Bakers Square closes in Joliet

Bakers Square Restaurants has closed its Joliet restaurant and three other locations in the Chicago area.

The last day of business at the restaurants was Sunday.

Work crews were at the Joliet location at 2211 W. Jefferson St. on Tuesday, taking down the Bakers Square sign and doing other work inside.

One of the people at the restaurant handed out a news release from Bakers Square announcing the closing of that store and other locations in Willowbrook, Wilmette and at 3449 N. Harlem Ave. in Chicago.

The Joliet location is next to another closed restaurant, the former Señor Tequila.

According to the news release, employees at the Bakers Square restaurants were provided “a parting severance package or relocation to another location.”

The release did not provide details about the reasons for the closings other than describing it as a “tough but necessary decision.”

Bakers Square has 10 other restaurants in the Chicago region, with the nearest being in Naperville, Woodridge, Orland Park and Bourbonnais. The restaurant chain is owned by Nashville-based American Blue Ribbon Holdings.

According to the news release, Bakers Square began in the early 1970s as an independent restaurant in Des Moines and built its reputation on its pies before growing into a restaurant chain across the upper Midwest.