On Oak Street, the Storefronts Change Hands Before the Lights Go Up
Three storefronts on the block of East Oak Street between Michigan Avenue and Rush Street are changing over this fall, and a fourth tenant has moved around the corner to Michigan Avenue. One shop closed. A new one signed a lease and planned to start buildout in mid-October. A restaurant that was due in summer now says only "2026." None of the new arrivals has announced an opening date.
So the businesses on this block won't set the Gold Coast's calendar between now and the holidays. Two institutions with fixed dates will. One is the Newberry Library on Walton Street. The other is the Lights Festival parade, which starts at the corner where Oak meets Michigan. The storefronts are changing between those two dates, and the new ones will mostly open after both.
| Address | Before | Now | Status in October |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 E. Oak St. | Christofle | Toteme | Lease signed, buildout planned for mid-October, no opening date |
| The Drake, Michigan Avenue side | None reported | Christofle | Relocated from 40 E. Oak |
| 45 E. Oak St. | Tory Burch | Vacant | Closed, no new tenant announced |
| 58 E. Oak St. | Esquire by Cooper's Hawk | Esquire by M Street Collective | "Coming Soon 2026" |
The changes are connected. Christofle didn't leave the Gold Coast. It moved roughly a block to a corner with more foot traffic, and the space it left was leased within the same news cycle.
The Real Deal reported on October 9 that Christofle, the French silverware and tableware house, had moved out of 40 E. Oak and into the ground-floor retail at the Drake Hotel, facing North Michigan Avenue. Its replacement at 40 E. Oak is Toteme, the Stockholm fashion label. This will be its first store in the Chicago area.
The store is small. Crain's Chicago Business put the lease at 1,173 square feet, and The Real Deal said about 1,100. Toteme planned to start building out the space in mid-October. Neither outlet reported a move-in or opening date. Its other U.S. stores, by The Real Deal's count, are two in New York, two in Los Angeles, one in Aspen and one in Miami. Chicago joins that group of cities.
The building has been updating its own exterior too. Its owner, Berger Realty Group, owns 40 E. Oak, a 20-story apartment building, and told Crain's it had recently upgraded the stone facade, front doors and main canopy. Golden Goose, which shares the ground floor, has redesigned its storefront. That means the one building on the block with a new tenant also has a new facade, a new canopy and a redesigned storefront next door. Neighbors walking past will see the work before Toteme opens.
The only change without a successor so far is across the street. NBC Chicago reported on September 18 that the Tory Burch store at 45 E. Oak had closed. It was the brand's only store in the city, and the exact closing date wasn't clear. The brand's website now lists the location as closed. The nearest Tory Burch stores are in Oak Brook Mall, Old Orchard in Skokie and the Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont.
No new tenant has been announced for 45 E. Oak. The Christofle and Toteme moves happened within weeks of each other, so the space could turn over quickly too. For now, the store NBC described as "known for its gorgeous interior" is empty, just ahead of the holiday shopping season.
The biggest project on the block is upstairs. Esquire is going into the old Esquire Theatre at 58 E. Oak. The movie house opened in 1938. The restaurant comes from M Street Collective, a Nashville hospitality group. It will be the third restaurant in the theater space, after Esquire by Cooper's Hawk and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse.
The timeline has slipped. The Chicago Star had reported that Esquire was preparing to open "later this summer." Eater Chicago's fall preview, published September 11, gave a late-fall ETA. The restaurant's own site still says "Coming Soon 2026."
Here's what's planned, according to published reports:
A restaurant this size changes how the block works at night more than any boutique can. Right now its opening has no date, the same as Toteme's.
This summer, our walk along Oak and Rush covered what was already open. This fall, most of the change on the block is still pending.
With the storefronts in flux, the fixed dates through the end of the year belong to the Newberry Library at 60 W. Walton St. and the Magnificent Mile Association. Listed in order, they give the Gold Coast a fall calendar that doesn't depend on a buildout schedule.
The fifth date is the one that matters most for Oak Street. The parade starts at the Drake's corner, a few steps from Christofle's new storefront and the end of the block where Toteme and Esquire are still to come. The street's biggest crowd of the season gathers there on November 21. Unless one of them opens before then, the new names will not yet be open for business when the parade passes.
The next news from East Oak Street will most likely come from one of three places:
Toteme's space sits under the new canopy at 40 E. Oak, and Esquire's floors are above the old theater entrance at 58 E. Oak. Neighbors who walk Oak Street on the way to the Newberry fair on October 31 will pass both.
Gold Coast homeowners who follow which storefronts change on their block are usually also following how their own address is valued. If you're thinking about your home's position as Oak Street changes this winter, Lissa Weinstein offers a quiet, informed conversation about where your home stands. Request a confidential consultation, and we'll start with the blocks you know best.
Whether buying or selling or looking for an expert team to downsize your parents, my team of professionals is here to support your goals and make your next home move as smooth as possible. We are here to guide you, help you make smart investments for your future, transition your move, and take care of all of the details so you don’t have to. We are excited to get to know you and see how we can best be of service.
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