Whole Foods to take over old Treasure Island space in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood
A new Whole Foods Market is coming to Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), the Old Town Triangle Association, and the Old Town Merchants and Residents Association announced Monday that Whole Foods has signed a lease to take over the old Treasure Island store at 1639 N. Wells St.
The entire Treasure Island grocery store chain shut down in 2018.
"From the beginning of the redevelopment review, I was clear that restoring a full-service grocery store to this location had to be a priority," Hopkins said in a news release. "Whole Foods Market is an established operator with the capacity to serve the neighborhood for the long term. There is still work ahead, but the signed lease is a concrete and welcome step forward."
Hopkins said more details, including a timeline, will be released soon.
The Treasure Island chain opened in 1963, and was famous for many years for the upscale selection that had it described as "America's most European supermarket" by Julia Child.
The first Treasure Island location was at 3460 N. Broadway in East Lakeview, followed by another at 2560 W. Lawrence Ave. in Lincoln Square, and a third in Wilmette.
The Old Town Treasure Island location on Wells Street opened in 1972, followed by several others.
The entire Treasure Island chain went out of business in October 2018. Some locations have gone on to meet other fates — the Hyde Park Treasure Island location became a Trader Joe's, while the original store on Broadway was torn down to make way for the Optima Lakeview luxury apartment building.
But the Wells Street store, which dated back to the era when Old Town was Chicago's center of bohemian counterculture, has been vacant ever since Treasure Island shut down.
Whole Foods also has a Chicago flagship location at 1560 N. Kingsbury St., about a mile to the west of the Old Town site. The store's original Chicago location was just across North Avenue from the Kingsbury Street store, in the North & Sheffield Commons shopping center.
There are currently 10 Whole Foods stores within the Chicago city limits, and several others in the suburbs.
Whole Foods also plans to open a store at the Lakeview Connection building at the southwest corner of Belmont Avenue and Halsted Street. The store will move to the long-vacant commercial space from its current location at the Center on Halsted building at 3640 N. Halsted St.
