For the second year in a row, The Loop’s retail vacancy rate decreased with a significant drop to 28.53% versus 29.76% in 2024. Surprisingly, and perhaps a sign that a broader recovery has commenced across the entire Loop, State Street and the long-suffering Wacker & LaSalle corridors both reported significant increases in their respective occupancy […]

Retail vacancy in Chicago’s central business district ticked down slightly in 2025 for the second year in a row, a bit of welcome news for an area that’s struggled with empty storefronts over the last several years. The Loop retail vacancy rate was 28.53% in 2025, compared with 29.76% in 2024, according to a report […]

The Loop retail market improved slightly in 2024 as the vacancy rate decreased to 29.78%, down from 30.13% in 2023. As we approach the fifth anniversary of Covid, we can now analyze what occurred during the 5 year period after the March 16, 2020 shutdown. Since the shutdown, Loop retailers have vacated 222 storefronts consisting […]

The Loop endured its fourth straight annual vacancy rate increase in 2023, jumping to 30.13% in 2023 from 28.32% in 2022. Significantly, the vacancy rate has now doubled from its pre-Covid level of 14.92% in 2019. In the 22 years that Stone Real Estate Corp. has conducted its Annual Loop Retail Survey, the lowest recorded […]

CUT ME MICK (Rocky Balboa to his trainer, Mickey Goldmill, during his fight against Apollo Creed on January 1, 1976 in Philadelphia) After weathering the barrage of punches from the two-pronged attack of Covid and the subsequent Work from Home (WFH) trend, the Loop’s retail market is indeed battered and bruised. But the real story […]

Loop retail vacancies drop to lowest in at least 12 years Micah Maidenberg – February 24, 2014 Retailers kept gobbling up space in the Loop last year, pushing the neighborhood’s retail vacancy rate to its lowest level in at least 12 years. The retail vacancy rate in the Loop dropped to 10.8 percent at the […]

Loop retail vacancy falls to 10-year low Micah Maidenberg, March 4, 2013 Retailers keep finding reasons to set up shop in the Loop, with vacancy falling to a 10-year low last year. The vacancy rate in the downtown retail market has reached its lowest level in a decade, down to 11.9 percent in 2012 from […]

Target store, Block 37 sale bode well for Loop retail Crains The Loop retail market didn’t get better or worse last year, but the opening of Target Corp.’s State Street store and the sale of the Block 37 mall could bode well for the area in 2012 and beyond. The retail vacancy rate for the […]

Loop retail vacancies tumble with help from eateries Crain’s The Loop retail vacancy rate fell last year to its lowest level since 2002 as retailers, led by restaurant chains, expanded downtown as the economy improved. The vacancy rate declined to 13.6% from 14.1% in 2009, according to an annual report by the Chicago-based retail brokerage […]

‘Uncommon strength’ for Loop retail market Crain’s Retail vacancy downtown climbed last year as several stores and restaurants in the Central Loop closed shop amid a recession that socked retailers nationwide. The Loop’s retail vacancy edged higher to 14.1% last year from 13.7% in 2008, which was a six-year low, according to an annual report […]