A group of scrappy entrepreneurs is taking advantage of the Loop’s slow but steady recovery, opening dozens of new downtown restaurants and stores this year.
More workers are venturing to the Loop several days each week, and tourists flooded the Riverwalk and other top downtown attractions over the summer, boosting confidence and making it a bit easier for small-business owners to launch new ventures, said Colleen Wagner-Caulliez, co-owner of Léa French Café, which in May opened a new location at 20 N. Michigan Ave.
“We do see foot traffic is better year on year, and even week on week, so it’s going in the right direction,” she said. “Even a few years ago, I would say there was a lot more risk, because we were all still wearing masks and had no idea what was going to happen.”
Restaurants and other retailers still face many challenges. The Loop’s daytime working population is well below pre-pandemic levels, the overall retail vacancy rate remains near its historic high and older properties in the Central Loop are still lined with “For Rent” signs.
But clusters of new restaurants, cafes, coffee bars and clothing stores are popping up in healthier areas, especially near the West Loop’s new office buildings, or on tourist-heavy blocks such as State Street and North Michigan Avenue. More than 30 will have opened by the end of the year, according to the Chicago Loop Alliance.
“What is happening, and it may not always feel like it, is that a recovery has started,” said John Vance, principal at Stone Real Estate Corp. “So retailers have started to think, maybe we should look at possible deals, and if they can get rents that are low enough, many have said this is the time to do it.”
If the trend continues into 2026, it would be good news for all downtown office tenants. Many companies have sought to entice workers back to the office by upgrading their spaces, providing new amenities such as rooftop decks and fitness centers. But to fully recover, downtown will also need to rebuild its ecosystem of restaurants and shops, providing office workers with options not available at home, including unique shops and restaurants, rather than corporate brands.
Downtown property owners recognize the importance of a good restaurant scene, said Jeff Lindenmeyer, principal with commercial real estate firm Avison Young.
“Having a good restaurant creates stickiness for an office building,” he said, meaning tenants are reluctant to leave a building that provides employees a comfortable place to hang out, socialize or meet clients. “One of the big pursuits of office buildings right now is getting great operators in there to deliver a successful restaurant.”
He pointed to Onni Group, which has leased hundreds of thousands of square feet this year at 225 W. Randolph St., a West Loop tower it’s redeveloping into a Class A office building called The Bell.
“When you start the hard hat tour, the first place they take you is the corner of Randolph (Street) and Franklin (Street),” where Solette, a casual restaurant and bar, opened earlier this year on the ground floor of 225 W. Randolph St., Lindenmeyer said.
Office workers are still scarce on Mondays and Fridays, so running a downtown restaurant isn’t easy, Vance said. But many proprietors make up for the losses by catering and cutting staff hours on slow days, and landlords who want active ground floors are increasingly giving restaurants some financial breaks.
“That’s helped a lot of food and beverage guys to survive,” he said. “It’s still difficult to get deals done and run a restaurant, but it’s better than it was three years ago by a long shot.”
Colleen Wagner-Caulliez and her French-born husband, Nicolas Caulliez, both architects, opened the first Léa French Café in Oak Park in 2017, before opening their first Chicago location at 70 E. Lake St. in 2022. Instead of traditional French cuisine, the pair wanted to bring the country’s simple street fare to the Chicago area, serving nonprocessed foods and fresh-baked bread.
“It’s not like escargot,” Wagner-Caulliez said. “We love the simple sandwiches you can get in a French cafe.”
“It’s very casual, and affordable, but still in the French tradition,” Caulliez said.
Running restaurants during the pandemic was tough.
“There was a point where nothing was moving, and landlords didn’t want to reduce the rent,” Wagner-Caulliez said.
But Léa French Café now has better lease terms. There is a base rent in both locations, but if they reach a certain sales number, the landlord will get additional rent in line with the increased sales.
“The landlords understand tenants can’t pay pre-pandemic rents,” Wagner-Caulliez said. “It’s a little bit more of a partnership, and tenants are taking advantage of what are, not exactly affordable rents, because it’s still downtown, but fair rents.”
As of September 2025, Chicago’s central business district was 63.5% as busy as compared with September 2019, according to Avison Young’s Office Busyness Index. That’s up from 59% in August’s 2019 comparison. Fulton Market was the top performer, with average year-to-date activity levels of 78%, up from 69% last year, followed by the West Loop at 69%, up from last year’s 64%.
“We’re seeing a lot of positive momentum year-over-year,” said Anthony Zoccola, market intelligence analyst at Avison Young. “It’s coming off the back of higher-performing submarkets. We’re hoping that growth spills over into neighboring submarkets as well.”
The city also saw record-breaking numbers of tourists and other visitors over the summer. From June through August, downtown hotels booked nearly 3.6 million room nights, a 4.3% gain over 2024 that topped the pre-COVID record in summer 2019, according to data by Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism arm.
The increased traffic fueled business at The Original Rainbow Cone, a third-generation family ice cream business that opened in late September at 163 N. Michigan Ave.
“We’re thrilled with what we’ve seen so far,” said John Buonavolanto of Original Rainbow Cone, which has several dozen stores across the metro area. “Having a Michigan Avenue location really solidifies ourselves as a Chicago institution and a historic brand. I can’t wait to see what a full summer looks like at that location.”
There are a few well-known corporate brands among the more than 30 new restaurants and eateries coming to downtown. Cava, a Mediterranean restaurant with more than 400 locations nationwide, recently opened its seventh eatery in the Chicago area at Willis Tower in the West Loop.
“You have a tremendous number of office workers (in Willis Tower), like United Airlines,” said Jeff Gaul, Cava’s chief development officer. The location also draws tourists going to the building’s Skydeck and West Loop residents shopping at Catalog, its massive retail center. “What we’ve seen so far is (Chicago) is rebounding nicely, especially when compared to other cities.”
Panera Bread has more than 2,000 U.S. locations, and in late October it opened a new restaurant at 168 N. State St. The company had a location at 501 S. State St., but closed it permanently during the pandemic.
“Reestablishing a presence in the Loop was a key part of our post-COVID strategy to reconnect with the downtown community,” said a Panera spokesperson in a written statement. “This location stood out for its central location, high-foot traffic, and close proximity to CTA stops, retail, hotels, and major tourist destinations.”
Although most of the Loop’s new retailers are fast casual restaurants or cafes, other stores are also seeing opportunities to expand.
Melissa Grubbs, the co-owner of Reckless Records, said its downtown store survived the pandemic, but after 18 years at one location, badly needed an upgrade. In May, they moved around the corner to 33 S. Wabash Ave., into a space the new and used music store could not have afforded before COVID.
“It’s a cute and cozy spot, and we definitely spent some money on the buildout, so it’s dramatically different, with more space and a better layout,” Grubbs said. “We were willing to put money into our new space because we were confident the Loop was coming back. And it has. It’s on its way. We’re seeing a lot more foot traffic, including tourists and people coming downtown to enjoy the city and all the music festivals.”
Mike Draper also wants to tap into that energy. He began selling T-shirts on the street in 2004 while still in college, and now owns Raygun, an independent printing, design and clothing chain with 11 locations around the Midwest. The company will open its 12th location next March at 5 N. State St.
State Street lost many major retailers in the wake of the pandemic, including Old Navy and Claire’s, and that gave Raygun an opening, Draper said.
“It’s still expensive, it’s not Lincoln, Nebraska, but it’s cheaper than it was in 2019, for sure,” he said. “I never went to business school, but Warren Buffett said when other people are cautious, you get aggressive. We didn’t want to miss the opportunity when it came to us.”
The Loop’s retail market has a long way to go before it’s fully recovered, Vance said. The retail vacancy rate was less than 15% in 2019, and doubled to more than 30% in 2023. It began ticking down in 2024, and stood at 29.7% in early 2025. He expects the vacancy rate to fall a bit further this year, but some blocks, such as Jackson Boulevard near the Dirksen Federal Building, lost much of their daytime working population, and still have mostly empty storefronts.
“Maybe the Loop was always going to come back,” he said. “But it’s going to take time.”