Margot still says “the Starbucks by the Apple store” when she wants to be picked up around North and Clybourn, although it closed in September 2025.
The location at 1599 North Clybourn was the CTA’s first Starbucks on the L, announced in 2012. For Trixies in Transit, not to be confused with Trixies in Training, it had been the coffee stop on the way to and from the Red Line subway. You could have an appointment at Apple, look at something at Crate & Barrel, and get coffee without discussing where to get coffee. Margot usually had the car because there was something in the back she meant to return.
“I liked that one,” she said. “Phillip always knew which one I meant.” She has gone back to the ones at Halsted and Webster and Sheffield and Armitage, depending on where she is going afterward.
The North, Milwaukee and Damen location closed that same September, another loss for Trixies taking the Blue Line at Damen. Several members remember it from when they were spending more time in Wicker Park, although Caroline would like it understood that she was visiting friends. She lived in Lincoln Park when she worked at KPMG, too.
That store had become a Starbucks Reserve in 2017, expanding into the former City Soles space. Jill used to buy shoes there and remembers going back after the coffee shop got bigger.
Blank Street Coffee now plans to take the space at 1588 North Milwaukee. October reports did not give an opening date. Whitney has already offered to go when it opens, provided they can do a Saturday after her workout at East Bank. Caroline wants to look at the menu first. She has been sent three screenshots of drinks and still does not know whether they have the one she wants.
Jill remembers the Riverpoint store on Fullerton, which closed in the same round, as particularly large, with outdoor café tables and parking. The lot was always busy, and Margot wanted a table facing her car. She blamed Marshalls for much of what she saw around it. “Some of those cars had no business in 60614,” she said. “And then you saw who got out of them. We used to shop at Marshall Field’s. We never shopped at Marshalls.” Jill would leave her with both coffees while she ran into another store in the center.
The other losses were less conspicuous unless they happened to be yours. Chestnut near Michigan Avenue closed, as did State and Adams, Jackson and Wells and the shop underground at Millennium Station. These were all part of the September 2025 closures. People who did not use them have been very helpful about pointing out other places to buy coffee.
Erin asked Jill to send her the downtown addresses. She does private-wealth tax at PwC and often meets people for coffee between appointments, especially when she has been at a client’s office and would rather stay downtown than go home and come back. She spent a few minutes looking through the list on her phone.
There are still plenty of stops on North Avenue. On their next trip, Margot wants to look at a console at west elm and Caroline needs to return something to Sephora. They could get coffee at Peet’s in the same building as west elm, although Margot has also mentioned going up to Armitage because she wants to see something at Art Effect. Phillip has asked how long they will be out. She told him they were just doing returns.