Gioia’s Deli to open location in Valley Park

The new Gioia’s will occupy a former Jimmy John’s storefront immediately southwest of the Interstate 44-Highway 141 interchange.

Alex Donley said Gioia’s polls its customers regularly. When the restaurant asked where it should open a fourth location, the Valley Park-Fenton area ranked No. 1, followed by St. Charles.

“So we started looking in both locations, and this is the space that popped up,” he said.

The new location of the sandwich shop renowned for its hot salami will join the original deli on the Hill, the storefront in Creve Coeur and the walk-up window in Maryland Heights.

That walk-up window is only a small part of Gioia’s much larger production facility in Maryland Heights, which has allowed the deli to meet demand and fuel further expansion. Before that facility opened, production took place in a 1,000-square-foot room in the Hill location.

“We hit our capacity” on the Hill, Donley said. “We couldn’t produce any more product.”

Gioia’s aims to open the Valley Park location this spring, likely after Easter.

Meanwhile, St. Charles residents intrigued by the area’s No. 2 finish in that poll of Gioia’s customers should sit tight.

“We’re always looking for a spot in St. Charles,” Donley said. “It just has to be the perfect spot. Also, we only grow when we have the leadership to grow, and right now we don’t have the leadership for a fifth location. But it’s on the vision board.”