Dees, Crust, Real Naked Food Close on Division

Wicker Park's Division Street is certainly been having a tough time of it. With the influx of new businesses and a tight economy comes a lot more competition for dollars and we're now starting to see a different kind of transformation on Division Street.

The following businesses have recently closed their doors: Crust, Dee's Place, Makisu, Pump and Real Naked Food. The owner of Crust shared with us that he felt the shift in neighborhood demographics played a large role in the change in his business. An eviction notice is posted on Dee's door and the paper is up and the signs have all been removed from Real Naked Food who didn't quite make it a year.

We've also recently found out the children's store Grow is going to be strictly online and Renegade will be closing their retail stores to focus on the larger events. That makes 7 businesses closing in just 1 year. That actually beats the 6 that closed on North Damen last year.

On a positive note, we've added a few new spots too including: C. Dahlstedt, Delish, Frill, Prasino, The Anthem and The Bedford. 

It's interesting to see the many changes underway and there are more changes to come. Fat Pour is a huge 7,000 square foot sports bar planned to open in March 2012 in the space previously host to Adobo Grill and the 20,000 square foot Wicker Park Athletic Club is also scheduled to open around the March/April 2012 timeframe.

But that's not all. A very large building is planned for the Pizza Hut site that will be taller than the CVS Building across the street and will include 2 elevators, 119 condos and commercial space.

No. This isn't the same Wicker Park or Division Street that we moved into now 7 years ago. The one constant is change. And Division Street - and the neighborhood - will continue to evolve and change. This we know for sure.

Best of luck to all of the business owners out there. We know it's not easy.