The back room at Paris312 faces the parking lot. It has giant helium tanks, bins of ribbon, confetti and tassels, and balloons in almost any color, with 20 shades of teal and blue alone. The front room faces the courtyard and holds the retail space. The company had sold online for 10 years, and this is its first physical store since its Lincoln Park shop closed several years ago.
That store is at Gateway Square, the shopping center near York Road and Ogden Avenue that has been there since 1985. This fall, Gateway Square is where Hinsdale's new storefronts are opening. Downtown's changes this season are a café sale, renovated buildings and approved leases that have not opened yet. Downtown still hosts almost every event on the October calendar.
Gateway Square Is Where the Doors Opened
Five Kings Properties bought the center last year. Property manager Ramis Memishi told The Hinsdalean that "no surface is being left untouched." The tenant list has moved faster than the construction:
- The Book Nook opened Aug. 12. It's a children's book and gift shop with titles for babies through teens. Owner Alison Kozlow picked every title herself and plans book subscriptions, book clubs, story times and author readings. The shop can also be rented for birthday parties and book club meetings.
- Paris312 sells balloons, fresh flowers, backdrops, gifts and party favors. It can also handle installation and teardown for an event.
- I Design Salon & Blow Dry Bar is a longtime tenant. It moved to a new space in the center in February, tripling its size, and added a Davines Signature Head Spa and a lash and brow bar.
- Sage Wellness Sanctuary is next. It plans a meditation and movement studio, private contrast therapy suites, a wellness retail boutique and an elixir bar.
The Book Nook and Paris312 held a joint grand opening on Saturday, Sept. 19, with face painting and giveaways. Kozlow said every business that opened in Gateway Square over the past year is female-owned, and that the owners are working together to "bring Gateway back to its glory days."
Most of the physical work hasn't started. The plan calls for a rebuilt courtyard, new signage and colors, a repaved parking lot and new lighting. Five Kings is still working with the village on approvals and is aiming to finish the whole project next year. The biggest empty spaces are still empty. One is the former Hua Ting. The other is the two-story restaurant building that housed Fox's Pizza until 2018. Memishi said he wants restaurants there that "can thrive throughout the day but also into the evening," but no tenant has been named.
So the shops are ahead of the courtyard. For now, the new bookstore and party shop sit in a center Memishi described as "very tired," with "a lot of deferred maintenance."
Downtown's Changes Are Sales and Renovations
Downtown's biggest news this fall is a café sale. Toni's Patisserie and Café opened in Hinsdale 32 years ago, and Toni Cox and her husband, Paul Pell, sold it earlier this year. The buyers are three Hinsdale residents: Craig Zoberis, Mark Konieczka and Tom Wake. Cox is staying on indefinitely during the transition, and director of operations Steve Rennau keeps his role. The new owners told The Hinsdalean they have no immediate plans to change the business. Zoberis is also a longtime customer. His wedding cake 25 years ago was a white chocolate mousse cake from Toni's, and Cox recently made the top tier again for his anniversary.
The other downtown change is renovation. Fairfield Properties is working on four downtown properties. Frame Bridge is slated for 8–10 W. First St. once that work is done. The former salon building behind it is being upgraded for a future tenant. The offices at 104–106 S. Washington St. are planned for conversion into apartments. All of these are buildings being prepared for future occupants. None is a new shop you can walk into this month.
Three Openings Still Without a Date
Three openings have been announced and covered in the local press, and as of early October none has a confirmed opening day. Here is where each stands, based on the most recent report found.
| Business | Location | What's done | Latest stated timing | Latest report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sage Wellness Sanctuary | Gateway Square, 777 N. York Road | Announced, with planned spa and studio features | Its website says "Opening October 2026," with no specific day | Sept. 17, 2026 |
| Humble Patty | 50 S. Garfield St., former Dips & Dogs | Village Board approved exterior and site plan | A general 2026 target; owner hoped for Labor Day | June 2026 |
| Hometown Coffee and Juice | Train station, 25 E. Hinsdale Ave. | Village Board approved the lease April 21, 2026 | Owners targeted end of 2026 | April 2026 |
Humble Patty is the one people downtown have waited on longest. The Hinsdale Journal described the Garfield Street storefront as a five-year vacancy. In June, The Hinsdalean reported that occupancy depended on installing a safety barrier. Labor Day was the owner's hope, not a firm date. No later report confirms it has opened.
The train station café has the clearest paper trail. The lease is approved in the village board record, and the owners' stated goal was to open by the end of the year. No construction update has been reported since spring.
Sage is the closest to opening. October is already here, and the Sage website still names the month without a day.
October Still Runs Through Downtown
Gateway Square has the new shops, but downtown has the events. All of the Chamber's October dates and the village's Halloween festival are downtown, and they fall within three weeks:
- Thursday, Oct. 8: 7th Annual Wine Walk, 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $58.90 and cover up to 12 one-ounce pours. The Chamber's sponsor materials describe check-in from 4:30 p.m., a 1,000-ticket cap and up to 30 wine stops. The Chamber page had not posted a list of participating stops as of this week.
- Monday, Oct. 12: Farmers Market closing day. The 50th season of the Hinsdale Farmers Market ends on Chicago Avenue between Garfield and Washington Streets, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. It has run on Mondays since June 15.
- Tuesday, Oct. 13: Morbid History, a Hinsdale Public Library program listed in The Hinsdalean's fall calendar.
- Saturday, Oct. 17: Fall Sidewalk Sale, on the Chamber's event calendar.
- Saturday, Oct. 24: Hinsdale Family Fall Fest, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Hinsdale Middle School and downtown. It's free and includes trick-or-treating at downtown businesses, with costume-contest check-in at the Chamber table.
- Wednesday, Oct. 28: Boo Bash and The Haunted Page, both library programs on the same day.
Fall Fest shows the split most plainly. The Halloween trick-or-treat route is at downtown storefronts. The newest storefronts in town are at Gateway Square near York and Ogden, and none of them is part of it.
After Halloween
The holiday events stay downtown and in the parks. The 60th Annual Christmas Walk is Friday, Dec. 4. Winter Wonderland runs 9 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Dec. 6, at Katherine Legge Memorial Park, 5901 S. County Line Road, and requires preregistration. Hinsdale for the Holidays follows on Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Burlington Park.
The Christmas Walk could be the first downtown event with a new business open. That depends on whether Humble Patty or Hometown Coffee and Juice opens before Dec. 4.
If you own a home near York and Ogden or within walking distance of downtown, a year of new tenants and renovations is part of how your house will be priced when you sell. Timothy Soltys tracks these changes block by block. Contact Tim for a quick, no-pressure read on what they mean for your address.
