"Corporations or corporate stores, entities, they come and go," Mojo Spa owner Amanda Kezios told Block Club Chicago in June. "Corporate businesses … as soon as they don't see the numbers, they're out, and then the next person comes out, but all these small businesses, they're the ones that stick around."

This fall, the blocks around North, Damen and Milwaukee are showing how that works. Three of the most visible storefronts near the intersection are going to out-of-town brands: a Nashville hot chicken chain, a Brooklyn coffee chain and a Tasmanian boot maker. Each one replaces a business that had its own run there. On these blocks the address is the lasting asset. The national names on the signs change every few years, and the businesses with the longest tenure nearby are mostly independents.

Three Addresses, Three Handoffs

The three spaces turned over for different reasons. Urbanbelly, the Asian street food restaurant, opened on Damen in 2016 and moved back to Fulton Market earlier this year. Starbucks closed its store as part of a national restructuring. The 1588 N. Milwaukee storefront had been a Starbucks for years and became a Reserve location in 2017. Last September the company put it on its list of about 20 Chicago closures. The 1563 N. Milwaukee space has changed hands between national apparel brands for years: American Apparel, then Burton, and now Blundstone.

What Each Newcomer Brings to the Corner

Hattie B's picked the former Urbanbelly corner near the Damen Blue Line station. It will be the chain's second Chicago location, after Wrigleyville opened in February, and a River North location is planned for next year. The Nashville company was founded in 2012 by Nick Bishop Sr. and Nick Bishop Jr. Its menu covers heat levels from no spice to Nashville hot, plus sides like pimento mac and cheese, collard greens and bacon-cheddar grits. The Damen location has indoor and patio seating.

The brand has been in Wicker Park before. "It 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," executive chef Brian Morris said in a press release quoted by Block Club Chicago. For the opening, Hattie B's teamed up with Paulie Gee's Wicker Park, just north near Milwaukee, on a limited pizza with hot chicken tender bites, barbecue sauce, bacon and black-eyed pea succotash. It sells for $37 a pie or $5 a slice through Oct. 31, and part of the proceeds goes to No Kid Hungry.

Blank Street Coffee is taking what Block Club called one of the neighborhood's most prominent storefronts, the one overlooking the intersection. The chain was founded in Brooklyn in 2020 and has grown to dozens of locations on the East Coast and in the United Kingdom. It is known for matcha and latte drinks. As of Time Out Chicago's Oct. 6 report, no opening date had been announced.

Blundstone is moving onto a block that is already full of boots. Dr. Martens is next door, and John Fluevog and Thursday Boot Company are nearby. The company was founded in Tasmania more than 150 years ago and opened its first standalone U.S. store in Los Angeles last year. Its Chicago store page lists 1563 N. Milwaukee with daily hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Last Round of National Tenants Didn't Stay Long

These three openings come right after a run of national brands leaving nearby. Between summer 2025 and May 2026:

• Yeti closed its store in the former Double Door music venue in summer 2025 after about six years. The space was still empty in late May 2026, according to Block Club Chicago.
• Starbucks closed the Reserve store at the intersection in September 2025. It sat empty for about a year before Blank Street signed on.
• Guzman y Gomez, the Australian taco chain, opened on Damen Avenue in mid-December. In May 2026 it closed all of its U.S. stores, saying its American business was not meeting financial targets and that it would refocus on Australia.

Each of those closings followed a company-level decision. A national tenant's lease is one line in a much bigger portfolio. When the company changes direction, the store can close no matter how busy the sidewalk outside is.

The same months brought new arrivals. Call Your Mother, the Washington, D.C., bagel and deli shop, opened its first Chicago location May 19 at 1615 N. Damen Ave., the former Dimo's Pizza space. Co-founder Andrew Dana told Block Club Chicago the company plans more Chicago locations.

The Longest Runs Belong to Local Owners

Block Club's June story about Call Your Mother revived an old Wicker Park argument, and the business owners it quoted have been around these blocks much longer than most of the brands now arriving.

Bill Jacobs started Piece Pizzeria and Brewery at 1927 W. North Ave. in 2001 and opened Brobagel next door in 2014. Before that, he and his brothers ran Jacobs Bros. Bagels from 1983 until it was sold in 1999. Kezios has run Mojo Spa on Milwaukee Avenue in its current form since 2003, and it made it through both the 2008 recession and the pandemic. Antique Taco is at 1360 N. Milwaukee, and Mindy Segal's Mindy's Bakery is at 1623 N. Milwaukee. Segal ran Mindy's Hot Chocolate in Bucktown for 15 years before opening the bakery.

The owners do not all agree on what follows from that. "We are the fabric of Chicago, the fabric of Wicker Park and Bucktown," Jacobs told Block Club Chicago. He also said he welcomes the other locally owned bagel shops nearby, including Helfeld's Delicatessen and El Bagelero in Bucktown. Ashley Ortiz of Antique Taco told the outlet that "you don't have to not support chains, but if given the choice, I think local restaurants build community." In an Instagram video Block Club reported on, Segal said she hopes people support small businesses, and she also pointed out that every store pays someone's salary and insurance: "an employee is an employee is an employee."

Dana responded in an email to Block Club Chicago. He said he and Daniela Moreira still run Call Your Mother day to day and brought on an investment partner for "steady, long-term growth." Like Hattie B's, Call Your Mother is founder-led and expanding, and both have to prove themselves on these blocks.

Ortiz's own description of the neighborhood explains why the turnover continues. "It's what makes Wicker Park cool," she said of the independent shops, "and I think that's obviously why businesses want to come here." National brands come to Six Corners for the foot traffic and character that long-running local businesses helped create. Each one that leaves frees up a storefront that the next brand is willing to pay for.

The Neighborhood Calendar Through the Tree Lighting

The third and last Meet Me On Milwaukee car-free day of 2026 was Oct. 25, and Milwaukee is back to regular traffic until next season. These are the next neighborhood events through early December, all listed on the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce calendar:

• Friday, Nov. 6, 6 to 8 p.m. WPB First Fridays is a free, self-guided art walk with stops at galleries, artist pop-ups and talks.
• Tuesday, Nov. 10, 9:30 to 11 a.m. The SSA #33 Neighborhood Forum meets at The Goddess and Grocer Bucktown. The Chamber says the forum will walk through the special service area's nearly $2 million annual budget and the services it pays for. This is the meeting for anyone who wants to know who pays for the corridor's upkeep and events.
• Saturday, Dec. 5, noon to 6 p.m. WPB Winter Wonderland & Tree Lighting is free. The tree lighting is at 1425 N. Damen Ave., and Metzger Court at 1260 N. Milwaukee has photos with Santa, fireside s'mores and letters to Santa. There are also holiday rickshaws, a gnome hunt, carolers and visits from the Grinch. Free ice skating is new this year.

By Dec. 5, the shops along the route could include the Hattie B's that opens Oct. 28, a Blundstone store and possibly a Blank Street, next to Mindy's Bakery, Mojo Spa and Piece, which have been on these blocks far longer.

At PCR Group, we've watched Wicker Park storefronts change hands for decades, and our development work through Senco Properties shows us how a well-located address keeps its value as tenants come and go. If you own near Six Corners and want to know what this fall's leasing activity means for your property, request a free neighborhood consultation and market valuation.