Walt's Ice Cream: Rainbow Cones, Superman, Turtle Sundaes And More

JOLIET — Joliet may be the home of the world's first Dairy Queen, back in 1940, but this is not a Dairy Queen town. Walt's ice cream rules the City of Champions. Walt's has been serving ice cream cones, sundaes, shakes and more since April 1926. Walt's is 98 years old, and stronger than ever.

Owners and brothers, Bill and Mike Dillon, told Joliet Patch that Walt's has had eight consecutive years of record sales. "We've been fortunate. The customers have been extremely loyal to us," Mike Dillon remarked.

Their family opened the original storefront at Joliet's Six Corners intersection near Ruby Street and Plainfield Road before moving to 1314 W. Jefferson St. in 1989.

The original name was Walter's Ice Cream Store, but it's always been known around Joliet as Walt's, the Dillon brothers said.

Walt's has 818 reviews on Google, averaging a near perfect mark of 4.8 stars out of 5.

Here are the most recent reviews, all 5 stars:

"5 years living in Joliet and less than a mile away from my house and I have no idea why I waited so long! This place is the place! Ice cream is real good and they have an awesome amount of flavor!"

"Wow! What some ice cream. I visit family in Joliet several times a year from Columbus Ga. and one of my MUST stops is Walts several times. Your ice cream is FANTASTIC."

"After a long day at the bottom of a lake, we had the hankerin' for some ice cream. Walt's delivered. We found out that they had a no sugar added flavor available (butter pecan), so we grabbed a banana split and a strawberry shortcake. We were not prepared for how much ice cream you get. We stuffed our faces anyway."

The Dillon brothers credit Walt's stellar reputation to their ice cream shop staff.

"The kids that work here are very efficient, and the line moves," Mike Dillon explained. "You can go pull that up on Google, people will say, 'it's a long line, but it moves.'"

Selling Ice Cream Is Weather Dependent

When it comes to long lines at Walt's, people don't turn out on cold and rainy days.

But if it's cold and sunny, "we still do pretty good," Mike Dillon remarked. "Cloudy and rainy just turns people off, I guess."

This year, Walt's opened March 1 and the Dillon brothers plan to keep Walt's open until sometime before Oct. 31.

"We've been so fortunate, the customers have been extremely loyal to us," Bill Dillon said. "We try to stay open until sometime in October. But October weather can be extremely odd and Halloween, it's tough for us to compete against."

For seven-plus months, Bill Dillon typically works at Walt's 12 to 14 hours a day, taking no time off for vacation.

"He works every day, March 1 until close," Mike Dillon said of his brother.

Even though West Jefferson Street is not along the historic Route 66, it's common during the summer for Walt's to draw its share of international tourists. In 2021, Walt's had a group of a dozen people from Australia and recently, Walt's was visited by a man from Italy, who was touring the United States along by automobile.

Walt's draws its lion's share of customers from Joliet, Rockdale, Shorewood, Crest Hill, New Lenox and Plainfield.

Freeze-Dried Rainbow Cones To Take Home

"And we have some people that drive in from Rockford for the rainbow cones," Mike Dillon explained. "We have people who come here with coolers and dry ice. We freeze the rainbow cones to about 20 degrees below zero."

Mike Dillon said it's not uncommon for customers to purchase as many as "a dozen or so" rainbow cones to take home and keep in their freezers.

However, most of Walt's 34 flavors of ice cream are not conducive to deep-freezing or selling by volume.

"Our soft serve cones aren't much good to deep freeze," Mike Dillon pointed out. "Over the last five years, we've sold a lot more hard ice cream than the last 20 years, and we went to 34 flavors. We always sell a lot of turtle sundaes. Since the day we opened, that's been a big seller."

Walt's Increases To 34 Flavors, Superman Becomes Hit

For many years, Walt's carried "probably 22 to 24" flavors, the brothers estimated.

The Rainbow Cone. The Turtle Sundae. The Cookies and Cream, which features Mackinac Island Fudge, those are some of Walt's staples.

So, what else makes the Walt's ice cream hall of fame when it comes to customer favorites?

"Superman," Mike Dillon answered. "The Superman is an incredibly popular flavor, and so is Cookies and Cream.

"A lot of people get two or three scoop cones."

Mike Dillon said he's really pleased with the success of the Superman cone.

"Superman, we've had that just a couple of years," he said. "And it's probably the number one seller."

Bill Dillon said that Superman comes with three flavors, blue, yellow and red, and customers can get the Superman in a cup or a cone.

The Dillons buy their ice cream from seven different dairies located in four different states, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

At 98 years old, Walt's is one of the oldest ice cream shops in the Midwest, but it's certainly not the oldest in the United States, according to the brothers.

They believe the oldest ice cream shop is in Philadelphia.

"Ice cream was very popular coming into the 1920s. Because of the Prohibition, they converted a lot of bars into ice cream soda fountains. In the old days, they used a block of ice and salt," Mike Dillon said.

Another crowd favorite, which has been around since 1989, is the Chocolate Lover's Rainbow Cone. The four flavors include Rocky road, chocolate, chocolate chip and French silk.

What else do the Dillons want you to know about their Walt's?

"We make our own whip cream and hot fudge. We have been doing so for about 20 years. Also, newer ice cream flavors like Strawberry Cheesecake and Coffee Bean Crunch are very popular, amongst the 34-plus flavors we carry," Mike Dillon explained.

For 98 years and counting, there has been only one Original Walt's in Joliet.

It's always been that way, and it remains here at 1314 W. Jefferson St. in Joliet next to the David Nelson Exquisite Jewelry for the past 35 years now.

But is the day coming when Walt's might expand, and perhaps open a second or third location?

That appears to be the case.

Mike Dillon told Joliet Patch during this week's interview that it's highly possible in the coming years — but definitely not this year — he and his brother will look to open a second location.

As far as where they would open another Walt's Ice Cream, that decision has not been determined, the brothers said.

Starting on Friday, May 24, Walt's is now open seven days a week from noon to 11 p.m. Walt's will stay open until 11 p.m. daily until school resumes in the fall.