The speed with which H.H. Gregg, the electronics and appliance retailer, departed from the scene in North Riverside may have come as a surprise, but the 30,000-square-foot retail space at 7250 Cermak Road won’t be empty for long.
North Riverside Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. on June 30 confirmed that Binny’s Beverage Depot has signed a lease on the property and aims to be open by Thanksgiving.
Binny’s Beverage Depot, a Skokie-based company that bills itself as “the Midwest’s largest retailer of fine wines, spirits, beer and cigars” has 35 locations in Illinois, almost all of them in the Chicago area.
The closest Binny’s location to North Riverside is on North Avenue in Elmwood Park, and Hermanek said the new North Riverside location will be 2,000 square feet larger than that store.
Binny’s won’t need any zoning variances from the village, and officials plan on holding a pre-construction meeting with Binny’s after the July 4 holidays.
“We’ll facilitate to do whatever we can to get them open by the time holiday shopping begins,” Hermanek said.
Much of the build-out inside the Cermak Road retail space to accommodate Binny’s should be cosmetic, said Hermanek. The building, originally constructed to house Wickes Furniture in the 1980s, was partially demolished and completed renovated by H.H. Gregg prior to opening that store in 2011.
“It’s almost like a new building,” Hermanek said. “There are no building issues.”
