Adams Supermarket is open now on the south side, but what’s the name of the guy who owns it?
I always thought it was a guy named Ahmad Abud — at least, when I went down there many months ago and talked to him, that’s the name he gave me. But when Jennifer Davis interviewed him for a story on the new grocery store in the Journal Star, he told her his name is Hussein Alsalahi.
I wouldn’t necessarily have noticed except that when Jenny’s story ran, there was a large picture of Abud/Alsalahi accompanying it. I pointed out the name difference to Jenny the next time I saw her, and she followed up on it. At the supermarket’s grand opening, she noticed that many people were calling him Ahmad, so she asked him why he had told her his name was Alsalahi.
First, he tried to make it seem like I didn’t interview him, but his older brother. When I said, No, you and I talked, then he changed his story and said he gave me his brother’s name because he was the head of the company. I asked him why he would do that and he said that’s the name he thought I should have.
Abud/Alsalahi’s company is called Pulaski Express, Inc. According to the State of Illinois’ Corporation File, the agent name on record for that company (File #62635517) is “Hussien Alsalahi.” He’s also been identified as Alsalahi in The Community Word.
So is Alsalahi his name or his brother’s? Or does he go by both names? I suppose there’s nothing inherently wrong with someone going by two completely different names. It’s just weird to me, I guess.
The fact that he denied talking to Jenny sounds pretty shady. Very odd to say the least.
For all we know he could be a terrorist trying to look legitimate.
Frequent, I sure hope you’re not saying that just because his name sounds Arabic.
There is a grocery store where most fear to tread. Not the cheapest store in town, and not completely finished with remodeling, but it is clean, items neatly stocked and the liquor department is completely separate from the main part of the store. The fried chicken could have used a little additional spice, but was certainly edible. I wish him/them all the luck in the world and hope the venture is successful and demonstrates that all neighborhoods in Peoria are worth saving!!!
I’ve been a bit put off by the level of resistance to this store from neighborhood activists and others. I say give the guy, whateve rhis name may be, a chance. Right now, I’d rather have this store at Campustown than that crappy Sav-a-Lot.