

“I’m above water, but it has been slowing down,” he said. “With the economy going down, it’s a different store. We have to base a great deal of our sales on the economy. When the economy’s good and people are working, they spend more money.”

He said that loyal area customers had helped to keep business going despite the downturn.

“There’s a great deal of people that I recognize from day one,” he said. “When we opened, they started and they’re still coming over here.

“You always see new faces all the time, but the ones I recognize are like family. They come in all the time.”

Among the main things that draw the customers, Casciaro said, are the market’s prices at the meat department, produce department and deli – all of which beat his larger competition. Much of the prepared food is delivered or catered to events around Fox Lake.

“We deliver to some weddings and parties, and we receive a great deal of compliments,” he said. “I got a letter from one guy who was so pleased because of the food we supplied for his party.”

That connection outside the market helps drive new customers in to sample other food.

“It helps a great deal,” Casciaro said. “People come in and say, ‘We loved the beautiful food you sent to us.’ It’s a great reception.”

It’s one that he hopes to see continue as more people get back to work.

“Hopefully the economy gets better, and as the economy gets better, everybody has more money to spend,” he said. “The things they love the most, that sometimes they have to avoid, they’ll be able to buy again because that person is working.”