Brookfield has chosen the six stores that will comprise the 2026 Brookfield Shops roster, including three returning vendors and three new ones.
New Book Joy, Four Star Coffee Company and the Shop Salon & Style House will return for 2026, said Libby Popovic, Brookfield’s community development director. The Vulgar Vegan, 34Designed and Down to Earth Herbal Infusions will be new vendors for 2026.
Down to Earth and 34Designed will open in May at the introductory level, Popovic said, while the three returning vendors and the Vulgar Vegan will operate at the graduate level and open in January. She said she expects a grand opening to be held in the first week of May.
“What we’re looking for is operational capacity for them to open up a brick-and-mortar [location]. Think about it like high school and college,” she said of the graduate level. “We’re looking at their financials more. We’re looking at what are their sales tax revenues. We’re going more into profit and loss statements, in terms of actually scaling up to where they can logistically and realistically get a loan or a brick-and-mortar.”
Organic Jewelry, Frost with Us and Rites of Wellness, the 2025 vendors who are not returning, will continue to operate on the weekends through Dec. 31, she said. A graduation ceremony for the 2025 vendors is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2026, at Brookfield Zoo Chicago.
Three runners-up — vendors called Aficionadough, Makrame Green and House of Nairobi — will be given pop-up spots at Brookfield’s new French Market at Eight Corners next year, she added.
“Unlike a farmers market, it’s more artisanal,” Popovic said. “They have more arts and crafts, plants. It’s a little more bougie.”
She said the selection process for this year’s cohort was difficult due to the high quality of the vendors who applied.
“We had a great, great selection this year. We had 22 [applicants], and we had to narrow it down to 12,” she said. “I was like, ‘Why don’t we have five more sheds?’”
Popovic said she found the village’s first go at the retail incubator program was successful, though it wasn’t without its challenges.
“Now that it’s winter, we’ve had some issues with the heating. That’s been unexpected. We might have to change the actual mechanical stuff” for next year, she said. “But it’s been great seeing the vendors. So far, they’ve done $200,000 in sales, which is great, and we don’t even have all of December in.”
