HYDE PARK — Boutiques from Humboldt Park, North Center and Ukrainian Village will make a run at Hyde Park holiday shoppers with pop-up stores.
Three new pop-up shops will open over the weekend in the third round of North Side shops doing a temporary run in University of Chicago-owned storefronts.
Designer Anastasia Chatzka will start selling selections from her Ukrainian Village boutique, Anastasia, on Saturday from a former Starbucks at 1500 E. 53rd St.
The corner storefront has been vacant since the coffee chain moved out more than a year ago, but will come back to life selling Chatzka’s meticulously designed collection.
Meadowlark, a Humboldt Park vintage clothing store, will take over the former AT&T location at 1457 E. 53rd St. from Friday through Jan. 9. The owners plan to offer seasonal items like sweaters, overcoats and some luggage.
Neighborly, a furniture and home goods store based in North Center, will offer items with a focus on craftsmanship and modern aesthetics at 1506 E. 53rd St.
Until late October, men’s clothing store Independence filled the former mattress store as one of the first pop-up shops on 53rd Street.
The temporary shops are part of an experiment by the university to offer discounts to North Side businesses to try locating to Hyde Park temporarily to test shoppers’ interest.
“So far, each of these temporary stores has stayed longer than they originally planned because they have been even more successful than they expected,” said James Hennessy, associate vice president for commercial real estate at the university.
The project has attracted one permanent storefront to the neighborhood. Comfort Me Boutique, a Lincoln Park women’s clothing store, signed a long-term lease after running a pop-up shop at 5241 S. Harper Ave.
Sir and Madame, a Ukrainian Village clothing boutique, had attempted to move down to Hyde Park after a successful pop-up shop, but could not get out of its existing lease, according to the owners.
For the first time, the university is expanding the experiment beyond 53rd Street to include the Hyde Park Shopping Center.
Amy’s Candy Bar will open on Friday in a storefront Homemade Pizza Co. abruptly abandoned when it closed all its Chicago locations in May.
The Lincoln Square-based confectioner specializes in nostalgic and imported candies.
All four stores will be open through the holiday shopping season.
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