Wicker Park's last post office was at 1240 N. Ashland Ave., in the Wicker Park Commons development, and it had retail windows and P.O. boxes. The branch closed in early 2025 after its lease expired. The storefront is now a Chick-fil-A, which opened in March.
The next post office will sit across Damen Avenue from the park itself, at 1520 N. Damen Ave. USPS spokesperson Mark Inglett told Block Club Chicago the branch is aiming to open "the first week of December." That puts the opening in the same week the Wicker Park & Bucktown Chamber lights the neighborhood's tree at 1425 N. Damen on Saturday, Dec. 5.
The move from Ashland makes the park-facing blocks of Damen the place for weekday errands as well as December's big event.
Almost two years of mailing packages from other neighborhoods
When the Ashland branch closed, USPS issued an advisory saying it was looking for a replacement in the 60622 ZIP code that would "maintain the same level of service." As Block Club Chicago reported, the same notice also made this promise:
"retail services will continue at the current post office until all necessary preparations are completed at the new location"
According to Block Club, that overlap never happened. Neighbors had to go to Logan Square, Lincoln Park or farther for mail and shipping. One full holiday season went by that way, and the alternatives were specific:
| Errand | Where it went after Ashland closed | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Counter service, west side | Logan Square post office, listed by USPS as Roberto Clemente | 2339 N. California Ave. |
| Counter service, east side | Lincoln Park Postal Store | 2405 N. Sheffield Ave. |
| P.O. boxes | Graceland, the transfer option named in the 2025 closure notice | 3024 N. Ashland Ave. |
Look at the addresses. Every one of them sits on the 2300 block or higher, well north of the park. Last December, mailing a package meant going to a different neighborhood. That is why it matters so much that the new branch is landing on Damen, a short walk from the Blue Line and facing the park.
What the new branch looks like, and the plaza around it
The branch has been coming together quietly for most of 2026. This spring, a U.S. Postal Service sign went up over a storefront in the shopping center at 1500–1520 N. Damen, next door to Lou Malnati's. USPS keeps a public list of the facilities it leases in Illinois, and the list includes a 1,524-square-foot space described as the "Wicker Park Retail Unit." That's a storefront-sized post office built for a walk-up counter, and it fits into a retail row instead of anchoring a strip mall.
The plaza around it has changed hands this year. Block Club reported that Stocking Urban and Ashland Ventures bought the 1500–1520 N. Damen shopping center in a joint venture for more than $16 million. The complex also includes the space that was home to the Violet Hour, the cocktail bar that closed permanently in 2025 after building damage and plumbing problems.
So within one plaza, a nightlife landmark has gone dark, a deep-dish counter is still serving, and a post office is about to open. Its busiest hours will be weekday lunch breaks and Saturday mornings, which are hours the cocktail bar never kept. With new owners and a federal tenant arriving, the plaza's daytime traffic is set to change more than its after-dark traffic.
Up the block, the corner has turned over too
Walk north toward the Damen Blue Line and the next corner is changing as well. The corner space at 1542 N. Damen Ave., home to Urbanbelly from 2016 until it moved to Fulton Market earlier this year, is the Wicker Park address of Hattie B's Hot Chicken, the Nashville chain founded in 2012 by Nick Bishop Sr. and Nick Bishop Jr. It's the brand's second Chicago location, after the Wrigleyville restaurant that opened in February, and the Damen space is set up for both indoor and patio seating.
The company is coming back to familiar ground. Executive chef Brian Morris told Block Club Chicago, through a press release, that Wicker Park "was the first place in the city we brought Hattie B's to, back when we did a pop-up at Dove's Luncheonette in 2019." The menu runs from no spice to Nashville hot. It includes jumbo tenders, half-bird platters, pimento mac and cheese, collard greens, bacon-cheddar grits, and banana pudding or peach cobbler for dessert.
Around the six-corner intersection, Blundstone, the Australian footwear brand best known for Chelsea boots, has moved into the former Burton storefront at 1563 N. Milwaukee Ave. The Blundstone Chicago store page lists hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. In November, it's an easy stop on the walk between the train and the park.
Farther up Damen in Bucktown, 1912 N. Damen Ave. is the home of Megan Lambert's Folklore Fabrics, a fabric shop built around Italian fabrics and sewing classes. Block Club Chicago reported that Lambert left corporate work to sew and wants the store to be a place where Chicago sewists can meet and make things by hand. If you're making gifts this year instead of buying them, Damen covers both ends of that errand: the shop that sells the fabric and, a few blocks south, the counter that ships the finished gift.
Two weekends, one stretch of Damen
The holiday calendar lands on the same blocks. Here's how the next four weeks line up from publish day:
- Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 28–29: WPB Small Business Saturday. The Chamber is running the weekend with its Wicker Park Bucktown Holiday Digital Shopping Map. Anything you buy that weekend and need to mail will go out from California Avenue or Sheffield, because the new branch isn't open yet.
- First week of December: the Wicker Park Post Office's target opening at 1520 N. Damen, according to USPS.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, noon to 6 p.m.: WPB Winter Wonderland & Tree Lighting in Wicker Park, 1425 N. Damen. The Chamber's event listing includes Santa photos, fireside s'mores, letters to Santa, holiday rickshaws, a gnome hunt, Grinch visits, carolers and music, plus free ice skating, which is new this year. The whole event is free.
The tree is at 1425 N. Damen and the post office is at 1520, across the street from the same park. If USPS hits its target, the first Saturday the branch is open will also be the day of Winter Wonderland. Letters to Santa at the park, packages for out-of-town family at the counter and dinner at the corner would all fit in one afternoon on one block.
The Ashland storefront where Wicker Park used to buy stamps is still a Chick-fil-A. The P.O. box transfer the 2025 notice pointed to is at Graceland, 3024 N. Ashland Ave. Those are the last details from the Ashland era. The rest of December's errands are moving to Damen.
Staging a home in December works on the same idea as a good block: keep everything someone needs close at hand. If you're thinking about how your Wicker Park or Bucktown home would show in the new year, with the park, the Blue Line and now a post office within a few blocks, Clare Sells Homes can walk through it with you. Request a Free Home Valuation & Staging Consult, and we'll start with the rooms buyers will see first.
