Wicker Park's Six Corners Keeps Changing Hands. Here's What's Opening Around It This Fall.

Over the past twelve months, the corner space by the Damen Blue Line, the old Dimo's slice shop, the Starbucks Reserve overlooking the intersection and a burrito chain's Damen Avenue outpost have all changed hands or gone dark. Almost every brand coming in is from out of town, and for several of them Wicker Park is their first Chicago address or close to it.

This is the pattern behind the corner right now. National and regional brands use the six-corner blocks to test Chicago. Some settle in. At least one left within months. Each new arrival this fall, from the Nashville hot chicken shop opening October 28 to the Brooklyn coffee chain taking over the Starbucks space, joins a run of tryouts that has been going for a year.

Who Replaced Whom, Storefront by Storefront

Here is the recent turnover on the blocks closest to the intersection, with each change marked as open or only announced as of October 12, 2026.

Four of the five storefronts have a new or incoming tenant, and each of those four brands comes from outside Chicago: Brooklyn, Nashville, Washington, D.C. and Tasmania. The storefront at 1624 N. Damen is empty because its tenant left the country.

The Starbucks Corner Sat Empty for a Year

The most visible space in Wicker Park, the storefront at 1588 N. Milwaukee that looks out over the six-way intersection, had been empty for about a year when Block Club Chicago reported on October 1 that Blank Street Coffee is preparing to open there. Block Club reported that Starbucks turned the store into a Reserve location in 2017, then put it on its list of about 20 Chicago closures in September 2025.

Blank Street was founded in Brooklyn in 2020. It has grown to dozens of locations on the East Coast and in the United Kingdom, and it raised more than $100 million in venture funding this summer. Its menu leans on matcha and latte drinks, including a shaken vanilla bean matcha and a cinnamon bun latte. The company did not give Block Club an opening timeline, so for now the windows on that corner still belong to a sign rather than a counter.

One coffee chain leaving and another taking its place is a small example of the larger pattern. The tenant behind the glass is now a company still growing outward from Brooklyn.

Hattie B's Comes Back to Where It First Tried Chicago

Down Damen Avenue, the corner space at 1542 N. Damen near the Damen Blue Line was Urbanbelly's home from 2016 until this spring. According to Block Club's April report, Bill Kim's restaurant planned to serve on Damen through late April before moving to 950 W. Fulton St. in Fulton Market. He described that site's mix of tourists, residents and office buildings as "the perfect storm."

Hattie B's Hot Chicken takes over the space on October 28. Block Club reported on October 8 that the Nashville chain opened its first Chicago and Midwest location in Wrigleyville in February and has a River North location planned for next year. This Damen corner is its second Chicago shop. The menu runs from no spice up to Nashville hot, with jumbo tenders, sandwiches, half-bird platters, pimento mac and cheese, collard greens, bacon-cheddar grits, banana pudding and peach cobbler. The space will have indoor and patio seating.

The brand already has history here. In the same Block Club article, executive chef and culinary VP Brian Morris said Wicker Park "was the first place in the city we brought Hattie B's to, back when we did a pop-up at Dove's Luncheonette in 2019." That puts seven years between a one-off test in the neighborhood and a permanent lease.

You can taste it before the doors open. Paulie Gee's Wicker Park, just north near Milwaukee Avenue, is selling a limited-run collaboration pizza from October 16 through 31. It has hot chicken tender bites, Hattie B's barbecue sauce, bacon and a greens, corn and black-eyed pea succotash. It costs $37 for a full pie or $5 a slice, and part of the proceeds goes to No Kid Hungry.

The Bagel Shop That Restarted an Old Argument

A block north, Call Your Mother Deli opened its first Chicago shop at 1615 N. Damen in the former Dimo's on May 19, 2026. The Washington, D.C. bagel shop's arrival led to a Block Club story on Wicker Park's long-running debate about independent and corporate businesses, with local owners quoted on several sides.

In that piece, Piece Pizzeria and Brobagel owner Bill Jacobs called local businesses "the fabric of Chicago, the fabric of Wicker Park and Bucktown." Antique Taco co-owner Ashley Ortiz, whose restaurant is at 1360 N. Milwaukee, said rising rents had come with the neighborhood's changes. Mojo Spa owner Amanda Kezios said local shops stay when times are hard. Baker Mindy Segal pointed out that spending at a chain still supports its employees.

"No one should tell you how to spend your money."

Call Your Mother co-founder Andrew Dana told Block Club the founders had brought on an investment partner without selling the business: "We're still the same people. Still running the business. Still obsessed with the food." He also said the company plans more Chicago locations, though it has not announced details.

A Tryout Can Also End Fast

Guzman y Gomez shows the other way a tryout can go. Block Club reported in December 2025 that the chain would open at 1624 N. Damen on December 11. By May 2026 it had closed every U.S. location, including several in the Chicago suburbs, to refocus on Australia. In a statement quoted by Block Club, the company said "the financial performance of the US business has not been acceptable." Block Club photographed the storefront empty on May 29, about five and a half months after it opened.

That closure had nothing to do with Wicker Park. The company pulled out of an entire country. Still, a Damen Avenue storefront lost a tenant because of decisions made on the other side of the world. When a corner fills up with brands testing a new market, its storefronts depend on how those tests go everywhere else.

Other changes nearby are still waiting. Blundstone, the Chelsea boot maker, plans a Chicago store at 1563 N. Milwaukee "this fall" but has not set a date. A U.S. Postal Service branch is planned for 1500 to 1520 N. Damen, and as of Block Club's June report the agency had not given opening details.

The Intersection Itself Is Staying the Same This Year

The storefronts keep changing, but the crossing they face will stay as it is through 2026. Ald. Daniel La Spata has pushed for a "Pedestrian Priority Pilot" at North, Damen and Milwaukee. It would add a fourth signal phase that gives pedestrians 20 seconds to use every crosswalk at once. More than 1,000 1st Ward residents voted for it in the 2025 participatory budgeting process, and his office has set aside $150,000 in ward menu money, according to Block Club's July report.

The Chicago Department of Transportation said the intersection first needs accessible pedestrian signals, which give audible and vibrating crossing cues. A CDOT spokesperson told Block Club that the design work for a six-way intersection of this size means an exclusive pedestrian phase "would not be able to be installed this year."

That leaves one day this fall when the Milwaukee Avenue side of the corner belongs to people on foot.

The Dates Around the Corner Through Mid-November

The Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce's calendar packs the next four weeks around these same blocks. Confirm times on each listing before you go, since at least one listing disagrees with itself.

1. Friday, Oct. 16, through Saturday, Oct. 31: The Hattie B's and Paulie Gee's Wicker Park collaboration pizza is available.
2. Saturday, Oct. 17, 1 to 5 p.m.: Wicker Park Bucktown Thrift Riot, a free event with a shopping shuttle stopping along Division, Damen and Milwaukee.
3. Sunday, Oct. 25, from 10 a.m.: The season's last Meet Me on Milwaukee. Milwaukee Avenue closes to vehicles from the North and Damen intersection to Ashland for costumes, mini putt-putt, pumpkin decorating, trick-or-treating, a bouncy house, live entertainment, sidewalk sales and a community food drive. The listing gives a 6 p.m. end time in one place and 4 p.m. in another.
4. Wednesday, Oct. 28: Hattie B's scheduled opening at 1542 N. Damen.
5. Saturday, Oct. 31, 3 to 6 p.m.: WPB Trick-or-Treat, with a digital map of participating businesses along the corridors.
6. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 9:30 to 11 a.m.: The SSA #33 Neighborhood Forum at The Goddess and Grocer Bucktown, where the special service area covering these business corridors meets the public.

Blank Street and Blundstone have no dates, so neither one is on this list. Watch for papered windows at 1588 and 1563 N. Milwaukee to come down.

A median price for the whole neighborhood won't reflect which storefronts on your block opened, closed or are still papered over this year. If you own near North, Damen and Milwaukee and want a read on how this year's changes look in your home's numbers, Haylee Stone can walk you through it, starting with your instant home valuation.