Avanti’s closing

[BRAVE82]

More bad news for long time Bradley alums… Avanti’s on Main Street and University is closing. Apparently the students didn’t go there in droves like they did when I was there. Can someone link story from the PJS?

[Da Coach]

More bad news for long time Bradley alums… Avanti’s on Main Street and University is closing. Apparently the students didn’t go there in droves like they did when I was there. Can someone link story from the PJS?

Here is the PJ Star story-
https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/lo...on/7256313001/

The owner blames the pandemic plus the revised intersection of Main & University and traffic congestion, along with demographic and population shifts in the area.

When I was a student, we ate there at least once a week. They had inexpensive sandwiches and good pizza that we could afford.

[PattonMD]

That's a real shame. Whenever I'm back in Peoria visiting my family I invariably stop and get a gondola and a couple loaves of bread to bring back to WI. I suppose I'll stop at the one by the mall now, but I'll miss the Main St loc though for sure.

[Da Coach]

That's a real shame. Whenever I'm back in Peoria visiting my family I invariably stop and get a gondola and a couple loaves of bread to bring back to WI. I suppose I'll stop at the one by the mall now, but I'll miss the Main St loc though for sure.

A lot of my friends who live elsewhere always want to get food from Avanti's when they are back in Peoria.
The closing only applies to the location near Bradley. The Avantis restaurants in the Northwoods Mall area, north Knoxville Ave., East Peoria, and Pekin all will remain open.

[Southside]

Lived 4 doors down. On hungover Sunday afternoons, four of us would play rock, paper, scissors to see who would go get our Avantis order. Some combination of pepperoni pizza bread, gondola, cheese balls and ranch dressing did the trick for me.

[Nashville Cat]

How sad! My mom worked at a place called Velvet Freeze right across the street around 1969-early 70s and that intersection had a great vibe. As kids we'd spend hours just hanging out, frequenting places like Main St Variety and Avantis.

[Classof77]

Kind of the end of an era, although that happened when they tore down the original and moved across the street. I'm still a big Avanti's fan, but rarely go to that one, simply because I'm never in that part of town. Too bad it's closing. I'm sure some students will miss it.

[Da Coach]

How sad! My mom worked at a place called Velvet Freeze right across the street around 1969-early 70s and that intersection had a great vibe. As kids we'd spend hours just hanging out, frequenting places like Main St Variety and Avantis.

Does anyone else remember LaHood's Pizza? They were on the southeast corner of the Main & University intersection when I was at Bradley. I loved their pizza, and the guys I lived with in an off campus house preferred it over Avanti's pizza (though we preferred Avanti's sandwiches). The LaHoods eventually moved out of the campus area and that corner turned into Campustown. They started the LaGondola & Spaghetti House chain, which still has eight restaurants in the Peoria/Bloomington area. Later, one of the family branched off and started Michael's Italian Feast restaurants, which also has 4 restaurants in the area. They all have good food at reasonable prices.

Some may recall this... LaHood got into a legal battle with Avanti's over the use of the name "Gondola" for their sandwich and for the La Gondola name for their restaurants. The lawsuit by Avanti's owner Albert Zeller ruled that the use of the term "Gondola" for the sandwich was a trademark infringement, and LaHood was forced to change their sandwich name to the Torpedo. However, LaHood was allowed to keep the La Gondola name for their restaurants.
This legal summary gives some of the interesting history of Avanti's and LaHood's restaurants, and the evolution of the gondola-

https://www.leagle.com/decision/1985682627fsupp551674

[yoda]

It took a few years since the overhaul of the Main/University intersection, but seems we all knew it was going to end up resulting in
businesses there going under. Covid played a part, but people still try hard to avoid that intersection and multiple other businesses
over in the Campustown have also failed. The Fieldhouse, One World and the others gotta be just hanging on, since they are pretty empty when we go there. Considering nobody ever remembered any major accidents or pedestrians killed at that intersection, it really stumps why Peoria leaders felt such a need to all but close off that intersection.
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...ain-university

They still have accidents there- especially if there's an emergency vehicle trying to get thru - https://www.week.com/2022/03/14/inte...-due-accident/

[bradleyfan124]

It took a few years since the overhaul of the Main/University intersection, but seems we all knew it was going to end up resulting in
businesses there going under. Covid played a part, but people still try hard to avoid that intersection and multiple other businesses
over in the Campustown have also failed. The Fieldhouse, One World and the others gotta be just hanging on, since they are pretty empty when we go there. Considering nobody ever remembered any major accidents or pedestrians killed at that intersection, it really stumps why Peoria leaders felt such a need to all but close off that intersection.
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...ain-university

They still have accidents there- especially if there's an emergency vehicle trying to get thru - https://www.week.com/2022/03/14/inte...-due-accident/

You are correct. Peoria says they are pro-business but they are not..they are anti business. I have had contractors ask me where a job is at and when you say peoria they say they wont work there

[Bradley3342]

One of the most ridiculous intersections in Peoria right now. You can be parked across the street from One World and you might have to wait 5 minutes to cross the street….

[BUBraves2006]

This is sad news - I went there a lot and often still went there when attending a game from out of town. We can check out another location but it might not be the same. A thank you to posting stuff like this on the board because some of us don't follow Peoria news as much anymore but are on the board regularly.