Popular Illinois Chain Pizza Restaurant Suddenly Closes After 50 Years

It's been a couple of years since the last closure of the popular pizza chain, which began its journey right here in the Quad Cities.

A little over 2 years ago the Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream - Rockingham page announced that the store is "relocating" to the Locust St. Happy Joe's (1616 W Locust St., Davenport). The closure/relocation happened on, August 10, 2022. While many in that area of Davenport were worried about losing their Happy Joe's location, the W Locust St. location still services the same area.

Fastforward to Spetember 2024. Over the week, the Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream (Galesburg) page announced that they had closed that location abruptly after being open for a long time in that community. Now, the closest Happy Joe's location is in Aledo which isn't the shortest drive, even from Galesburg.

Happy Joe's In Galesburg Closes Suddenly After 50 Years

Sunday, Sept. 22nd, 2024, was the final day of Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream at 1727 North Henderson Street in Galesburg. The owners of the location thought that Monday would be the final day but they didn't get that far:

After the social media post went out on the pizza restaurant's Facebook page, enough people in the Galesburg community showed up to buy pizza and other menu items.

They bought enough because the post that followed the one on Sunday said this:

Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream no longer has a location in Galesburg, Ill. Happy Joe's has had a presence in the Galesburg community for 50 years, according to KWQC.

Founded in 1972, Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty opened the first of many Happy Joe's locations in the Village of East Davenport.