Jake Boutique Closes: Third High-End Fashion Closure in Chicago

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Jake, one of the most influential high-fashion boutiques in the midwest—a retail champion of young designers that stocked labels including Chris Benz, Behnaz Sarafpour, and Band of Outsiders—has filed bankruptcy and will close. This is the third high-end fashion retailer to close in Chicago in recent memory—Maria Pinto and Ultimo preceded. “The last 18 months have been beyond horrendous,” creative director Lance Lawson told WWD. “For us, we’ve been barely hanging on.”

Co-owners Lawson and Jim Wetzel will move on to open a pop-up shop called Space 519 on Michigan Avenue. The new store will sell "books, CDs, apothecary items, men’s and women’s accessories, but no apparel."
· Chicago's Jake Boutique Closing Soon [WWD]