Kim Kardashian’s Skims Opening First Store in Chicago

Kim Kardashian’s Skims is setting up shop in Chicago’s Gold Coast, taking over a storefront in L3 Capital’s latest Rush Street acquisition and marking yet another shake-up in the evolving high-end retail district.

L3 paid $21.5 million in February for the 9,700-square-foot retail space at 1000 North Rush Street, purchasing it from Wintrust Bank, which had operated a branch there since acquiring Oak Bank in 2019, CoStar reported. The price comes to $2,216 per square foot.

Wintrust is set to relocate to another L3-owned site at 1051 North Rush Street, a 4,100-square-foot, two-level space formerly occupied by Vans, which is being redeveloped for the bank.

Skims will join a growing wave of retailers and redevelopments reshaping the Gold Coast’s Oak and Rush corridor, where legacy luxury brands like Cartier, Prada and Hermès are increasingly joined by new entrants with a broader customer base.

Alongside L3’s efforts, Rails and Ganni have signed leases for Gold Coast storefronts, while The Bellevue Chicago is set to open in the former Tavern on Rush space at 1031-1035 North Rush.

Anthropologie leased 16,000 square feet on the ground-floor at the Newberry Plaza condo tower at 1050 North State Street in January. Italian fashion brand Brandy Mellville signed a 6,000-square-foot lease for Acadia Realty Trust’s Gold Coast building at 8-12 East Walton Street in November.

L3 has been especially active in the neighborhood’s transformation.

The firm is nearing completion on its redevelopment of Carmine’s Bar & Lounge at 1043 North Rush Street, which is set to reopen in May in a newly built two-story, multi-tenant space. L3 also previously acquired and repositioned a former Northern Trust branch at 120 East Oak Street, which was converted into retail space for Burdeen’s Jewelry in 2023.

Founded as an online brand, Skims opened its first brick-and-mortar stores last year in Los Angeles and New York City. The Gold Coast store will be its first in Chicago, WMAQ reported.

— Judah Duke