HYDE PARK — Children’s store Red Balloon will open a pop-up store on 53rd Street in early August now that boutique Sir and Madame’s run has ended.
Calmetta Coleman, a spokeswoman for the University of Chicago, confirmed the children’s store now in Bucktown and Andersonville will be the next retailer to open a temporary shop in a string of storefronts along 53rd Street.
The university took control of four storefronts at 53rd Street and Harper Avenue in May 2013 and has hosted a rotating cast of retail pop-up stores since the former tenants left.
Comfort Me Boutique of Lincoln Park was the first to open in July 2013, followed by Sir and Madame, a clothing boutique from Ukrainian Village run by a husband-and-wife duo raised in Hyde Park.
“It was definitely a success,” said Autumn Merritt, who started the store with her husband, Brian.
Sir and Madame ended its limited run in Hyde Park on June 23, but Merritt said she and her husband were trying to make it permanent.
“We were going through with plans to move into Harper Court, but it didn’t work out for us,” Merritt said.
She said the store was unable to break its lease in Ukrainian Village so it could move south.
“We’re not ruling out coming back in a year at all,” Merritt said.
She said the Hyde Park location had more traffic than the 938 N. Damen Ave. location and was more convenient for many customers who didn’t want to drive up to the North Side from Hyde Park.
“Our clientele that has been shopping with us for years found the Hyde Park location pretty convenient,” Merritt said.
Sir and Madame is still moving out of the storefront at 1504 E. 53rd St., which will be converted for Red Balloon in time for its expected opening in the first week of August.
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