RIVER NORTH — As Jazz Record Mart prepares to leave River North, a new tenant is already circling its soon-to-be-vacated store: Bow Truss Coffee.
Philip Tadros, founder of the Chicago-based mini coffee chain, said he has a deal with Jazz Record Mart's landlord to move into part or all of the record store should the jazz mart close or leave. DNAinfo Chicago reported Saturday that Jazz Record Mart, a longtime Downtown institution that has sold music out of 27 E. Illinois St. for about a decade, has a pending deal to sell all its records and close permanently.
"We're just waiting to see what happens," Tadros told DNAinfo Chicago on Monday.
Tadros already occupies about 30,000 square feet on top of the mart's River North building via Space by Doejo, a company that rents out shared office space. Tadros said he recently cut a deal to open a small Bow Truss cafe inside After-Words bookstore, another retailer in the building, but may move into all or part of Jazz Record Mart instead should the record store close. The mart currently occupies two storefronts.
And should Bow Truss move in, it may sell more than coffee. Tadros is considering opening his new cafe in between the book store and his own record bazaar of sorts, where music collectors could gather and sell vinyl albums to shoppers.
"The draw is already kind of there," Tadros said.
Jazz Record Mart, led by Blues Hall of Famer Bob Koester, has bounced around Downtown since the '50s and moved to its current home in 2006. Koester, 83, said he put his inventory up for sale after his rent nearly doubled last year and because his son doesn't want to inherit the business. On Friday, he told DNAinfo Chicago that he accepted an offer for his records from an Arizona-based music collector who sells music on the Internet.
Tadros said he and the mart's landlord, a venture led by Northbrook-based KJF Properties, prefer that the mart stay.
"We have been trying to work with Jazz Record Mart to keep them there, and they are a tenant that we want there," said Marielee Macapagal, a KJF asset manager who oversees the 27 E. Illinois building for the company.
But Koester said Monday that any deal to bring Bow Truss into his store got "killed" by his rent increase.
"We cut a deal but the landlord jacked up the rent," Koester said. "I'm 83 years old. My son doesn't want the business."
Tadros's jazz mart plans are part of a Bow Truss expansion involving at least nine new coffee shops by the end of next year, according to Crain's. Tadros says he plans to open two other Downtown shops: one at 165 W. Chicago Ave. and another at Mariano Park in the Gold Coast, this spring.
RELATED: Jazz Record Mart Owner Reaches Deal to Sell All His Records, Closing Soon.
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