Whole Foods Is Coming to the Polish Triangle: Wicker Park's Landmark Corner Gets Its Biggest New Tenant in Years
By Socialhood News · Wicker Park ·
One of Wicker Park's most recognizable — and most stubbornly vacant — storefronts is finally getting a tenant worth talking about. Whole Foods Market has announced plans to open a new location in the landmarked Home Bank and Trust Company Building at 1200 N. Ashland Ave., the historic corner property that anchors the Polish Triangle at the intersection of Ashland, Division, and Milwaukee. The news, reported by Block Club Chicago in April, marks the most significant commercial arrival at that address in years, and a potential turning point for a corner that has punched below its weight for too long.
The building itself carries real neighborhood history. The Home Bank and Trust Company Building is a landmarked structure that has housed a rotating cast of ground-floor tenants over the decades, most recently a CVS that closed in early 2023 as part of a company-wide consolidation. Since that departure, the ground-floor space has sat empty — an odd fate for one of the highest-visibility corners in the entire Wicker Park–West Town area. The vacancy has been particularly conspicuous given the density of high-end restaurants and new development in the immediate vicinity.
The incoming Whole Foods would be a welcome economic boost for the Polish Triangle area, which despite its prime location has experienced stubborn storefront vacancies in recent years. The grocery store would also continue a trend of major national retailers choosing landmarked Wicker Park buildings for their Chicago footprints: in 2024, Barnes & Noble took over the Noel State Bank building at 1601 N. Milwaukee Ave., which had previously been occupied by a Walgreens. The Whole Foods at the Polish Triangle follows that same pattern — a corporate anchor choosing architectural heritage over a blank-box strip mall, and in doing so, giving a dormant landmark a new daily purpose.
For neighbors, the practical upside is straightforward: the Polish Triangle sits at the convergence of three of the neighborhood's most-walked corridors. A Whole Foods at that corner would serve residents across Wicker Park, East Village, and Ukrainian Village simultaneously, and the address is steps from multiple CTA bus lines at the Ashland and Division stop. The building's upper floors are already occupied by other tenants, meaning foot traffic to and from the grocery store would activate a corner that has felt underused since the CVS shuttered.
The Whole Foods news is the latest chapter in what has become a banner year for new arrivals along Wicker Park's commercial corridors. Call Your Mother, the Washington D.C.-based bagel chain known for its New York-and-Montreal hybrid style and flavors like za'atar and maple salt and pepper, has also landed a Wicker Park location — adding a fast-casual morning anchor to a stretch that has been filling in quickly with new operators. Together with Ann Sather on Division Street, QXY Dumplings at 2018 W. Division, and the wave of Milwaukee Avenue openings earlier this summer, the Whole Foods announcement adds grocery infrastructure to a neighborhood that has been stacking up dining destinations at an impressive pace.
No opening date has been confirmed for the Whole Foods location yet, but the announcement alone signals that the Polish Triangle corner — long discussed as an underperforming asset despite its landmark status and high foot traffic — is entering a new phase. For neighbors who have watched that CVS-shaped vacancy for the better part of three years, the wait appears to be nearing its end. Keep an eye on the building at 1200 N. Ashland Ave. as build-out progresses, and follow wickerparkbucktown.com for updates as an opening timeline comes into focus.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/04/20/whole-foods-opening-wicker-park-store-in-former-cvs/
2. https://carolcollins.com/blog/wicker-park-summer-2026-every-new-opening-is-landing-on-the-same-two-streets
3. https://stephanieturnerchicago.com/blog/whats-new-to-eat-and-drink-in-wicker-park-and-bucktown-this-late-summer