Wrigleyville's Newest Clark Street Spots Were Built for the Off-Season

"We want to build a community and a group of regulars who come see us in the middle of winter, on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday when there's nothing going on." Evan Chew, district manager for Lucky 13 Hospitality, said that to Block Club Chicago in March. He was explaining why the group was opening a second Kincade's directly across from Wrigley Field.

That sentence describes most of what opened on Clark Street this year. The 2026 newcomers between Belmont and Addison were set up to stay busy when the ballpark is dark, using weekly programming, steady pricing and opening dates that fell outside the season. For anyone who lives within walking distance of Wrigley Field, November through March now has more going on than a stretch of Clark that only came alive for 81 home dates.

The dropoff every Clark Street bar plans around

Kincade's Wrigley took over the former Lost Never Found and Casey Moran's space at 3660 N. Clark St. Its operators described the business problem plainly. In Block Club's reporting, Lucky 13's Michelle Lopez said the bar expects thousands of customers on Cubs game days and a sharp dropoff when the team is out of town. The story called that a familiar challenge for anyone operating near the ballpark.

Lucky 13's answer was to make the bar about more than baseball. The two-floor space has pool tables, darts, arcade games, more than 30 TVs and four large video walls. Lopez said it would show "World Cup, hockey, basketball, football — anything and everything." Chew described the pricing in terms people who live nearby will recognize. "We want to have neighborhood pricing in a district that's typically a little more inflated price-wise," he told Block Club. He explained that prices on that stretch often spike during games and concerts, and Kincade's plans to offer consistent deals instead.

The game-day perk is separate and limited. On Cubs home game days, the bar gives a free hot dog with any drink, from an hour before first pitch through an hour after the game. The rest of the year depends on the regulars Chew was describing.

The bar also has a 40-year history behind it. The original Kincade's opened in Lincoln Park four decades ago, and Lucky 13 opened the Wrigleyville location to mark that anniversary. The group already operates Stolen Saddle, a country-themed bar it opened nearby in 2025. Lopez said that bar's success helped settle the timing for Kincade's.

The 2026 openings, mapped by address

Kincade's is the most direct example, but the pattern shows up across this year's openings. Two of them also sit well south of the ballpark gates, on the stretch toward Belmont.

Hattie B's timing deserves attention. WGN reported that the Nashville hot chicken chain opened on a Thursday in late February. That put its first weeks at Gallagher Way in the coldest, quietest part of the year, well before the Cubs came home. Kincade's planned an early-March soft opening and a full launch before the home opener. Two of the year's most visible openings across from the ballpark were operating before any game-day crowd showed up.

Apothecary, a cocktail bar at 3242 N. Clark St., opened Friday, May 29, according to Eater Chicago. It sits with Level Sporting Club at 3343 several blocks south of Addison. On a winter weeknight, the new options on Clark now run the length of the walk from Belmont to the ballpark instead of bunching at the stadium.

Level Sporting Club runs on a weekly schedule

Level Sporting Club shows most clearly how a Clark Street bar can fill a calendar without the Cubs. Founder and CEO Clarissa Flores set it up as a bar where women's sports come first. "The norm is now walking into a sports bar and it's a men's game, and you have to ask for the women's game," Flores told WTTW in May.

A bar built around women's leagues runs on a different schedule from baseball, which makes it a natural fit for the offseason. Block Club Chicago reported that the upstairs bar would host games, DJs and events, with a late-night lounge downstairs on weekends.

The club's own site lists weekly events, with Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday nights launched in August, and a trivia night among them. It also lists monthly events. Downstairs, The Key Club is described as a candlelit lower-level room with cocktails and live piano, open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. A bar with something scheduled on most nights of the week isn't relying on the Cubs schedule.

Gallagher Way handles the holidays

From late November through New Year's Eve, the plaza next to the ballpark adds a holiday season on top of those weekly schedules, and its 2026 dates are now posted.

Winterland at Gallagher Way returns Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, and Gallagher Way's calendar runs it through Dec. 31. The official listing says more details are coming soon, so programming beyond the market itself has not been announced for this year.

Christkindlmarket Wrigleyville, part of Winterland, has published its full 2026 schedule at Gallagher Way, 3635 N. Clark St.:

1. Opening day, Friday, Nov. 20. Regular hours run Monday through Thursday 3 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
2. Thanksgiving, Nov. 26. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
3. Dec. 21 through Dec. 23. Extended weekday hours, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
4. Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
5. Christmas Day, Dec. 25. Closed.
6. Dec. 28 through Dec. 30. Extended hours again, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
7. New Year's Eve, Dec. 31. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the final day.

The weekday hours matter for neighbors. A 3 p.m. opening Monday through Thursday means the market is open on the same quiet weeknights Kincade's is trying to fill. Hattie B's sits at 3649 N. Clark, right beside the market grounds.

Through Dec. 31, a weeknight on this stretch can include the market, dinner and a game on a screen within a few blocks. Until this year, the plaza carried most of the winter season by itself.

After New Year's, and into 2027

January is the hardest month for this argument, and it's where the new venues' weekly schedules have to work. The 2027 Cubs Convention runs Friday, Jan. 15, through Sunday, Jan. 17. According to the Cubs, it takes place at the Sheraton Grand Chicago downtown, not near the ballpark. The biggest baseball event of the winter happens elsewhere, which leaves Clark Street's January to its bars and restaurants.

The next opening on the calendar continues the pattern. Block Club Chicago reported in July that Portillo's plans its fifth Chicago location on the first floor of 3519 N. Clark St., a block south of Wrigley Field. The building also houses the Alamo Drafthouse, Shake Shack, Tin Roof and a UFC gym. The Wrigleyville Portillo's will have a walk-up window, a first for the chain, along with a small indoor dining area. The company expects to open in 2027.

Put that address next to the rest of this year's openings. With Portillo's at 3519, Level at 3343 and Apothecary at 3242, a growing share of the new storefronts on Clark sit south of Addison, along a corridor that has a movie theater and a gym as well as bars.

If you live near the ballpark and want to talk about what Clark Street's year-round activity means for your block, or for a home you're thinking about nearby, The Lowe Group follows these openings as closely as the listings. Let's Connect.