Fast-Food Restaurant Chain Opening 2 Joliet Locations On West Side, Including Empty 7-Eleven

JOLIET, IL — If you were hoping that the next restaurant to open for business on Joliet's west side would be a Sharks Fish & Chicken, well, not only did you guess right, but you've hit the jackpot.

On Tuesday night, the Joliet City Council will have its first meeting of 2026, and the agenda calls approving a Class D liquor license for Sharks Fish and Chicken at two different locations. The Class D licenses allow for beer and wine consumption on the premises only.

One new business, called Sharks on Raynor, will open in the same commercial building that contains the Dunkin' coffee shop, at 800 North Raynor Ave. The space next to the Dunkin' has never been occupied since the Dunkin' was built a few years ago. Incidentally, a sit-down restaurant within walking distance of that location, the Magpie's Joy of Eating, just went out of business.

The second location for Sharks Fish and Chicken, being called Sharks of Joliet, will be at 325 South Larkin Avenue, which is the empty 7-Eleven convenient store at the corner of McDonough Street and Larkin Avenue.

According to the Council agenda, the "Joliet Police Department does not foresee any special law enforcement problems associated with the issuance of this liquor license ... Based on the liquor hearing, the Liquor Commission feels that the issuance of the liquor license would be in the best interest of the city, and therefore recommends approval of the license," Mayor Terry D'Arcy as Liquor Commissioner wrote.

In October 2024, Joliet Patch reported there were green Waste Management dumpsters occupying the corner parking lot at Joliet's busy intersection of McDonough Street and Larkin Avenue because this particular Joliet 7-Eleven — the one that was the site of multiple armed robberies during the past several years — has gone out of business.

Both liquor licenses for Sharks are being recommended for approval by Joliet city manager Beth Beatty.

On Dec. 29, 2021 — just over four years ago — Joliet Patch reported that the former Church's Chicken restaurant on Joliet's Collins Street that closed in September 2020 at 345 Collins Street came back to life as Sharks Fish and Chicken opened here.

Sharks is a Chicago-based fast-food franchise specializing in fried fish, chicken, shrimp, chicken wings and sandwiches. And on Nov. 14, 2021, the fast-food franchise announced on Facebook that it just opened a Sharks Fish and Chicken at 1701 North Larkin Ave., in Crest Hill's Hillcrest Shopping Center.