Arrenello’s Pizza’s original Glenwood location, which has supplied its signature sweet sauce pizza to the south suburbs for more than five decades, has announced its impending closure.
The Glenwood pizzeria was opened in 1972 by Rich Matokar, followed by locations in Highland, Indiana, and Tinley Park.
The business announced on social media May would be its last month in Glenwood. In exchange, Arrenello’s will open a new location in St. John, Indiana.
The Highland and Tinley Park locations will remain open.
Matokar said the exact closure date was not yet set in stone.
“Maybe in June sometime,” Matokar said. “We’re hoping by that time St. John will be ready to roll.”
The plan to open a St. John store has been in the works for some time, Matokar said, although originally the plan was to close the Tinley Park location instead.
“We’ll keep the Tinley Park store open and we’re moving over to St. John,” Matokar said. “A lot of our customers are there, they’re all excited, people are waiting for us, so it probably was the best decision I’ve made.”
Matokar said the main reason the business was leaving Glenwood is safety concerns around that location in a strip mall on Glenwood Lansing Road.
“My son and I were there on a Sunday night, doing payroll, and a couple doors down they were having a private party. There was gunshots and people scattering,” Matokar said. “We got out of there.”
He said he was particularly concerned for the safety of his son, who manages the Glenwood location. Safety concerns have also caused sales to drop, he said.
“I never thought I’d ever leave. I mean, 54 years, that’s a long time. I thought that store would be the last man standing,” Matokar said. “Sometimes you have to look at the big picture.”
Matokar said he treasures the relationships families in and around Glenwood have built with the pizzeria over its five decades of operation.
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“They know us. We know them. We are up front, right there. If you’ve ever been to our place, you can watch us make pizzas. We have interaction with the customers. We acknowledge them, we appreciate them. They’re special to us,” Matokar said. “They can’t take that away from us, not at all.”
Arrenello’s has always aimed for the “Cheers” ideal of being “a place where everybody knows your name,” Matokar said.
“We’ve always tried to make that a wonderful experience. We’ve always tried to make every customer in there special. That’s our MO, man,” Matokar said. “We know what they order, we know their name.”
The Highland location is about 7 miles from the Glenwood location, or about a 15-minute drive.
“There’s a lot of wonderful people in there that are going to miss us,” Matokar said. “That aspect of it, it is sad, because now I cannot continue servicing these people. But our other store is only 7 miles away, close by. They’re more than welcome.”