After eight years of organizing, Wild Onion Market has finally declared its new location, 7007 N. Clark St. in Chicago.
The co-op signed a 10-year lease in the Rogers Park neighborhood. After vetting 40 potential sites for the last two years, the co-op picked a location less than one mile from Evanston, where 40% of its owners reside.
About 55% of owners are from Chicago’s Rogers Park or West Ridge neighborhood, totaling 1,082 owners since the launch of Wild Onion Market.
According to the co-op, the site on Clark Street is accessible, environmentally sustainable and financially feasible. A capital campaign to fund the new store will run from March 6 to May 22 to raise the money needed to operate the new site.
Store design by Retail Planit of Sheboygan Falls, Wis., is under way in conjunction with architect Brian Hammersley of Hammersley Architecture in Chicago. Construction is set to begin this spring and opening day is projected to be in the last weeks of 2022 or early 2023.
Lisa Gibbons, Vice President of the co-op board, said that the next steps include hiring a general manager and beginning research on local farmers and producers. There are 143 local businesses that are owners and will be prioritized for supplying the co-op.
The former tenant of the space, Express Market Place, was a grocery store, which will make the transition to Wild Onion Market smoother by allowing the co-op to reuse what was left behind, furthering its core value of sustainability.
Gibbons said she is looking forward to seeing the future of the store and the community support of Wild Onion Market. “We are really excited for Evanstonians to come south a few blocks and be part of growing this community.”
On Saturday morning, Jan. 29, Wild Onion Market hosted a Facebook live event for a walkthrough of the new space with current and former board members.
Great news!!! Thanks for your hard work in making this happen for our community!