Amazon’s Oak Brook Store Development Passes First Test

Amazon’s one-of-a-kind, Costco-style grocery and merchandise store in Oak Brook is another step closer to opening.

The Chicago suburb’s village panel voted to recommend approval of the project, which would require changes in zoning from office to retail, according to the Chicago Daily Herald. If approved, the project should be completed by October 2028.

The sprawling, 225,000-square-foot plan, set on around 27 acres at the corner of Butterfield and Meyers roads, could mark a pivot for future Amazon plans. Rather than a warehouse to ship items with the company’s hallmark breakneck pace, the concept is to build a physical shopping center.

The proposal also calls for eliminating a large swath of office space. Seven office buildings owned by Downers Grove, Illinois-based Inland Real Estate would be demolished, erasing roughly 600,000 square feet of office space from the market, according to the publication.

Past attempts at brick-and-mortar locations have blown up for Amazon. In January, the e-commerce juggernaut announced that it would be shutting down all of its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go-branded stores. Ultimately, Amazon Go will be remembered for helping pioneer contactless retail technology as opposed to the success of the brand as a shopping center, according to the publication.

They also closed 68 specialized storefront book shops, toy shops and home-goods stores in 2022. The company still operates its Whole Foods brand, but current physical Amazon offline stores are a fraction of what they once were.

“We think that we’re going to be able to bring the opportunity of something unique and special, as this will be one of the first of its kind within the country,” said Katie Jahnke Dehl, an attorney representing Amazon, during the Oak Brook meeting.

Despite the high-profile failures, Amazon appears determined to permanently break into the brick-and-mortar space. The company is planning to open another 229,000-square-foot store on a 35-acre plot south of the Oak Brook location in Orland Park in 2027. Its Whole Foods brand still retains a strong presence in many large cities, including Chicago, where a flagship store sits on Kingsbury Street.

— Hunter Cooke