Some new shake ups and openings have been announced for retail stores around Michigan Avenue, Rush Street, and Oak Street within the Near North Side. Two very different stories have been forming over the years between the iconic shopping drag and the boutique anchored side streets, both of which are heating up post-pandemic.
New H&M flagship via Axxys Construction
Michigan Avenue
Late last fall we covered some of the major announcements coming to the Magnificent Mile, with H&M and Aritzia now having opened their new flagships on the southern end of the street. However this now leaves empty storefronts along the whole block between Chestnut and Pearson, with no current plans for replacements.
Previous Uniqlo store on Michigan Avenue via NSW Architects
However one of the retailers that previously occupied the top floors of that block, Uniqlo, is looking to return to Michigan Avenue. This time it would take over the current Under Armour store on the south end of the strip as the sportswear store’s lease ends. While negotiations are still ongoing for Uniqlo, another experiential museum has been looking at occupying space above the future store according to Crain’s.
While the new MANGO store and Harry Potter experience are still on track just further north, the street now faces a vacancy rate just north of 34-percent. This number will slightly grow or remain the same as most of the new stores are replacing currently open retailers and others like Bottega Veneta at 800 N Michigan Ave make their way to Oak Street.
New Cartier store on Oak Street via Cartier
Oak Street + Rush Street
In contrast to the city’s flagship shopping street filled with large retail spaces, the boutique-forward Oak Street only faces less than a 10-percent vacancy rate. This will slightly drop now as Bottega opens a new flagship on the road at 41 E Oak Street which was just bought by the Max Mara family for $17 million, a stark difference from Michigan.
However the street continues to grow with fashion favorite Loewe opening a new concept store at 51 E Oak Street, and Cartier having opened their new even larger store at 15 E Oak Street after leaving Michigan earlier in 2024. With a new store from Kith and an expanded Brandy Melville nearby as well.
New Casa Loewe via Loewe
Another street faring well is Rush Street, with Swiss athletic gear brand On opening its largest US flagship store at 1043 N Rush Street. Now, three new retailers have announced the take over of the former Intermix space at 900 N Rush Street, those being Danish clothing brand Ganni, apparel store Rails from California, and Jewelry store Mejuri according to Crain’s.
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While these retail shake-ups and changes may not be skyscrapers or cranes in the sky, they represent a major change in the commercial landscape of the city and spending habits of its residents. This comes after Chicago placed in third among major cities for adding $150k+ households under the age of 25 from 2018 to 2023, only beaten by New York and Seattle according to the Census Bureau.
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This is great news for the area
Didn’t a Starbucks open up on the same block where UNIQLO was? Either way, looking good for both Rush and Michigan
What about vacancy rate on State Street?
Hi! While I don’t know the specific number for State Street, Loop vacancy rates rose to above 30% in 2024 with State Street being a large component of that.
Chicago ebbs and flows but always rises back up. Despite a vocal minority hoping and projecting otherwise
Indeed, it’s a dynamic environment and a dynamic and wonderful city. I really love living here, challenges and all.
Maybe people are avoiding Michigan Ave because it is an unpleasant place to walk due to excessive vehicular traffic. Making the street more inviting to pedestrians might bring retailers back.
thats for sure. it definitely needs a road diet and would make for an awesome pedestrian street
100%, also the retail slots are too big, they need to be broken up into smaller, more inviting and financially accessible places to lease.
yeah completely agree with this too. They have a very “90s mega mall” mentality with the way they use space and it’s almost like the landlords and sales teams are too lazy to break them up and have to court 2x the number of tenants to fill the space. they’d rather wait around leaving it vacant for years for one giant anchor tenant to take up all the sqft
I’d argue that the pedestrian density is coming back along Michigan Avenue. This holiday season had the crowds out along the stretch, which is exciting to see in a bustling corridor. Hoping to see the pedestrian traffic continue to grow in the post-holiday season into the spring with some of the retailer additions/change ups.
Turning State Street into a pedestrian street was a total failure. Michigan Avenue would fail as a pedestrian only street
Stop with that tired old argument that’s literally around 50 years old. Other cities with less density do it (e.g. Boulder, CO), why not Chicago?
I dunno Sundays on State make MEGA bank for the city in the summer and are insanely crowded with lots of programming to partake in. there was a 12 million dollar direct economic impact in the short 3 months it ran
Some decent comments. Still Chicago has 2 shopping Main streets and two highest-end boutique store streets in Oak and now Rush St. Filled in nicely and the city redid the streets and bricked crosswalks.
Still I in retirement back at my hometown area. I watch walking videos to drone ones on Chicago. On video walking Chicago creator does almost daily videos (The Gemini). I am IMPRESSED with the people all summer walking videos I viewed and still am.. Even over Christmas State St and Michigan Ave full of people.
All summer great, Riverwalk full, river also Millennium Park and even decent Loop, RiverNorth and Streetville crowds. I am sure all visitors are Impressed. Oh and the West Loop.
You are exactly right. I work downtown. Anyone who thinks that people are avoiding Michigan Avenue, State Street, or any other street downtown ought to go downtown and see for themselves.
Would love to see Uniqlo back on the ave. The State street one is too cramped. Where is the Under Armour store moving to?
Hi Denise, it is undisclosed if they will relocate or depart Chicago as a whole. This is their (UA) only store in the city, but if Uniqlo is looking at the property then theres a big chance they won’t renew their lease whether Uniqlo comes or not. Hopefully UA relocates on Michigan and Uniqlo takes their current space while also keeping the State Street store open.
Of the roughly 3 million square feet of retail space on the Mag Mile, there is roughly 1 million of it empty. For every hundred thousand square feet leased out, the will take 3% of the vacancy rate down. It would be nice to get it to 25% or less in 2025, meaning we would have to lease about 300k this year without any more space vacating.