Photo by News Bulletin staff.

PEORIA — While big box supermarkets have forced nearly all of the “mom-and-pop” grocery stores in the area to close down, one locally-owned grocery store is still standing tall – even after a fire destroyed its facility less than a year ago.  Haddad’s West Peoria Market, 2407 W. Rohmann Ave., West Peoria, opened Tuesday for the first time since a fire of an unknown origin turned the grocery store facility into a pile of burnt rubble on December 31, 2010.

According to Mark Wrhel, the owner of Haddad’s, the fire not only devastated the grocery store, but also many of its customers.
“A lot of people were pretty devastated,” said Wrhel. “Some people acted like it was a funeral. It wasn’t a funeral because we were coming back.”
On the site of destroyed facility, Wrhel rebuilt Haddad’s into a facility that is approximately 4,000 square feet larger than the previous one.
“It is about 4,000 square feet larger,” said Wrhel. “We expanded 20 feet to the west and 20 feet to the north on the building. There was a service alley that went all the way around the building that we took out. It went all the way out to the property line. On the inside of the building, that translated at about 2,000 square feet of additional sales floor space and about 2,000 square feet in the back room for additional prep space.”
With the extra space, Wrhel was able to expand all of the perishable food departments at Haddad’s.
“The meat department is larger that it was before, the produce department is larger, the deli (area) is larger, the dairy case is much larger also,” said Wrhel.
New to the grocery store, a small dining room that includes four tables, a soda dispenser and a flat screen television was built next to the deli area.
“We’ve never had a place where a customer could actually get something at the deli counter and sit down and have lunch,” said Wrhel. “We have that for them now. It’s a very small area. It’s only got four little tables back there, but it’s always nice to be able to get out of the office and eat lunch somewhere, so that’s what we’re hoping for.”
The layout of the new facility is the same as it was at the old facility.

The dining area located next to the deli.  Photo by News Bulletin staff.

“We tried to replicate as much of the old store as we could with this new store,” said Wrhel. “The layout of the departments, the layout of the aisles through the store — we tried to keep to what we had before.
“Generally when you try to reset a store or something like that, customers get lost on where things are. It confuses them. So we tried to keep a lot of that the same.”
A staple in West Peoria, Haddad’s has maintained a loyal customer base since it opened in 1964.
Haddad’s provides a more-friendly environment than its competitors, said Wrhel.
“We’re friendlier than some of the other stores on this side of the town,” said Wrhel. “We’d rather interact with the customer, whereas these bigger stores that around us would rather not interact with the customer. We tend to be a little cleaner than some of the other stores on this side of town.”
The small, compact size of Haddad’s and its location in the heart of West Peoria make it convenient for residents of West Peoria, said Wrhel.
“The folks that live up here understand just how nice and convenient it is to be able to run up to the corner store and grab a gallon of milk or loaf of bread — making it a 5-minute journey versus a 30-minute journey like you would spend to run up to one of the bigger box stores and pick up a couple of items. They really enjoy that.
“We’re also a smaller format than all the other stores. We’re only 8-9 aisles wide. If you forgot something at the deli, it’s not a block or it’s not a mile you’ve got to walk back to get something. It’s a few steps. They like that small, kind of compact feel over here.”
Haddad’s is open Monday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.