South Loop Businesses to launch Chamber of Commerce

South Loop businesses are coming together to form a chamber of commerce called South Loop
Alliance. The Alliance will officially launch on September 24, 2015 at 6 p.m. at 1550 S. State Street. All South Loop business leaders are invited to this free event to include networking, cocktails hors d’oeuvres, and community building.

The South Loop Alliance’s mission is to expand and strengthen a healthy business climate, contributing to a vigorous South Loop community. So far, a small working group of business leaders have formed to the bones of the organization.

The Launch Party is an opportunity for all South Loop business leaders to hear more about the Alliance’s plans and be invited to become founding members, volunteers, and beneficiaries of the Alliance’s work.

More details are available at www.southloopalliance.org. Business leaders are encouraged to RSVP at the Web site.

Top-ten posts of 2012

Happy New Year! Here are the top-ten post, in descending order, from the past year.

Here are the top-ten post, in descending order, from the past year. Something you immediately notice is that most of the posts have to do with businesses opening or closing in the South Loop. However, the top post has nothing to do with business, but everything to do with fun in summer.

Interior of Square One

10. Square One opened in the summer of 2012 to considerable excitement, making the corner of S. Michigan and 14th St. just a little more interesting.

9. The Film Club made its debut at “The Venue 1550” at the Daystar Center. The first film series presented classic films all with a Chicago connection. Hitchcock’s North By Northwest was just one of the films screened. A new series focusing on film noir is planned for the spring.

8. Three Peas Art Lounge closed after a water backup damaged their space. It looked like they were going to be able to reopen, but it wasn’t meant to be.

7. A lot of new businesses opened in the South Loop, which is always a popular subject here. Take a look at some of the businesses that open in the past year.

6. The Wheeler Mansion Market was highly anticipated and the opening day was packed. But farmer’s markets are hard to run and manage and it closed earlier in the season than originally planned.

Kushal and Bhavika  “Bhavi ” Patel from Well Future

5. Well Future pharmacy opened in July of 2012 in the space formally occupied by South Loop Wine Cellar. The independent pharmacy created a lot of interest among readers.

4. Sprout Playroom, now Sod Room, a new play space for kids opening up in the old Buick showroom, second floor, at 1454 S. Michigan is highly anticipated. Originally planning to open in August 2012, the owners didn’t anticipate the problems involved with turning a landmark building into something fit for the 21rst century.

3. Costco opens and all heck breaks out! This may have been the most anticipated business opening of the year.

2. The meeting announcement for the proposed new Green Line stop at Cermak garnered a lot of interest. We wonder how many folks actually went to the meeting.

1. The post with the most interest by far was the announcement of Summer Dance for 2012. Apparently we love to dance in Chicago. Who knew?

That wraps up 2012. We hope to bring you more interesting blog posts in 2013. Thank you for your readership in 2012.