Stone Real Estate Research Services has completed its Armitage/Damen/Southport Retail Survey as of
year-end 2024, an annual market analysis of Chicago’s three primary boutique neighborhood retail
streets. In this eighth edition of the Survey, we examine the fundamentals which created and now
sustain the success of these streets. We attribute the streets’ prosperity to the following three (3)
commonalities:
1) Surrounding high income demographics;
2) Proximity to public transportation;
3) Strong food and beverage options serving these corridors.
Armitage Avenue (bounded by Sheffield to the West and Halsted to the East):
KEY STATISTICS
Vacancy: Notable decrease from 6.4% in 2023 to 4.3% in 2024;
New Retailers: Wintrust Financial, Frankie’s Bikinis, Catbird, Hotel Chocolat, Rails, Levain Bakery, Moscot
and Haggar;
Soft Goods/Apparel Occupancy: Increased to 55.4% in 2024 from 52.8% in 2023.
Retailers have long noted the wealth in Lincoln Park and over the past 15 years, the neighborhood’s
Average Household income has doubled. The Armitage CTA L stop’s Brown and Purple lines directly
serve the street and the Halsted Street bus line heightens this access. Lettuce Entertain You has long
recognized the strength of this area as they opened Café Ba Ba Reeba on Halsted in 1985. They opened
Summer House in 2013 and have since added Sushi San and Ramen San to their restaurant offerings.
Hogsalt Hospitality entered the fray in 2021 with their hit Armitage Ale House concept at Armitage &
Sheffield and will now bookend the corridor with Small Cheval on Halsted. Boka, the first restaurant of
the BOKA Restaurant Group, opened in 2003 further south on Halsted. Charlie Trotter’s opened in 1987
and the media has reported that a new restaurant will open in that long vacant space. If the restaurant
opens in 2025, we project that Armitage’s vacancy rate will drop to nearly 0%.
National retailers regard Armitage Avenue as one of the stronger boutique streets in the country and
the combination of the high incomes, ease of access to the street and the presence of best in class and
locally based Chicago restauranteurs help create that reputation. Now, demand for space on Armitage
has intensified, particularly for soft goods retailers, who surpassed 73,000 sf of leased square footage
(55.4% of the inventory), which is an all-time high over the duration of this Survey. This level of demand
has shifted the negotiating leverage to the landlords, who are now able to drive rents on new deals to
nearly double their pre-pandemic levels.
Damen Avenue (bounded by Willow Street to the North and North Avenue to the South):
KEY STATISTICS
Vacancy: Plummeted to 12.9% in 2024 from 23.9% in 2023;
New Retailers: Barnes & Noble, The Popup, Playa Bowls, Saturdays Football, Jones Road and Baggu;
Soft Goods Occupancy: Skyrocketed to 41.2% in 2024 from 30.8% in 2023.
Damen Avenue became known as a retail corridor in the early 2000s when creative, eclectic and local
retailers occupied the street. During this time, the average household income was 60% of Armitage’s
income and 78% of Southport’s. As landlords attempted to accelerate rent growth and national retailers
prematurely entered the market, Damen Avenue endured a decade-long stagnation of its retail vitality.
Today, Damen’s income is 83% of Armitage’s income and equal to Southport’s. It is no coincidence that
with the rise of the neighborhood’s income, so goes the retail recovery of the street and Damen
significantly rebounded in 2024. The Damen Blue Line L stop easily brings people from both the City’s
northwest side and the Loop to the retailers’ front door, while the Damen, North and Milwaukee bus
lines handle the transportation from east, west, south and north. Food has long been a staple on the
Damen Corridor. One Off Hospitality has a long presence on Damen, south of the retail density with
their Big Star, Violet Hour and Dove’s Luncheonette restaurants. Despite a brief hiatus, Mindy Segal has
been a fixture in the neighborhood with her restaurants. Hogsalt debuted their Small Cheval concept
nearby at 1732 N. Milwaukee. Piece Pizza, The Bongo Room, Paradise Park, Kama, Urban Belly and Café
Robey round out the full-service restaurant options for the shopper to enjoy. La Colombe and Stan’s
Donuts provide alternatives to Starbucks with their offerings underneath the bustling Damen blue line
stop that serves the corridor at large. Now, national restaurants have entered the market with Cava,
Tacombi and Sweetgreen on Milwaukee Avenue and Bartaco and Playa Bowls on Damen.
Southport Avenue (bounded by Addison Street to the North and Roscoe Street to the South):
KEY STATS
Vacancy: Impressively remained flat at 0% from 2023 to 2024;
New Retailers: Sweaty Betty and Gorjana;
Soft Good Occupancy: Held serve at 58% from 2023 to 2024.
The organic development of the Southport Corridor began in the early 1990s as college-educated and
white-collar employees discovered the area as an alternative residential option to Lincoln Park. As they
settled into the area, they increased the average household income over time. This led to Southport
apparel pioneers of Krista K and The Red Head Boutique (currently Benefit Cosmetics) opening in the
early 2000s and proving that females will purchase ‘$100 jeans.’ In the recovery after the Great
Recession, Southport’s income level was 76% of Armitage’s but was just under $100,000 for the 1-mile
radius and national retailers began to take notice of the new customer’s buying power. The Southport L
stop is along the same Brown Line that serves Armitage. In addition to the Brown line stop, Southport is
also supported by the Addison bus line and the Addison Red Line, which bring additional people to the
strip.
Food has always played a visible role in Southport’s shopping environment. Chicago-based 4 Star
Restaurant Group has long been at the heart of the corridor with Crosby’s Kitchen along with
D’Agostino’s and Corridor Brewing providing shoppers, residents and Cubs fans a place for a solid meal,
drinks and fun atmosphere. In the past 10 years, 4 Star added to their Southport portfolio with their
Tuco & Blondie and Ella Elli restaurants, Billy Lawless and Ryan O’Donnell joined forces to open Coda di
Volpe and BOKA Restaurant Group replaced Southport Lanes with GG’s Chicken Shop, The Little Goat
Diner and Itoko. These significant upgrades to the street’s food offerings are also supplemented by the
newly opened Sweetgreen, Southport Grocery, Steingold’s adjacent to The Music Box and the Chicago
classic, Schuba’s Tavern, to the south.
Armitage and Southport have achieved essentially a 0% vacancy rate and Damen Avenue appears to be
on a short path to a robust recovery. For most retail trade areas, retailers find success when they serve
customers with disposable incomes, where many people can visit the trade area with ease and when
those customers can linger in the neighborhood longer because they can frequent enjoyable food &
beverage options. With these strong fundamentals, we expect continued retail performance from these
three boutique streets.