M Burger, Connie’s Pizza coming to Midway, as new concessions set to open throughout 2023
Travelers at Midway Airport will see new restaurants and retail stores this summer and fall, as part of the final stage of a project to modernize the smaller of the city’s airports.
The airport’s large central food court, located a short distance past the TSA checkpoint, has been closed since spring, and travelers will likely see construction in and around the site in the coming months. When it reopens, travelers will find new food and retail brands there and elsewhere in the airport, as well as brands that are expanding or reopening, Chicago Department of Aviation spokesman Kevin Bargnes said.
The new concessions are the latest changes at Midway, which has seen new food and retail offerings open in recent years as part of earlier stages of the modernization program. That includes an overhaul in 2017 when most existing bars and restaurants closed, and notable venues like Potbelly and McDonald’s left the airport.
Other construction at Midway included an expansion of the airport’s security area, over South Cicero Avenue, that opened in 2020. Parking facilities underwent work and now include electric vehicle charging stations, and elevators were upgraded.
More passengers have likely noticed the changes in recent months, as Midway exceeded pre-pandemic travel levels during the first four months of the year. From January through April, 6.4 million travelers passed through Midway, marking 103% of 2019 levels during the same time frame.
But the city’s other airport, O’Hare International Airport, continues to lag pre-pandemic levels. About 21.7 million passengers passed through O’Hare in the first four months of the year, or 87% of 2019 passenger volumes, according to data from the Chicago Department of Aviation.
The latest round of concessions at Midway will include Connie’s Pizza, White Sox Bar and Grill, M Burger and Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, all located in the central food court. A second Garrett Popcorn Shops location will open outside the food court, after the iconic popcorn store first came to Midway in the past year. Other restaurants reopening after construction include Dunkin’ and Reilly’s Daughter.
The central food court will also see the addition of Evolve, a new retail concept by Hudson, as well as Tumi and MAC/Jo Malone. A Hudson location will reopen elsewhere in the airport, among other retail stores.
The retail stores will open throughout the summer, and food and beverage locations will open through the fall.
Construction on the new concessions has been “a long time coming,” said CDA Managing Deputy Commissioner Elizabeth Granados-Perez in a statement. Much of it was scheduled in early 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new concessions will include entities run by socially or economically disadvantaged people as part of the federal Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program.
Last year, new dining and retail options also moved forward at O’Hare.
The addition of new dining and shopping at both airports comes after years in which the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions kept airports largely empty and many concessions closed. Even as travelers returned, airport shops in some cases stayed closed as concessionaires struggled to hire back workers.
By fall 2021, the Chicago Department of Aviation said the majority of shops at O’Hare and Midway Airport had reopened.
