Start at 1233 N. Wells St. and walk north. In under half a mile you pass three storefronts that sell groceries in some form. One is open daily from early morning to evening. One has a shaded back patio. One is still empty, with a lease signed and no opening date. None of these businesses chose a fresh address. Each one moved into a space where an earlier store had closed, and the one at the north end got its tenant because a City Council deal required it.
That history explains how Old Town shops for food this fall, and why the next change is coming at its own pace.
Three addresses, three second acts
Here they are south to north, as you'd walk them:
- The Fresh Market, 1233 N. Wells St. This was the Old Town location of Dom's Kitchen & Market, which opened in November 2022. The Fresh Market opened here on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025.
- Foxtrot, 1562 N. Wells St. This one is the same brand back at its own address. It reopened on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, after its parent company shut down suddenly.
- Whole Foods Market, 1639 N. Wells St. This is the former Treasure Island, which has had no grocery tenant since that store closed in 2018. Whole Foods has signed a lease. An opening timeline hasn't been announced.
The three addresses filled up at very different speeds. That gap tells you most of what's worth knowing about the next year on Wells Street.
The fast refill at 1233
Dom's had a short run. Late in 2023 it merged with Foxtrot to form Outfox Hospitality. Less than five months later, both Dom's locations and 33 Foxtrot stores closed overnight. That meant two empty Dom's storefronts on the North Side, and the same grocer took both.
The Fresh Market opened its first Chicago store in October 2024 in the old Lincoln Park Dom's at 2730 N. Halsted St. By April 2025, it had filed a business license application for the Wells Street space. It opened that December and held a grand opening on Saturday, Dec. 13. The celebration included samples, giveaways and the cracking of an 80-pound wheel of Parmesan.
That's about 20 months from Dom's going dark to new carts in the aisles. The store's hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, and it offers curbside pickup, delivery and catering. The company describes the shelves as stocked with prepared meals and meal kits, USDA Prime beef, seasonal produce, bakery breads and desserts, and thousands of organic options. The prepared-meal focus carries on what Dom's was known for. Block Club Chicago reported that neighbors praised Dom's for its curated selections and chef-prepared meals.
Foxtrot's return at 1562 was faster still. The company brought back a handful of stores under co-founder Mike LaVitola, including its former Old Town and Gold Coast locations. The Old Town store reopened with its back patio, which has shaded seating for up to 30. That makes it a midblock stop for coffee and a few essentials more than a weekly stock-up.
The slow refill at 1639
The old Treasure Island building is a different story. It sat empty for years, and the plan to fill it took more than one try.
In 2023, developer Fern Hill signed a letter of intent with Commissary Market, a locally owned grocer that was expected to move there after closing its longtime Gold Coast store. That plan fell through.
The site finally moved because of a separate fight a block south. Fern Hill wanted approval to redevelop land near North Avenue and LaSalle Drive. For years that land had been a parking lot for the nearby Moody Church. The proposal divided the neighborhood. Some neighbors said a large apartment tower would choke surrounding streets with traffic and harm Old Town's small-town feel. Others spoke in favor, citing the city's need for new housing. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) supported the project after Fern Hill cut back its original plan for a 500-unit skyscraper. As part of that compromise, Hopkins required the developer to find a grocery tenant for the former Treasure Island.
So the Whole Foods lease comes out of the same deal that produced Old Town Canvas, the 349-unit apartment building planned for the North and Wells corner. Hopkins put it plainly when he announced the lease:
"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."
Ray Clark, president of the Old Town Triangle Association, said in a statement that residents "have consistently emphasized the importance of returning a full-service grocery store to this location," and that the lease "provides welcome certainty about the site's future."
What the lease settles and what it leaves open
The lease settles who the tenant will be. It doesn't set a date. Block Club Chicago reported on Sept. 1 that Whole Foods and the property owner would now work on design, permitting and construction planning. Hopkins' office said details, including an opening date, will come as plans are finalized. The Chicago Tribune added that there's no word yet on how much reconstruction the vacant building needs. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the lease but gave no other details.
For a sense of scale, the Tribune noted Whole Foods already has 10 Chicago locations. The company is also planning stores at 827 W. Belmont Ave. in Lakeview and at 1200 N. Ashland Ave. in Wicker Park, in a former CVS. The Old Town store is one of several the chain has in the works across the North Side this year.
The tower deal also covers a store people already use. Walgreens agreed to keep operating on the redevelopment site and to put its store inside the new apartment building. Urbanize Chicago reported that Walgreens has a lease to return in the new building. For now, the company's store locator still lists the 1601 N. Wells St. location as open.
The tower's legal path got clearer this spring. Crain's Chicago Business reported in April 2026 that a judge had dismissed a lawsuit seeking to stop it. We found no report of a groundbreaking or a construction start date for the Canvas site. Keep that in mind the next time scaffolding appears near North and Wells. The tower and the grocery come from one approval, but they're separate projects on separate timelines.
Filling the gap until 1639 opens
Until Whole Foods has a date, the produce run at the north end of the neighborhood has one more option, and it's seasonal. Green City Market sets up at 1817 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park. Its homepage lists Wednesday and Saturday markets from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Nov. 21. The schedules don't fully agree. The City of Chicago's 2026 farmers market schedule lists Wednesday markets only through Oct. 28 and gives Saturday hours as 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Check before you head over on a Wednesday or show up at 7.
When the outdoor season ends, the market moves farther away. Green City Market bought a former garden center at 2457 W. Montrose Ave. as a year-round home. Its indoor winter market there, called Homestead, opens in December 2026. No exact day has been announced. For Old Town, that means the farmers market leaves walking distance for the winter, while the year-round stores on Wells Street stay put. This winter, the full-service grocery in the neighborhood is The Fresh Market at 1233 N. Wells, open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Watching for news about 1639 N. Wells, or wondering how a new store might change your walk to errands? Meghan Provenzano Group keeps up with Wells Street block by block and is happy to share what we hear as plans firm up. Get in touch anytime.
