Tony's Grocery owner retires, sells business | Changsha ClearMindset Innovations Group Co.,Ltd

Sylvia Soliz poses for a portrait in Tony's Tortilla factory, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

Tostada and taco shells sit on a shelf at Tony's Grocery, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

Taco shells sit in a bin waiting to be bagged for customers at Tony's Grocery, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

Sylvia Soliz talks about her 27 years running her father's grocery and tortilla store Tony's Grocery, as she steps down and retires, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

Chips sit in a bin in Tony's Grocery waiting to be bagged for customers, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

Tony's flour tortillas sit inside a refrigerator at Tony's Grocery, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

Tostada and taco shells sit on a shelf at Tony's Grocery, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

It's the end of a 76-year run for Tony's Grocery as the Quad-Cities knows it.

Sylvia Soliz took over operations of the Silvis staple known for its handmade tortillas and chips when her father, Tony Saucedo, died in 1996. On March 17, Soliz officially retired. But saying goodbye has not been easy.

"I was born and then I was here," she said with a laugh.

The brown building at 135 Hero Street has been the home of Tony's Tortillas since 1947. New owners have taken over in the months since Soliz's retirement and have vowed to stay in the same building, keep the original recipe and even the iconic yellow and blue food label.

Saucedo settled in Silvis, where he and his brother worked for the Rock Island Lines. The family lived in a box car until they could save enough money to buy the small home on what is now Hero Street. Soliz' uncle, who had a car, made regular trips to Chicago to buy Hispanic groceries.

"We were the first Hispanic grocery store," Soliz said. "There was nothing here, and people wanted what they were used to at home, and the only place you could get it was Chicago."

The family began selling the groceries and soon earned enough money to add an extra room to their home, which became the grocery store. It was all going well enough, but there was one problem.

"When they would go to Chicago and bring the tortillas, they would be spoiled already, so they wasted a lot of money on that," Soliz said. "Some man had a machine for sale, so he got the loan and goes, 'OK, give me the recipe.' The guy goes, 'No. You just bought the machine.'"

A look at the corn washing station at Tony's Grocery, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

So, Tony went back to Mexico to learn how to cook from his family there. But there was still a problem: they all cooked in small batches with no machines. When he got back to Silvis, he got right to work.

"I remember going back (to the kitchen) to see what my dad was doing. There was all these recipe books. Some in Spanish, some in English. (He was) just trying to figure it out," she said. "I was 11, but we were working."

Summers, holidays and every other day of the year, Soliz and her brothers helped make homemade tortillas. In the early days, they were placed on card tables with wax paper between the tortillas until they were cool enough to package. Again, Tony solved that problem, building his own cooling conveyor.

After some time, business began to slow down. Tony turned to his only daughter and told her she needed to market the tortillas. Despite having grown up with the business her whole life, she wasn't ready to take on the responsibility.

"I said, 'Dad, I can't do that,' " she recalled. "He said, 'No. You grew up with this. You can do everything. There's nothing that you can't do.'"

With that in mind, she set out to prove him right.

Sylvia Soliz talks about her 27 years running her father's grocery and tortilla store Tony's Grocery, as she steps down and retires, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

Soliz drove over to JoeVan Foods near SouthPark Mall. She was supposed to go inside, introduce herself and ask if they would start carrying her family's tortillas. First, she spent 20 minutes saying prayers and working up the nerve to go in.

Eventually, she made it inside the store, asked for the manager, and started her pitch.

"I didn't even finish and there was a man at the checkout. He came over, and he knew the manager, so he put his arm around him and said, 'Do us all a favor. Put these tortillas in the store. I'll tell everybody and we'll go from there,'" she said.

The manager bought all 50 dozen tortillas Soliz brought with her that day. By the time JoeVan closed in 2001, they were selling 300 dozen Tony's Tortillas every week.

Despite the early success, it was not always smooth sailing.

"I went to Eagle's and I was turned down. A salesman goes, 'They're going to turn you down every time, because you're young, and they don't know about the store,'" she said.

The clerk suggested she try Hy-Vee. When the Rock Island store opened, she found the manager and again started her sales pitch.

"He goes, 'You know what? I don't even care to hear. I want your product. I'm dealing with a female; I love it,' " she said. "It was unbelievable. Anything I brought in, they bought."

Corn husks sit on a shelf at Tony's Grocery, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Silvis.

That day, Soliz sold 50 dozen to the supermarket giant. Hy-Vee has been carrying Tony's Tortillas ever since. After the success, Tony's began delivering to both sides of the Mississippi River and in Galesburg.

The secret to the success comes from her father, Soliz said. He was meticulous that each ingredient needed to be organic, non GMO and only the best money could buy. But there's one more ingredient that prolonged their success.

"I probably wouldn't have been as successful if I didn't love what I did," she said. "Same with my father. He loved what he did."

Monday afternoon, workers at Tony's Grocery made 900 dozen tortillas. That will be enough to last until Thursday, when the crew will make another batch to last them through the weekend. Although she officially retired in March, Soliz has stuck around the last few months to help the new owners. Thursday will officially be her last day.

Then the Tortilla Queen, as her children call her, will get serious about retirement.