Chickens can’t fly, but wings restaurants certainly can. The Evanston Buffalo Wild Wings will, according to Crain’s Chicago Business, be closing down over the summer and moving to Old Orchard. This isn’t a time to mourn, though, but a time to hope. The owners of the property anticipate that they’ll find a new tenant for the 8,500 square foot space, so hopefully something even better than B-Dubs will rise from the ashes. We at North by Northwestern have come up with some ideas for what we’d like to see as a replacement.
Arcade
A little juvenile, maybe, but who can resist the old-school appeal of an arcade? Evanston doesn’t have a whole lot in the way of nighttime activities save for drinking, movies and *snort* NU Nights at Norris, so a night of Galaga and Time Crisis every now and then would shake things up a bit. If it still doesn’t seem “cool” enough to you, just imagine how many potential hook-ups you can impress with some sick Dance Dance Revolution skills.
Brewery
Temperance Beer Company recently became Evanston’s first brewery, but it sure as hell doesn’t have to be the last. Given craft beer’s explosive popularity, especially in Chicagoland, starting up a brewery would be both trendy and profitable. Smylie's has already moved in on this action, but when it comes to breweries, the more the merrier. Perhaps a RAM franchise could find a home on Maple?
Goodwill
Not everyone at Northwestern is an econ major buying their first suit at Joseph A. Bank; some people just want to buy some tacky clothes because, shit, it was 99 cents. Given how many cool, hip ‘Cats we have (not to mention how many theme parties there are at this school), surely a Goodwill would get some traffic.
The Keg 2.0
A wild fantasy among wild fantasies, imagine the tears of joy that a revitalized Keg would bring. Honestly, though, any cheap bar would fit in nicely. B-Dubs is already a bar, so the transition would be so simple. Having a new dive bar this close to campus would be an absolute game changer, so somebody, anybody: make this happen.
Laundromat
HA just kidding. Just scam Plex’s basement like the genius that you know you are.