It’s been a while since I’ve written anything good about Oak Street (or, indeed anything at all), so it is with much delight that I recap some of the recent events that have been happening in the neighborhood. The big news is, of course, the opening of the new Hermès store....

Earlier this year we mentioned the new LED displays now adorning the atrium of Block37 (1 West Randolph Street), and posted a few pictures and a video.  Now we’ve been sent a press release from the company that engineered the displays, along with some much better pictures than we...

It’s been a painful couple of years documenting the long series of closures that have turned Chicago’s Oak Street into a shadow of its former self.  The economic crisis has hurt boutiques along the street, and the hit keep on coming. The latest bit of bad news —...

It wasn’t that long ago that Chicago Place decided it couldn’t make a go of it as an urban mall and decided to reinvent itself. Since then, the city’s retail landscape hasn’t gotten any better. In fact, there are dozens and dozens of premier retail locations at the...

While in the Shops at North Bridge (520 North Michigan Avenue) today I noticed two stores being built out. First, is the Art of Shaving store, which we mentioned was coming on this blog back in the fall.  It looks like it’s finally coming to fruition, and if it’s anything like...

It looks like things have really come together at the new Marc Jacobs store. The boutique inside the Elysian Chicago Hotel (11 East Walton Street) has finally shed its cloak and you can clearly see the shelves stocked and the windows being decorated with stuffed animals. We haven’t...

Another Oak Street boutique is taking advantage of the crummy economy to re-tool. The Yves Saint Laurent store at 51 East Oak Street closed last Friday (January 23, 2010).  Word is that the interior is being completely renovated.  The new design is based on plans from Paris and is intended...

For the last few years I’ve heard occasional complaints about the “mallification” of Michigan Avenue. Glamorized in their own minds as the “Boul Mich” by people not old enough to have experienced its more genteel incarnation, Michigan Avenue was once lined with...

It’s hard to tell from this CrappyCameraPhone™ picture, but there’s a welder working on the steel beams that form the third floor of the new 930 North Rush Street.  The former Gino’s East location, shut down by the city’s health department years ago, is finally being...

It’s farmers market season in Chicago once again.  It’s your best chance to sink your teeth into the freshest food possible without leaving the city. Today was the first one — at Federal Plaza in the Loop.  The next one is Thursday at Daley Plaza, but they become more...

Another move is being made in the ongoing retail chess match that is the Oak Street corridor. With Barneys New York now across Rush Street in its new building, the old Barneys New York building is going to…. Hermes. The French luxury retail is going to move from its nice but narrow...

In news that may or may not be shocking, depending on your point of view, Chicago mall owner General Growth Properties has gone bankrupt. You can read the official press release here . General Growth, from its squat ugly building on Wacker Drive , ran a retailing empire, including some of the...

Buy has set a date to open its bi-level boutique in the John Hancock Center .  According to a news release on its web site, the electronics store will open Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 10:00am. The Hancock Center Best Buy isn’t supposed to be like every other store.  It’s...

Ontario Place is getting a little Puerto Rican flavor.  Not, it’s not another hot-today-gone-tomorrow gastrospot.  It’s a branch of Banco Popular.  The bank branch has opened on the corner of State Street and Erie Street that used to house part of Ontario Place’s leasing...

Here are a few more notes about Barneys New York’s move across Rush Street to its new store. The workers don’t have to work weekends for a change as they help ferry the inventory across the street. Barney’s cosmetics department is going to start carrying Bobby Brown and La...

Much to the delight of some, and the horror of others, a new Best Buy store is going to open inside the John Hancock Center just hours from now. The intrusion of yet another mall-class store into the formerly posh Magnificent Mile isn’t being taken lightly by nearby residents, but they...

Things are chugging along at the heart of North Michigan Avenue where the Ritz-Carlton Residences are going up.  The building in this photo is actually not part of the project.  It is being protected while the ritzy digs go up all around it. Garrett’s Popcorn, Starbucks, and the Terra...