After years of walking past dark display windows, downtown pedestrians finally had a little less glass to stare through in 2025. Loop retail vacancy ticked down for a second straight year to 28.53%, helped along by a few splashy leases and a crop of new restaurants stepping into long-empty spaces. It is a baby step, not a boom – in some stretches, roughly one in four storefronts is still empty – but it breaks the steady climb in vacancies that followed the pandemic.
Vacancy Edges Down, But Market Still Looks Wobbly
According to Crain’s Chicago Business, which reviewed data from a market tally, the Loop’s retail vacancy rate slipped to about 28.53% in 2025 from roughly 29.76% in 2024. The central Loop, including the key State Street stretch, saw a stronger bump as a few big leases filled high-profile flagship spaces that had sat empty.
State Street Scores With Big-Name Bookstore
One of the biggest wins landed on State Street, where Barnes & Noble confirmed plans for a large, multilevel flagship in the former Old Navy space. WBEZ reported that the bookstore is expected to be a major foot-traffic magnet for the corridor, a welcome shift for a stretch that has watched more than its share of closures…