Ongoing State Street Commercial Action Round-Up

New leasing activity and openings have been announced for various outposts along State Street in The Loop, while others have shuttered their doors. Similar to our previous rundowns of commercial activity along Michigan Avenue, Chicago YIMBY looks at ongoing changes across downtown’s secondary commercial strip.

View of new Barnes & Noble via Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble – 150 North State Street

The largest store opening on the street since the pandemic occurred in late August as the national bookseller took over the former Old Navy flagship space. Spanning 30,000 square feet, the three-story store is the chain’s largest in the city and features various local products. Once fully completed, it will contain a cafe on the upper level.

Kermess – 32 West Randolph Street

Miami-based Circensia Entertainment has purchased the former theater and Spiegeltent at the top of the Cambria Hotel. This comes after Teatro ZinZanni closed in January after a six-year run. Kermess is the new name for the venue, which will host a rotation of different shows set to debut later next month. A new website can be found here.

View of 20 South State Street via Google Maps

Gap Brands – 20 South State Street

Earlier this week, a brand-new permit was issued to Gap Brands to begin renovation work on the 13,000 square-foot, two-story store. The lease marks a major win for the strip and sits across the street from the recently opened Gap Factory Store. It is unknown for which of the Gap brands the store will be, as the company looks to secure a major lease on Michigan Avenue.

Mood Fabrics – 109 South State Street

The 2,000 square-foot showroom is the first Chicago outpost of the legendary New York shop. Opening just a few days ago, the new concept will not carry large rolls of fabric to be purchased, but instead carry 8,000 fabric samples to be ordered online. The small-scale store will focus on community events and classes as well, with more locations planned nationwide.

New Mood Fabrics showroom via Mood Fabrics

Raygun – 5 North State Street

Self-proclaimed as the Greatest Store In The Universe, the Iowa-based novelty T-shirt store currently has one outpost in Chicago on Clark Street in Andersonville. Now, the chain’s second location has taken over a former Claire’s location and is on the smaller side. The chain hopes to capture tourist traffic as well as the growing population locally.

View of Rocky Mountain Chocolate via Rocky Mountain Chocolate

Rocky Mountain Chocolate – 3 North State Street

Sitting just next to Raygun, the Colorado-based chocolate and confectionery chain has officially opened its first location within Chicago. The brand also operates a single store within O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 3. The 1,000 square-foot store has locked in for a 10-year lease with the goal of expanding up to 10 more outposts across the city in coming years.

Mariela – 1 West Washington Street

Led by chefs Rishi Kumar and Zubair Mohajir, the new global seafood restaurant anchors the ground floor of the Staypineapple Hotel across from Primark. The chef duo is well known for their Bucktown restaurant Mirra, which serves Indian-Mexican fusion cooking. Mariela replaced the hotel’s former restaurant Atwood and is now open.

View of Mariela via Staypineapple

Palmer House Retail Space – 17 East Monroe Street

The historic hotel occupies nearly an entire city block with 68,000 square feet of retail space across all three street fronts, including the Mood Fabrics location. The space was previously valued at up to $92 million in 2015, with hotel owner Thor Equities defaulting on it in 2021. Now, they have purchased it again for $5.2 million and plan to revamp the spaces.

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While there have been other small openings like a new Panera Bread and Starbucks within Target, recently Foot Locker closed both of its stores on the strip. All of the aforementioned openings and planned spaces have been helping bring down The Loop’s vacancy rate from 26% to 24.7%, per Crain’s. We will continue to track nearby openings over time.

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