UPTOWN – A Dealer Joe’s could possibly be coming to the Montrose Avenue storefront left vacant by the closure of a vegan meals corridor, metropolis data present.
The speciality grocery retailer chain has utilized for a packaged items liquor license for the business area at 804 W. Montrose Ave., in response to a metropolis database. Fee for the license utility was made Monday.
The placement was beforehand occupied by XMarket, the vegan meals corridor that closed in November and have become the newest meals enterprise to shut within the massive retail storefront. Twitter consumer minc798 was first to report information of the liquor license utility.
A Dealer Joe’s spokesperson wouldn’t affirm plans for an Uptown retailer, solely saying it routinely assesses the viability of latest places.
“We’re actively taking a look at lots of of neighborhoods throughout the nation, together with a number of in Chicago, as we hope to open extra new neighborhood shops every year. Right now, we should not have a brand new location confirmed within the space,” spokesperson Nakia Rohde stated in a press release.
The brand new retailer would obtain a purpose of many Far North Siders who’ve advocated for a Dealer Joe’s for years. It comes after plans to carry the grocery store to Clark Road in Andersonville fell by in 2023.
Dealer Joe’s is commonly one of many first companies Far North Aspect neighbors pitch for brand spanking new developments.
In 2020, West Ridge neighbors and enterprise growth officers petitioned Dealer Joe’s to open on the former Baker’s Sq. spot at Western and Touhy avenues. That website has since been redeveloped right into a strip mall anchored by Starbucks.
In 2015, Edgewater neighbors pushed for Dealer Joe’s to open on the former dwelling of El Norte at 5600 N. Ridge Ave., however the firm declined the provide. As a substitute, a College of Rock music classes enterprise now anchors that growth.
The grocery chain virtually got here to Edgewater earlier than that, because the strip mall on Broadway simply north of Foster Avenue was as soon as slated to accommodate a Dealer Joe’s. However the firm pulled out on the final minute, a lot to the dismay of neighbors, DNAinfo Chicago reported. A PetSmart, Chipotle and Starbucks ended up coming to the event.
The plans for a Dealer Joe’s on Clark Road have been floated to metropolis officers for approval, however that challenge fizzled after the property proprietor behind the challenge died, Block Membership beforehand reported.
Dealer Joe’s has places in Lakeview and suburban Evanston, and one is deliberate to open in Jefferson Park.
The Dealer Joe’s in Uptown would carry stability to a storefront that has struggled with emptiness because it opened.
Former occupant XMarket, which opened its doorways in October 2023, featured a number of vegan meals distributors after changing two different short-lived plant-based grocery shops that used the area in 2021 and 2022.
Peter Rubi Plant Primarily based Market opened within the area in September 2021 because the second location for the Plainfield-based vegan grocery retailer. It was the primary enterprise to open within the 811 Uptown condominium constructing that was accomplished in 2018. At one level, the constructing was slated to accommodate a Treasure Island grocery retailer earlier than the grocery chain went out of enterprise.
By January 2022, Peter Rubi had offered its Uptown and Plainfield shops to Plant X, the plant-based meals firm targeted on e-commerce and conventional retail focusing on the vegan market.
The shop was rebranded to XMarket, a vegan grocer, earlier than being become the short-lived meals corridor.
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