Time Out Market Pulls Plug on West Loop Food Hall

Time Out Market is bowing out of Chicago’s West Loop, closing its Fulton Market space less than six years after opening it as an early entrant in the city’s upscale food hall boom.

The 50,000-square-foot Time Out Market Chicago at 916 West Fulton Street will shutter Jan. 23, the company confirmed in a statement released Thursday morning. Time Out CEO Michael Marlay cited uneven foot traffic tied to hybrid work patterns and rising operating costs as obstacles to profitability, even as Chicago’s broader recovery has gained steam, Crain’s reported.

“[Foot traffic] until today remains inconsistent in the area due to ongoing hybrid working and in addition, operating costs have increased — all of which prevents consistent profitability,” Marlay said in the statement.

The closure affects more than a dozen local food operators, many of which run their only physical space or a key outpost inside the market. Some vendors had signed leases just months ago, highlighting the whiplash facing small operators that bet on Fulton Market’s continued momentum.

The building’s owners are already lining up a second act. The building was purchased in 2023 for nearly $36 million by a venture of Luxembourg-based Lagfin, the holding company tied to the Italian billionaire family that owns Campari Group. Lagfin partnered with Chicago developer R2 to manage the food hall, and R2 will now help reposition or re-lease the space.

R2 CEO Matt Garrison told the outlet that ownership is exploring a broad range of options, from another food-and-beverage concept to experiential or flagship retail uses, and that discussions with potential users are already underway.

Time Out Market opened in 2019, staking out a prime corner of Fulton Market as the district was cresting as Chicago’s hottest mixed-use neighborhood. But the pandemic-era shift in office usage and rising labor and operating costs have battered food halls nationwide. Chicago has already seen several retrenchments, particularly downtown.

The situation mirrors the shakeup at Revival Food Hall in the Loop. Revival announced its closure in July 2024, only for a new operator to step in within weeks and keep the space running under a different banner.

Time Out Market still operates in 10 cities globally, though local outlets in Boston reported that market is also closing, suggesting broader pressure on the brand’s U.S. portfolio.

— Eric Weilbacher