Ravenswood antique shop Architectural Artifacts is getting ready to reopen in Near North Side, located at 1065 N. Orleans St.
The original 80,000-square-foot site at 4325 N. Ravenswood Avenue sat there for 35 years before closing two-and-a-half years ago. The shop, founded by Stuart Grannen, quickly became known for its globally sourced antiques and furniture. Now, Grannen is teaming up with Robby and Debra Baum of Bedderman Lodging to reopen the store with some food and drink options. Guests can expect beer, wine, pizza, and other light bites sometime around mid-July 2022.
The new space, which used to be a school, will be much smaller, with 40,000 square feet of indoor space and an additional 5,000 square feet outside. The building also has a midcentury gymnasium and classrooms for private parties. While they are not being rented, they will be outfitted as individual shops, where customers can view over $10 million worth of inventory while enjoying food and drinks. On top of being a hybrid of an antique shop and eatery, there will be auxiliary bars throughout the building.
“You can order your latte (or) a beer and a pizza and go eat it on 1920s leather French club chairs. . . .Or, you’ll eat it off an 18th-century Dutch farm table,” Grannen tells Crain’s Chicago Business. “You can go sit in a cafe. We just bought a cafe in Munich, with all the cool chairs and table and everything.”
Grannen hopes customers will come to enjoy drinks in these areas and hopefully buy the sets and use them in their establishment, which allows the inventory to rotate. If the design of these rooms and items doesn’t appeal to guests immediately, they can scan a QR code that will show them where Grannen found the item and how he got it back to Chicago.
