Downtown Naperville is saying goodbye to its Eddie Bauer store, but the vacant Catch 35 restaurant is soon to be a new steakhouse.
And Naperville food shoppers can look forward to a new retailer focused on organic produce setting up shop on Ogden Avenue.
Downtown openings
The Belmont American Steakhouse, a new restaurant from the Empire Restaurant Group, is taking over the spot previously occupied by Catch 35 at 25. S. Washington St.
Catch 35 closed its doors in June 2024, seven months after the seafood restaurant announced its downtown Chicago location was shutting down. The Naperville location had been in business for 21 years.
“We are opening hopefully in May,” said Raffi Demerdjian, director of operations for Empire Restaurant Group, who declined to provide any other details about The Belmont.
City spokeswoman Linda LaCloche confirmed an building permit application for the location had been submitted in December, but remains under review by the city.
Empire Restaurant Group owns multiple businesses in downtown Naperville, including Fiammé, Empire Burgers + Brew and The George, which opened in October.
The Belmont joins a slew of other businesses set to open in downtown Naperville this year. Slyce of NY is planning to open at 215 S. Washington St., serving New York-style pizza and gyro bowls. It will be the restaurant’s third location, with stores in Skokie and Lombard.
Syed Warsi, owner of Slyce of NY, said he hopes to open in March.
Other businesses also coming are the French pastry shop Le Macaron, retailers Free People and Lilly Pulitzer, and fitness chain Barry’s Bootcamp.
Downtown closings
Two businesses are also closing their doors in downtown Naperville.
Eddie Bauer, a clothing retail chain known for its outdoor apparel, is closing its 110 W. Jefferson Ave. location, a store clerk confirmed to the Naperville Sun. It had previously been located at 203 S. Main St., where Starbucks is currently located.
A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the chain’s decision to close many of its retail locations has been reported nationally.
Naperville will also be saying goodbye to Amber Waves Art of Hair Salon, located at 144 W. Jefferson Ave.
The salon’s last day will be Feb. 12, owner Shannon Drexler wrote in a post on Facebook. Drexler did not provide a reason for the closure and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are endlessly grateful for 30 wonderful years in Naperville,” Drexler wrote. “The conversations, laughter, friendships, and unwavering support have meant more to us than words can express and will always be cherished.”
MOM’s Organic Market in Rockville, Maryland in the spring of 2024. The grocery store chain is planning to open a location in Naperville in the fall. (MOM’s Organic Market)
MOM’s Organic Market
A new grocery store is also set to open in Naperville this fall.
MOM’s Organic Market, a chain with locations in the Mid-Atlantic region, will be opening its first Illinois location at 1163 E. Ogden Ave.
The store only sells organic produce, receiving fresh deliveries every day. In addition, MOM’s has a list of over 250 ingredients banned from its store and does not allow companies to target children with their products by using licensed cartoon characters on the packaging, according to the company’s website.
“I think we are kind of pioneers in the industry,” said Scott Nash, founder and CEO of MOM’s Organic Market. “We’ve grown deliberately rather than just growth for growth’s sake. We’re sort of best described as a cross between Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.”
Nash started MOM’s in 1987, initially running a delivery grocery business out of his mom’s garage. His business skyrocketed in popularity following a “60 Minutes” report on alar on apples in 1989, sparking a national conversation about toxic pesticides in produce, he said.
In 1990, Nash opened his first storefront in Rockville, Maryland, and the company now includes 27 locations, with stores in New York, New Jersey and Virginia.
Unlike other grocery stores, MOM’s does not focus on prepared meals you might find at a deli grocery store like pasta salad and baked potatoes, Nash said. Rather, its priority is to provide ingrediants for meals families are preparing at home.
“We do have one store in a super urban area, that’s downtown Philadelphia, but our model is best for the suburbs,” Nash said. “We just think that Naperville checks all those boxes. It’s a certain level of informed people who live there. It’s very suburban, lots of families.”
Nash said that MOM’s canvassed the entire Chicago area before settling on the city. The company also plans to open a store in Mount Prospect.
In addition to fresh produce, MOM’s also works with many local food artisans, bringing products that might normally be found at a farmers market.
“A lot of these just starting-off food artisans, whether it’s dairy or cheese, meats, things in bottles, things in cans, maybe some good spreads, bakeries,” Nash said. “They kind of find us, and we go looking for them, and again they end up on our shelves because it makes sense. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Some of those small food businesses that started off at MOM’s have since grown into larger national brands, including Michele’s Granola, Jesse and Ben’s line of handcut french fries and Honest Tea.
Beyond produce, the market has taken other steps to be environmentally conscious, Nash said.
“In 2005, we were the first chain in North America that stopped using plastic bags,” Nash said. “We launched this initiative back in 2005 where we really pushed to diminish the amount of plastics that are used. So we went with a lot of biodegradable materials.”
In 2010, the chain also banned bottled still water from its stores.
“We stopped selling bottled water because we believe that the tap water is safe, and so we just thought it was a kind of a manufactured industry, which was leading to just landfill after landfill after landfill, like tons and tons and tons of unnecessary plastic bottles being created and wasted,” Nash said.
In addition to all of its environmental work, Nash said the company tends to be community-oriented.
“We will be partnering and donating to local environmental groups. And wherever there’s a Mom store, this fairly amazing community sprouts up around it,” he said.
“What we sell is very destination oriented, because our model is so unique … It’s not like people going in to buy a pair of pants when they need it. The customers are very passionate about what we sell. They’re passionate about what we believe in. And so are our employees.”
cstein@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/naperville-bauers-belmont-moms-grocery-organic-steakhouse/
