After 12 years, Aurelio’s Pizza in Naperville’s Springbrook Square is closing at the end of this month.
Owner Celeste Wagner and her husband, Steve, announced the decision in a joint message posted to social media Monday. They cited financial difficulties following the COVID-19 pandemic as the deciding factor.
“The current business climate has been very rough and volatile for the restaurant industry,” their statement read. “The post pandemic inflation has brought unforeseen hurdles that eventually were too much for our business to bear and it has become impossible for us to keep Aurelio’s going.”
The couple went on to say that it “has been a very difficult and emotional decision.”
Speaking by phone Tuesday, Celeste Wagner said there’s been an outpouring of support from the community since the post went up.
“My phone kind of blew up when we first announced it,” she said.
The restaurant’s official last day will be June 30.
Online, their closure announcement was met with dozens of comments from people saying thank you, offering well wishes and expressing gratitude for all the years that Aurelio’s operated in Naperville.
Wagner, a longtime Naperville resident, opened her local franchise at 1975 Springbrook Square Drive in 2012. But even before that, she knew Aurelio’s well.
The chain, which dates back some 65 years ago, is a family business.
“It was started by my Uncle Joe Aurelio,” she said. That first restaurant opened in Homewood in 1959. Over the decades, her uncle’s venture spread to other parts of Illinois and eventually across state lines. Today, the chain includes more than three dozen locations scattered across six different states.
Wagner recalled working at her first Aurelio’s when she was 16 years old.
Going on to own and run her own franchise, Wagner said, “It’s been wonderful to have a family business that I’ve been with for so long.”
There’s “a lot of favorite memories” that she’s collected over the years, she said.
From watching employees grow up to celebrating milestones with the same families year after year, Wagner said, “It’s just been nice to follow along with people’s lives and their celebrations.”
Asked what she is going to miss most, Wagner said the people — her staff especially.
Several members of her team have been with her the better part of a decade, if not more, she said.
“It’s like a family,” she said.
Wagner stressed that Aurelio’s departure from Springbrook Drive does not affect its other restaurants.
Near Naperville, there are Aurelio’s locations in Plainfield, Downers Grove, Wheaton/Winfield and Geneva.
