Plan for large Amazon store clears first hurdle in Oak Brook
A large-format Amazon grocery and merchandise store is closer to opening in Oak Brook after a village panel recommended approval of the project.
The new Amazon store would be “one of the first of its kind within the country,” according to a company representative.
The plan is to open the one-story, 225,000-square-foot building on roughly 27 acres at the southeast corner of Butterfield and Meyers roads.
The front of the store, facing Butterfield Road, would offer groceries and general merchandise. The back would be used to hold more merchandise for store customers as well as those ordering online for pickup or delivery.
An Ashley Furniture store initially planned for the site no longer is part of the project.
“We see it and like to describe it as kind of the best of Amazon’s offerings. It’s purpose-built for how today’s retail customers experience retail,” Katie Jahnke Dale, an attorney representing Amazon, said during an Oak Brook planning and zoning commission meeting on Wednesday night.
“This is not a warehouse,” she said. “You will not see blue vans on this site. It’s going to be primarily grocery with additional merchandise offerings and potential accessory uses.”
Jahnke Dale described a scenario in which a shopper may see an item on the floor but would like to explore similar items. The shopper could visit a kiosk to look up varieties of the item, “and it’ll be waiting for you when you check out with the rest of your grocery shopping,” she said.
“In that way, they’re able to allow additional options of products in the back room, separate and apart,” Jahnke Dale said.
Large items — she cited a big bag of dog food as an example — could be ordered at a kiosk or over the phone rather than lugging it around the store. The item would then be waiting at a pickup site.
“The idea is trying to keep customers efficiently shopping as well as conveniently getting their products to them,” Jahnke Dale said.
As part of a planned development request, Oak Brook is being asked to change the existing zoning of the land from office to retail use. Currently, the site has seven office buildings owned by Inland. If the project is approved by the village, all those buildings, totaling about 600,000 square feet, would be demolished.
Although the site plan includes 871 parking spaces, the proposed development would increase green space by about 25% with two new ponds. An outlot of roughly 1.7 acres is also on the site for future use.
If approved, the project is expected to be completed by early October 2028.
“Why Oak Brook? I think that our vision shares with some of the village’s future vision of kind of heightening this retail corridor and connecting it,” said Kyle Smith, Amazon’s manager of economic development and public policy at its headquarters in Seattle.
“We think that we’re going to be able to bring the opportunity of something unique and special, as this will be one of the first of its kind within the country,” he said.
Smith liked the site’s frontage as well as its location near Interstate 88.
“Within that retail corridor, the high visibility, the great location within the village, but additionally, the tollway to the rear of the facility will allow a great branding opportunity in order to launch one of the first of its kind within the country,” he said.
Stating the Amazon store’s main use will be groceries, Smith also said merchandise inventory will be “forever changing” with seasonal variety. He said Amazon also is considering serving food there.
On Wednesday, planning and zoning commissioners voted 7-1 to recommend approval of the project. The vote was taken after a public hearing that lasted about three and a half hours.
The hearing featured 22 speakers, including some who applauded the project as a potential economic boon. Others voiced concerns over issues such as noise, light, traffic, and past failed attempts by Amazon at brick-and-mortar outlets.
Oak Brook Village Board members will assess an ordinance on the proposal during their June 9 meeting.