A new Barnes & Noble bookstore in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood opens to the public Wednesday, inside an architecturally historic building that once housed Walgreen's iconic "Vitamin Vault."
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, Barnes & Noble will hold a grand opening for its long-awaited Wicker Park store, located inside the city's historic Noel State Bank building, located at 1601 N. Milwaukee. The century-old space had previously been occupied by Walgreen's, which shuttered in 2023 but had gamed famed on social media for its repurposed bank vault.
The Wicker Park store follows the return of the bookstore to Lincoln Park, which opened a location on W. Diversey Parkway in May, and the store's comeback to Old Orchard Mall in Skokie.
“We open what is now one of the most beautiful bookstores anywhere in the world,” James Daunt, CEO, Barnes & Noble CEO said in a release, of the store's opening inside the Noel State bank building. “Its architects in 1919 described it as the dernier cri in bank architecture and indeed only bankers could have thought to build something so ornate. A little over a century later, we booksellers are thrilled to be the beneficiaries.”
The release describes the building as "one of the architectural gems of Chicago."
"The ornate interior is even more impressive than the exterior," the release said. "The bookseller has sensitively preserved the splendor of the building to create a spectacular bookstore."
The Wicker Park grand opening features a handful of author meet-and-greet book signings, including a signing of "The Lula Cafe Cookbook" by the restaurant' chef Jason Hammel.
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Earlier this year, Lula Cafe won Chicago's only James Beard award for 2024, taking home the prize for "Outstanding Hospitality."
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