West Town's Newest Independents Opened on Chicago Avenue This Year

"We are the fabric of Chicago, the fabric of Wicker Park and Bucktown." Bill Jacobs, who owns Piece Pizzeria and Brobagel, said that in June, when Block Club Chicago asked neighborhood owners about the opening of Call Your Mother. The Washington, D.C.-based bagel shop opened at 1615 N. Damen Ave. on May 19 and set off one more round of a debate Wicker Park has had for decades.

Four months on, the openings show where things went. The large, well-known storefronts around the North, Damen and Milwaukee intersection are going to national brands. Over the same months, West Town's new chef-run restaurants, local retailers and owner-operated businesses opened on a five-block stretch of Chicago Avenue, from the 1400 block to the 1800 block. Six of the year's new independent openings now sit on that stretch.

The Six Corners storefronts are changing hands

The Six Corners has always drawn national tenants. The same Block Club piece lists Starbucks, Yeti and Barnes & Noble as part of that history and dates Barnes & Noble's arrival to 2024. What is new this year is how many of the area's best-known addresses are turning over at once:

• 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. For almost 25 years this was the Double Door, which closed in 2017. Yeti then held the space for six years and closed in summer 2025. Alo Yoga has confirmed its second Chicago store here, and a spokesperson said it is "planned to open in late Q4 2026."
• 1588 N. Milwaukee Ave. The corner Starbucks, converted to a Reserve location in 2017, was one of about 20 Chicago stores the company closed in September 2025. Crain's reports that Blank Street Coffee, a Brooklyn chain founded in 2020, is preparing to open here. The company has not given a timeline.
• 1563 N. Milwaukee Ave. Blundstone, the Tasmanian boot company, has announced a store here for "this fall." No date has been set.
• 1615 N. Damen Ave. Call Your Mother has been open since May 19.

None of these deals points to an empty intersection. Both the Double Door space and the Starbucks corner had been empty for about a year, and national companies are the ones signing leases to fill them. Neighborhood owners don't agree on what that means. Antique Taco co-owner Ashley Ortiz worried about the neighborhood losing its "charm." Mindy Segal argued that spending at a corporate business still supports the people who work there, and that "no one should tell you how to spend your money." Call Your Mother co-owner Andrew Dana said the founders still run the company. "We did not sell the business," he said, and he described private equity firm Invus as an investment partner.

Chicago Avenue, block by block

About a mile south, the year's openings follow a different pattern. Listed by address from east to west, the 1400 to 1800 blocks of W. Chicago Ave. now look like this:

1. Gilda, 1421 W. Chicago Ave. A Basque tavern serving Spanish pintxos. It held a soft opening on Monday, July 20, and opened to the public on Thursday, July 23. The chef-partners are Jeremy Leven, Rafael Esparza and Anthony Baier, who have worked at mfk., Mama Delia, Momotaro and Kimski. Inés de Haro runs the beverage program.
2. Compa, 1424 W. Chicago Ave. A regional Mexican restaurant from chef Horacio Fonseca and restaurateur Markus Chwajol of Six Point Hospitality, across the street from Gilda. In September, Eater gave an early-October opening window. As of this writing, no opening day has been announced.
3. Guillotine Bakery, 1711 W. Chicago Ave. Run by French bakers Vincent Didry and Alizé Bikard with head baker Vince Le Bec. Didry previously worked for the bakery chain French Bastards. It was scheduled to open June 17, and Eater's July roundup confirmed it was open.
4. Surge Billiards and Sway Golf, 1734 W. Chicago Ave. Opened Monday, August 24. Co-owners Wahib Merchant and Kareeshma Ali already run pool halls in Logan Square and Albany Park. Here they partnered with Asif Nathani on seven golf simulators.
5. Onion City Records, 1812 W. Chicago Ave. Ran as a pop-up over the summer and held its grand opening as a permanent shop on September 12. It is the second store from the Bridgeport Records partners Vick Lavender, Jerry Morrison and Jo Morrison.
6. Every Now and Then and Josephine's, 1843 W. Chicago Ave. Designer Joe Robinson, known as Joe Freshgoods, opened this streetwear store in July. Its cafe is named for his grandmother and serves Metric Coffee with Southern-inspired drinks and pastries.

Each of these is run by the people who started it, and several of them reached Chicago Avenue the hard way. Gilda's owners were denied an SBA loan. They raised about $20,000 through crowdfunding instead, offering supporters "compañero cards" good for discounts. Onion City tested the block as a pop-up for a season before opening permanently. The Surge owners and the Bridgeport Records team already ran businesses elsewhere in the city and picked Chicago Avenue for their next one.

Division and North fill in the middle

Division Street sits between the two clusters, and its two new food spots come from long-running Chicago businesses. Ann Sather soft-opened at 1819 W. Division St. on Friday, July 24. Owner Tom Tunney, a former alderman, has run the breakfast restaurant since the early 1980s. On Wednesday, September 2, Buona Beef opened The Beef Stand, a walk-up window inside the Rainbow Cone at 1750 W. Division St. Executive vice president Joe Buonavolanto III is a grandson of the family that founded the Berwyn restaurant.

Craft & Carvery opened on July 1 at 2101 W. North Ave., on the western edge of the area. Operator Richard Vallejo and chef Yanitzin Sanchez had run the concept at Time Out Market until that food hall closed about five months earlier. They moved it to its own storefront and added pizza. Sanchez has cooked at restaurants in Wicker Park and the suburbs.

A Saturday that uses all of it

With the openings this spread out, the best plan follows the addresses. Start on Chicago Avenue: pastry at Guillotine at 1711, then the bins at Onion City Records at 1812, then coffee at Josephine's at 1843. All three are within about two blocks. Head back east for the evening. Gilda is at 1421, and once Compa opens, it will be across the street at 1424. Surge Billiards and Sway Golf at 1734 work for a group that wants something to do between meals.

On a Sunday, a Division Street morning works well. Ann Sather at 1819 covers breakfast, and The Beef Stand window at 1750 is about a block east if you want lunch on the walk. The Six Corners are best for errands. Call Your Mother is open now on Damen, and the Milwaukee storefronts will fill in over the next few months.

Still to come this fall

These are the openings with confirmed addresses but no confirmed opening dates:

• Compa, 1424 W. Chicago Ave.: expected in early October.
• Haven, 1114 W. Grand Ave.: a dessert-course tasting menu from pastry chef Tatum Sinclair, whose background includes S.K.Y. and Valhalla. WTTW reports a fall opening.
• Blundstone, 1563 N. Milwaukee Ave.: "this fall."
• Alo Yoga, 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave.: late Q4 2026. A permit application for the ground-floor renovation was filed in June.
• Blank Street Coffee, 1588 N. Milwaukee Ave.: no timeline given.

When those open, the Six Corners will have three new national tenants on one stretch of Milwaukee Avenue, and Chicago Avenue will have six new owner-run businesses between the 1400 and 1800 blocks.

New storefront openings on a block affect what nearby homes are worth and how quickly they sell. If you own near Chicago Avenue or the Six Corners and want to know what this year's openings mean for your home's value, Jason O'Beirne can walk you through recent sales block by block. Schedule a consultation.