Walter E. Smithe planning to take over old Great Escape space
If you construct it, they may come — or, within the case of one in all Wilmette’s soon-to-be new companies, in case you dream it, they may construct it.
The Illinois-based furnishings and design firm Walter E. Smithe is planning a brand new location in Wilmette’s Edens Plaza, village officers introduced throughout a Village Board assembly on April 28.
The firm reportedly hopes to arrange store in Suite 390, the large, newly vacant storefront that used to home The Great Escape.
Lisa Brosnan, Wilmette’s enterprise improvement planner, stated Walter E. Smithe hopes to open in 2027.
The Great Escape departed Edens Plaza in late 2025 to transfer to a brand new location in close by Northbrook.
“We’re really excited about this because that’s such a big space,” Brosnan informed The Record after the assembly, including “I think they’re going to make some improvements as well to make the space nicer.”
Toward the conclusion of his presentation to the board, Brosnan stated Walter E. Smithe’s lease at Edens Plaza was “recently signed.”
Edens Plaza proprietor WS Development despatched a letter to the Village on April 20 saying Walter E. Smithe’s intentions to modify the inside and exterior of the suite. The letter, which The Record reviewed, particularly mentions a “34-page submission package titled ‘Proposed Walter E. Smithe Showroom.’”
Shortly after Great Escape’s exit from the middle, representatives from WS Development, the Boston-based developer that owns Edens Plaza, reportedly informed village officers that they might contemplate breaking the massive storefront into a number of completely different choices.
Now with Walter E. Smithe in tow, nevertheless, there isn’t a indication the mall’s proprietor has such intentions shifting ahead.
WS Development employed the same tactic to fill one in all Edens Plaza’s earlier sizable vacancies, breaking the former Bed Bath and Beyond storefront into three separate areas.
The impending addition to the village’s largest purchasing middle is one other signature newcomer becoming a member of Edens Plaza. The mall has secured a lot of high-profile tenants since WS Development reached a tenant settlement in late 2021 to purchase the middle and its 335,000 sq. ft of retail space.
In 2024, online-retail big Wayfair became the new anchor of the mall, opening its first brick-and-mortar location within the former website of Carson Pirie Scott, which deserted the 150,000-square-foot space in 2018.
Since then, Edens Plaza has seen a flurry of recent companies arrive, together with uncharted, Just Salad and the soon-to-open Club Studio and The Goddess and the Baker.
The current story of the middle is one in all “positive momentum,” Brosnan stated.
Walter E. Smithe has a close-by location at Golf Road and Skokie Boulevard, 9615 Skokie Blvd., in Skokie. Skokie officers informed The Record that Walter E. Smithe nonetheless operates within the space; However, the property proprietor has petitioned the Village to subdivide the space and herald new tenants.
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