Logan Square's Grocery Map Is Being Redrawn on Milwaukee Avenue

Two national grocers have now confirmed stores on the same short stretch of Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square. Trader Joe's is taking part of the former CVS at 2053 N. Milwaukee Ave. A smaller-format Whole Foods Market is going into the former Family Dollar at 2280 N. Milwaukee Ave., a few blocks north.

The two stores are designed around different trips. The Trader Joe's site comes with a parking lot of more than 130 spaces, and the Whole Foods sits steps from the California Blue Line station. Both are moving into buildings that chain retailers left behind, and both join a part of Milwaukee where independent grocers and the Logan Square Farmers Market are already part of the weekly routine.

The Old CVS Lot Is Being Rebuilt for Drivers

The building at 2053 N. Milwaukee Ave. has been empty since 2017. Several grocery plans have fallen through there over the years, most visibly in 2021, when independent grocer Farmer's Best Market was set to move in and the deal collapsed. In 2024 the property sold for $10.5 million to James "Jimmy" Dremonas, owner of the Pete's Fresh Market chain. Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) says Dremonas, who still owns the property, is leasing the storefront to Trader Joe's.

The city work behind the store has moved forward this fall. In September, an ordinance passed that lets the building be split into a "strip center" with two retail spaces. It amends a city plan approved in 2024 that named this building, along with others on an 11-mile stretch of Milwaukee Avenue, as ready for redevelopment. Another 12,000 square feet on the property is being marketed to a second retail tenant.

The parking is unusual for a city Trader Joe's. According to the marketing materials Block Club Chicago reported on, the lot will have more than 130 spaces, and La Spata joked in February, "We're going for the record of largest Trader Joe's parking lot in the city." The exterior permit applications cover a remodeled facade, roof work, an upgraded parking lot with barrier curbs, a new truck delivery area and a pedestrian connection to Milwaukee Avenue.

La Spata has said the store is aiming for an early 2027 opening, and a Trader Joe's spokesperson confirmed in mid-October that the store is still happening. The company usually adds upcoming stores to its store locator three to six months before they open, and hiring starts only after a store appears there. For anyone waiting on this store, a listing on that page will be the first firm sign of an opening.

The Old Family Dollar Is Being Rebuilt for Train Riders

The Whole Foods site at Milwaukee and California has a different history. Family Dollar ran a store there for more than 25 years before closing it in 2023 because of building problems. This year the building got a new brick facade and roof upgrades under a permit issued in April, and crews were working on it over the summer. The site is directly across from the MiCa Towers.

La Spata has described the store in terms of transit. "The opportunity to step off the train and into a grocery store is a great one for our residents," he told Block Club Chicago. In the Chicago Sun-Times, he called the project a "buy right economic development decision" that needs no zoning relief or city subsidies, and said the store is likely to open on an accelerated timeline.

The format explains why the Blue Line matters. La Spata compares the store to the Whole Foods planned for 1200 N. Ashland Ave. in Wicker Park, which is part of the company's Daily Shop concept. In a May 2026 announcement, Whole Foods described Daily Shop as a smaller, curated urban store built around meals, pantry staples and grab-and-go items. The stock includes fresh produce, meat and seafood, prepared foods, bakery items, 365-brand products and goods from local suppliers. At that point the company had eight Daily Shops across the New York City area, Arlington, Virginia, and London.

The existing stores show the scale. The Hoboken Daily Shop that opened in December 2025 is about 4,850 square feet. The Williamsburg store in Brooklyn is 7,888 square feet. The company's newer stores in the U.K. range from about 3,300 to 10,000 square feet and are designed for sites under 14,000 square feet. A store that size is meant for picking up dinner on the way home from the train, which is a different trip from filling a car at 2053 N. Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Avenue, Address by Address

Put the new projects next to what is already on Milwaukee and the two chains look less like a new grocery district. They are joining a corridor that already has grocers, restaurants and a farmers market.

The Grocers Already Working This Stretch

Supermercado Barrera at 2336 N. Milwaukee Ave. is just up the street from the future Whole Foods. It is one of several independently owned stores on the Chicago Reader's map of independent grocers, published in October. Others on that map in and around Logan Square include:

• Carnicerias Jimenez, 3850 W. Fullerton Ave.
• Adrian's Fresh Market, 3700 W. Diversey Ave.
• Brisa Foods, 2156 N. Kimball Ave.
• Carniceria Guanajuato, 3140 N. California Ave.

For a full-size chain supermarket, the nearest options sit at the edges of the neighborhood: Tony's Fresh Market at 3607 W. Fullerton Ave., Jewel-Osco at 3400 N. Western Ave., and Mariano's at 2112 N. Ashland Ave. in Bucktown. That spread explains why the two Milwaukee Avenue projects have drawn so much attention. Each one puts a national grocer inside the neighborhood's main commercial corridor instead of on its outer edge.

The Market Moves Indoors, and to Saturdays

The neighborhood's seasonal grocery run changes this month too. The Logan Square Farmers Market finished its outdoor season at 2620 N. Milwaukee Ave. on Sunday, October 25. Its 2026–27 indoor season starts Saturday, November 28, at Avondale Collective, 2800 N. Milwaukee Ave., and runs Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through March 27, 2027. The market's site says it will be open on holidays. That leaves about three weeks after this post goes out without the market. When it comes back, it will be on a different day and at the north end of the corridor.

The new location sits among some of this year's openings. Mate & Company, the all-day yerba-mate cafe from the La Nonna owners, opened in late August at 2778 N. Milwaukee Ave. and serves coffee, lunch and La Nonna pastries. Next door at 2770 N. Milwaukee, Ryan Hu's Chengdu Impression opened its fourth location in August, with dinner daily and lunch on weekends. Near the other end of the stretch, Luis Zendejas opened Siete Azul at 2333 N. Milwaukee on October 31, in the former Chicago Diner space. It opened as BYOB while its liquor license was pending.

From the old CVS lot at 2053 to Avondale Collective at 2800, this part of Milwaukee Avenue will soon cover every kind of grocery trip: a drive with parking, a stop off the Blue Line, the independent grocers along the way, and a Saturday market starting November 28.

When a corridor changes this much, the details on each block matter. At The Lowe Group, we follow the projects on Milwaukee Avenue address by address. If you want to know how a new grocer, a new parking lot or a new Saturday market fits into your part of Logan Square, Let's Connect.