The Shops at North Bridge

A great location with my favorite stores! I spent several hours here shopping to my heart’s content.

I checked this mall out on my visit to Chicago, wait a minute, it’s more than a mall it’s a Mecca! This place has every high end store imaginable! There is a 4 story Nordstrom, (with every high end name brand store) if that’s yo thang! I spend a whole lot of time in here, but it was enough that I was impressed!

Way too expensive… If you don’t look the part. like if you don’t wear no pradas people look at you as if you dont belong… not my cup of tea.

Good collection of shops. Went to dealership to get car serviced and got a shuttle ride to and from during the time.

Thought this shopping center would be larger, but I was wrong. Although there are four levels, there are only about 50 shops and some restaurants. Nordstrom is the anchor store, and the store we always went to during our stay in Chicago. Noticed that they have a food court on the 4^th floor. There were a couple of places there that I would have liked to try, but they were already closed by the time we arrived.
Overall, the Shops at North Bridge is a good place to check out while walking along the Magnificent Mile. At the very least, their air conditioning feels good during those humid and hot summer months.

I remember this being called Westfield a long time ago. This shopping area is a few buildings connected at Rush and Grand with Nordstrom’s as the large department store and the two other buildings that are adjacent to Michigan as well. Other buildings which are considered part of the mix are buildings all along Ohio street such as Eataly, California Pizza Kitchen, Shake Shack and other restaurants and hotels on Grand like Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn.
This shopping area is better defined as that. I’d always assumed it was just the buildings on Michigan and Nordstrom’s and didn’t know it incorporated more than that like the PF Changs and Eataly.
Besides the Sephora or Forever 21 there aren’t that more every day stores and a mix of specialty stores. I really love Eataly but honestly it doesn’t seem to be a part of this «mall».
This area along Ohio I had no idea was associated with the Shops at North Bridge a block over because they do seem disjointed. Regardless it’s a very busy area with lots of shopping and restaurants and choices.

I primarily use the shops as a heated or air conditioned reprieve in my walk to and from the red line. It is very nice in that respect.

Typical mall stores in the middle of the Michigan Ave madness. Good luck finding parking unless you park in Nordstrom’s garage. Lot’s of stores. The food court closes before 830 just an FYI. They do have the salad vending machine. They cone in mason jars for freshness, but all the food ones were gone.

Nordstrom specific: Always love coming here! Best customer service and sweetest makeup consultants. They never push me to buy products and provide me sample to test out. I try them out and if it works i do come back to buy the product. If it didnt, i was at least able to test it out without buying an entire thing for nothing. Shoutouts to the reps at Urban Decay and Charlotte Tilbury! Thanks for your patience and advice!

A nice mall with some cool stores. If you can’t find it here, Water Tower Place is just a few blocks down Michigan Ave. Hey, you may find what you’re looking for along the way anyway.
This place scores maximum cool points from me for having dog comfort stations inside. There are pet waste bags, a water dish, and dog treats. So awesome!

Indoor mall! Perfect for rainy/​windy/​snowy day shopping trips! My friend and I checked out this mall on a Saturday afternoon and it was pretty packed for a regular ol’ weekend. There is a mixture of locals and tourists since it is close to Michigan Ave/​Magnificent Mile. Lots of designer name stores and whatnot. It is perfect to seek shelter here, too if it is pouring rain/​snow outside.

Its a mall, so pretty subjective on if you like it or not since the shops make the mall.
I always find myself coming here during trips to Chicago. Its a small mall, but has wonderful stores, including my favorite Nordstrom (which is currently being remodeled).
There are great stores to check out and its a nice place to escape the heat or cold. It always seems to be busy, but service has always been great in all the stores.

North Bridge connects retail to imagination. The Shops at North Bridge is the product of imagination. A corporate imagination that is. The upscale retailers are competitive. In this race to be at the top they pine for a Magnificent Mile address. But the problem is that Magnificent Mile is only a mile. Where else could you build? Nordstrom badly wanted their name connected to a Magnificent Mile address. Their solution was to do a Disney and let imagination lead. Imagination led Nordstrom to the idea of building a 4-​level department store a block west off Rush Street with a mall bringing the entrance to Magnificent Mile. The mall would blend in with the contours of the Marriott, an elevated Grand Avenue, and an elevated Magnificent Mile. Indoor bridges would carry the mall across Grand Avenue and Rush Street.
Walking from Magnificent Mile to State Street I’d visit the Shops at North Bridge a few times between the 2012 and 2014 Chicago vacations. In 2012, the now out-​of-​business Whispers drew me inside for a coffee and gelato. On my most recent visit, a gelato in Blended Bean Café brought me through the mall up to the fourth floor food court near Nordstrom.
This mall is fancy with a capital «F.» When I walked inside the fancy atrium it was obvious that I was not in a Wally World. I’d pass the omnipresent shops of any upscale mall U. S. A. For the record the Shops at North Bridge feature over and above 40 shops. All four levels lead to Nordstrom.
The Shops at North Bridge is more than an indoor mall. It includes the North Bridge businesses near the mall that reach West to State Street. When Westfield sold the property to Maverich, deal included these businesses. The Shops at North Bridge also include a Hilton, movie theater, Acme Hotel, P. F. Changs, Acme Hotel, and Verizon store. These are places that I regard as useful and fantastic restaurants.
As I started off the review, I will repeat that I am a fan of imagination. Unfortunately some people resort to annoying people instead of doing good with their imagination. They are the out of control hawkers that harass the people strolling by to buy their stuff. Mall Management needs to curtail this practice. They are aggressive and just annoy people that visit the controlled environment of the mall to relax.
Normally when I rate a mall I take into consideration it’s entertainment value and mix of stores. The Shops at North Bridge is marketed toward the upper class. That is understandable considering that Walmart and Dollar Tree is not at home in Magnificent Mile. Normally I’d give three to three and a half stars if a mall was focused too much on upscale shops without an entertaining environment. However, there are some nice restaurants when you include the outer buildings. Weber Grill is one of and if not my favorite barbecue restaurant. The Blended Bean gelato was delicious. And Panda Express is one of my favorite fast food restaurants. Excluding the upscale shops there is a Microsoft Shop and Verizon store. So that is kind of cool. Ultimately I give it four stars because I am a fan of imagination being used as a problem solving tool. Nordstrom took the tool of imagination to create a mall with innovative design to bring their department store to Magnificent Mile. This leaves a magnificent impression on me.

This is a smaller more upscale mall when compared to water tower which is few blocks north. The mall is anchored by Nordstrom and the store pretty much dictates the entire mall. They used to close at 8pm but now stay open until 9… why you ask? Because Nordstrom wanted to be open longer. There aren’t too many well known brands here so the traffic is much less than other malls on Michigan Ave which is nice. Aside from nordies, the few stores that stood out to me here were Hugo Boss and Kiehls.
The mall itself is well kept. Always super clean and security is top notch. They do a pretty good job of keeping the rift raft out. They also just constructed a new entrance so you can now enter the mall from lower level Grand.
The food court here sucks. I used to work here and none of the food options stick out to me at all… very forgettable. The best place to grab a bite to eat is the restaurant on the top floor of Nordstrom if you have the time. Everything there is delicious! Also, the Nordstrom E-​bar is my favorite! Its much better than starbucks but just as pricey.

I’ve wandered through this mall numerous times over the years and I have to say the store selection has declined somewhat to me. But the novelty of a highrise mall is still entertaining to those of us who are used to the sprawling ranch model.
The candy shops were a hit, the fancy, Vosges Chocolates and the basic, Candyality. But the Sephora is small. Otherwise is mall shops of varying specialties and price points.
The one big fail of this place is that they do not offer a coat check in the winter so that you have to carry around your winter togs while trying to shop.

HIDDEN MALL
Everyone wants to be on the Magnificent Mile. It is the place to be in the shopping Mecca of downtown Chicago. Nordstrom also wanted to be there too, so they built a bridge of stores in a mall to drag the shoppers off of Michigan Avenue to there store location a block away.
Now don’t get me wrong there are a lot of great stores here. Microsoft has permanently moved in. At first they were just showing off the Surface Computer but now they have found a home in the lobby. It’s a great move to keep pace with Apple across the way.
There is a giant food court on the top floor that also has free wifi. There are a ton of food options. This food court is never very crowded when I’m here but I’ve never been here at lunch time. There is also plenty of tables to sit at.
A new restaurant that will be opening soon is Tony Hu’s Szehaun Chaun Lao. This will be the third location under this name. The original in Chinatown is amazing, so hopefully the chef here follows the lead to keep up the perpetration.
A trip here is never complete without a trip to Vosges Chocolates. These things are delicious. They even make a bacon chocolate that is to die for. I believe it is one of there top sellers. My other favorite is the peanut butter cup.
There are a ton more stores here but I actually use this mall as a bridge from Michigan Ave to Nordstrom. Don’t forget to stop by the Nordstrom eBar for a coffee or a hot chocolate before or after shopping.

This 3-​floored shopping mall had a few of stores with Nordstrom as the most memorable one (name-​wise) that I could remember. I came here with my friend and we entered from the stairs from the street that went under Michigan Ave. We didn’t spend too much time in this shopping mall and pretty much walked through everything quickly only because my friend didn’t see anything she liked. I didn’t need to buy anything but it was always nice looking around. The food court was on the 3^rd floor but we didn’t eat anything. Anyways, this shopping mall was quite small even though there were three floors. I would say Nordstrom was the highlight of this shopping mall.

Kiehl’s.
Vosges Chocolates.
Nordstrom.
Benetton.
All this AND pet stations offering your pupster treats and water???
If I were a good person this might be a little bit of what heaven is like. I’ll probably never know though.

This is definitely on the higher-​end of shopping for me. However, I like that it’s clear and organized.
It’s convenient that it’s connected to Nordstrom’s, but I don’t think anyone would really know that there were other shops if they were coming from the lower level of Michigan Avenue.

I came by here because I thought it was a Nordstrom’s and it turns out it’s a shopping mall. It’s an OK 4 level mall. There are a few high end stores and then a mix of other stores. If I had to compare it to anything I’d say it’s a very very very tiny version of the Shoppes at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas or a lower end version of Crystals at City Center in Las Vegas.
It’s in a pretty awesome location if you’re a tourist and staying or hanging around the Magnificent Mile.