A huge Harry Potter-themed store will open on the Magnificent Mile in the spring, a potential crowd-attracting arrival that retail landlords hope will provide a much-needed lift to Chicago’s best-known retail avenue.
Warner Bros. announced plans for the 12,300-square-foot store at 676 N. Michigan Ave. on Thursday, confirming a CoStar News report last month that the deal was in the works.
The Chicago store will expand upon experience-based Harry Potter stores in New York, London and Tokyo, offering photo opportunities, interactive displays, original film props and merchandise developed from the J.K. Rowling series of books.
The popular books have led to blockbuster movies and plays, including the recently started run of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at Nederlander Theatre in Chicago’s Loop business district.
The new Chicago store will be in the retail portion of the 347-room Omni Chicago Hotel, in a multilevel space previously leased to clothing chain Express. That store closed in 2021, leaving a huge hole in the middle of the Mag Mile less than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Harry Potter store, and one planned by Spanish clothing chain Mango in a building next door, provide some long-needed momentum to the center of the approximately 1-mile retail stretch.
“Our ambition is to bring some Harry Potter magic to Chicago with our uniquely themed shopping experience and unmatched selection of products,” Sarah Roots, executive vice president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Studio Tours and Retail, said in a statement. “I am delighted we have secured such a great property in a prime location and look forward to the opening next year.”
The long-term lease follows a short-term Harry Potter pop-up that closed last year in the Water Tower Place vertical mall.