I’ve been to every Haddad’s restaurant in Peoria, if you don’t believe me, just click here, here and here! But I’ve never been to Haddad’s West Peoria Supermarket. Time to fix that today! Normally I’d say: “To the MBIP Mobile,” but somebody else is driving today. And just who is that somebody? Well, scroll on down to find out!
Today’s driver is none other than MBIP, Pal, Wheelman and Contributing Writer, Scott Turley! Scott said that while I run around and take pictures, he’d actually like to shop in Haddad’s, so we’re going to do both today! And so away...
We go, into the wild blue yonder...well, it’s not all blue, there’s a good amount of cloud coverage and I always like to see that in the sky shielding that rotten sunshine! And here we are pulling up to Haddad’s, we’ve parked and now let us begin this current Shop Hop at Haddad’s West Peoria Supermarket!
Okay, Scott’s all set up with his cart and check it out, I just ran into my friend, Cassie! You may remember Cassie from The Sherman Block Party we went to last October or from The First Annual Holiday Beanless Chili Tour! Well, I’m going out with her and her husband, Tim this Saturday night for a special 4th of July Saturday Night Dinner that you can read about this coming Monday, the 4th of July! So stay tuned for that and we’ll see you in a couple of nights, Cassie! And note that Scott has taken off shopping! Okay, time for me to do my blog thing while he shops till he drops!
My first stop is at the front office of Haddad’s where I met the current owner, Mark Wrhel, who’s family bought the grocery store from the Haddad family in 1996. Haddad’s grocery store started back in 1919 when Joseph Haddad opened his first Market on South Adams Street. Though the years the store has been passed onto several generations of Haddads in just as many locations till the Wrhel family took over and is responsible for the current Haddad’s West Peoria Supermarket. Mark told me he wants to keep the family feel and local aspect of the supermarket very much alive, which I love! You can read the whole history of the Haddad’s grocery business by clicking right here, it’s quite a chunk of Peoria history! And now Mark said we could roam around the store and take pictures, so let’s make like the B-52’s and Roam!
I thought a sweet place to start would be the bakery section where freshly-baked doughnuts are next to 4th of July thumbprint cookies and there’s also pie! As you can see from the bottom photo, this section of the store is very popular with the younger generation!
The meat section is very impressive and everything looks so fresh in the counter! Behind the scenes, Dave is weighing and preparing the meat selections. This looks like a good spot for all of you planning a 4th of July barbecue this weekend!
I’ve heard great things about the delicatessen in Haddad’s and it sure has a great array of fresh salads, lunch meats and cheeses! You can buy in bulk here, or if you just want a sandwich for lunch, they can make that up for you while you wait! That’s Leeann (on the bottom left) and the deli crew here at Haddad’s in the bottom photo and I gave them an MBIP challenge! To find out what the challenge is, keep on scrolling while they get busy behind the deli counter! The excitement builds!
Next to the deli is a nice little cafe area where you can eat your lunch or just have some coffee and a snack. I love all the vintage photos on the wall of the original Haddad’s, some of the other grocery stores from that era and the bottom photo is a shot of the front page PJ Star story from when the store got hit by fire back in 2011. Happily, they’ve rebuilt since then and the supermarket is back better than ever, let’s continue our tour!
The produce section is certainly an impressive area of the store! What I love about this place is that it’s got so much inventory, but it doesn’t feel like one of those huge corporate stores...you know the kind I’m talking about, the ones that are just too damn big! Haddad’s is just the right size and I love the local feel it’s got to it! And check out who I just ran into at the bottom photo, it’s Emily and Julie. Julie is the one who set up this tour and I thank her because so far it’s been a blast. I’m used to seeing Julie behind a bar, so this is fun to see her in a different environment!
As I walked down this aisle something stopped me in my tracks..uh, oh...Terry Grawey alert! (Yes, I’m going to run this into the ground, like everything else on here!)
I told you that I love the fact that there’s such a local feel here and here’s just a few of the locally made products for sale in here. First there’s Kitchen Cooked Potato Chips in the snack aisle! And next is a whole freezer selection of local frozen pizzas! There’s Butch’s, Davis Brothers, Agatucci’s and The Eastside Cafe pizzas for sale here! Plus they also have Butch’s seasoning and hot sauce too, I love it!
Meanwhile, back in aisle number five, Scott looks like he’s just about done shopping and so...
We better get back to the deli counter at Haddad’s and see how they did with the MBIP challenge! I asked them to make me the best deli sandwich ever and here it is! Check out the label they made! That alone is priceless! And speaking of price, they gave me a discounted deal, so I appreciate that! The sandwich looks so good, we’ll sample it back at MBIP World Headquarters! But first...
Here’s Scott checking out and let’s see what he got from his shopping trip at Haddad’s West Peoria Supermarket! First off, we should note that he got some flowers for his wife, Moonbaby! Okay, everyone at once...Aww! He also got some bananas, two kinds of fresh muffins, some Kitchen Cooked chips, water to wash it all down with and last but not least, a bag of cheese curds. Those cheese curds need to be refrigerated, so Scott took off and left me back at MBIP World Headquarters to try out that sandwich for lunch!
And here we are in the MBIP World Headquarters kitchen/taste-testing laboratory! Check out the sandwich that they made for us. on the special MBIP tasting plate! It’s the biggest deli sandwich I’ve ever seen! There’s huge layers of roast beef, ham and turkey! Plus lettuce and cheese and it’s all housed in a freshly baked pretzel roll! This sandwich is probably the best deli sandwich I’ve ever had and I’ve had some great deli sandwiches when i lived in New York City! You definitely need to stop by and try out a sandwich at Haddad’s and the cookie was really good to! Thanks to Leeann and her deli crew and to Mark and Julie for letting me have a fun tour of Haddad’s West Peoria Supermarket! I’m definitely coming back and so should you!
Haddad’s West Peoria Supermarket
2407 W. Rohmann Avenue
West Peoria
309-674-0040
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