dd's Discounts Opening On Joliet's West Side

JOLIET, IL — It's been a rough past year for Joliet's North Ridge Plaza. Vasa Fitness has postponed plans to renovate the empty Ultra Foods grocery store into a health club because of the pandemic. Last summer, Joliet rioters and looters damaged several stores following a night of civil unrest in the city. In August, Marshall's opened its new store in Shorewood and closed the one here.

Now that a new year is here, there are signs of positive momentum for the North Ridge Plaza. In recent days, a new business sign for dd's Discounts was erected along North Larkin Avenue.

The Facebook page for dd's Discounts shows more than 961,000 Facebook likes. The business website proclaims: "We have deals on everyday essentials like masks, hand sanitizers, baby necessities, cleaning products, tool sets, pet supplies and more."

Exactly where the dd's Discounts will go at the North Ridge Plaza remains shrouded in mystery although the most logical and obvious place is the empty Marshall's clothing store.

On Tuesday, Joliet's former Marshall's store still remained empty as employees at the Office Max next door said they had not received any official notice that dd's Discounts would be filling space.

According to its Facebook page, "dd’s DISCOUNTS opened its first store in 2004 as the place to shop and save in your neighborhood. We’re part of the Ross Family so our buyers know all about delivering great deals every day on clothing, shoes, home décor, fashions, toys and much, much more.

"We’re all about giving you amazing deals on the hottest fashions and quality home merchandise so it’s no surprise that dd’s stands for Deep Discounts! You won’t believe the prices."

A review of the dd's Discounts website shows that the expanding retail business has been adding stores around the Chicago area. The following places exist at the moment:

• North Lewis Avenue, Waukegan
• North Lake Street, Aurora
• South Cicero Avenue, Burbank
• North Mannheim Road, Melrose Park
• South Cicero Avenue, Cicero
• North Cicero Avenue, Chicago
• West Fullerton Avenue, Chicago
• East 95th Street, Chicago
• River Oaks West, Calumet City
• West 87th Street West, Chatham
• Hammond, Ind.