Argyle Street: A Remarkable Business Progression

by Alex Horowitz

CHICAGO - “Argyle Street looked like death,” recalls Tam Van Nguyen, who frequented the Chicago neighborhood nearly 30 years ago, but only in the daytime.

“Gangs, prostitution, drug trafficking, vacant lots. There were very few open stores, and by 5 p.m. every day, gangs hung around the area. It was very scary.”

Argyle Street, which is regarded as Chicago’s North Side hub of Asian commercial activity, has come a long way since the 1970s. Improved community safety has been the driving force behind Argyle’s vast business growth over the years. In fact, crime on Argyle Street has followed the trend of crime in Chicago, where annual murders have decreased by over 500 since 1975. Now, despite a recent slump, shops and restaurants flourish on the street that was once too dangerous to walk on.

“Crime was certainly detrimental to business before the 1980s,” says Joyce Dugan, the president and CEO of Uptown United, an organization that promotes economic growth in the community. “People were afraid to go [to Argyle], so the business scene was awful. Once crime cleaned up, though, Argyle really became a thriving commercial center.”

Argyle’s Unique History

Argyle Street and its surrounding Uptown community made little noise until the early 1970s, when Chicago entrepreneur Jimmy Wong picked that area as the site to develop his concept of “Chinatown North.” Wong bought 60 percent of the property that lined Argyle, and offered financial assistance to those who started a business on the street, according to Dugan and Uptown United’s Web site.

“What we were looking for was an area which we could develop not only commercially for our shops and restaurants, but also a place which could attract new Chinese, especially the young, as a place to live,” Wong said in a 1974 Chicago Sun-Times interview.

Although people of Chinese descent were the first to commercialize Argyle Street, the business district did not remain ethnically homogeneous for long. By 1975, soon after Wong’s purchases, wars in Southeast Asia brought an influx of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai and Laotian immigrants to the Uptown area, and many set up shop on Argyle Street. These steadfast immigrants gave Argyle Street’s commerce the lift it needed, and persevered through the neighborhood’s crime-laden years in the 1970s to see better days.

“The people who came here, whether it was the Vietnamese or the groups that followed, they came from places that were very, very rough,” says Dugan, who grew up near the Argyle neighborhood. “And that’s one of the reasons they managed to stick it out along here – because they were not intimidated. They toughed it out.”

Profitable businesses were first established in high numbers on the street in the early 1980s, according to Van Nguyen, an assistant at the Chinese Mutual Aid Association and former editor in chief of the Vietnamese Business Directory. Growth continued through the late 1980s and 1990s as vacant lots began filling up with shops and businesses started staying open later into the evening. Van Nguyen estimates that the number of stores in the neighborhood has doubled since the late 1970s.

Today, bustling shops string both sides of Argyle Street, as well as surrounding streets like Sheridan Road and Broadway Street. A diverse assortment of Asian tongues prevail over the loud rumblings of the El, and the fishy perfumes of ethnic restaurants and groceries drift into the street each day as customers rush in and out of the storefronts. The commercial strip is an attraction on the weekends, when visitors from nearby cities and states come to browse, sample and buy goods unique to Argyle Street.

“Things are extremely improved,” says Jolie Lau, the manager at an Argyle Street restaurant called Furama. “So many stores have opened, and the street is filled with people. Now that it’s gotten better, people know this area.”

Today’s Owners Face New Problems

Argyle Street’s remarkable business progress since the 1970s does not mean that the neighborhood exists without problems today. In fact, many owners on the street say they have felt a noticeable economic slump over the past six or seven years.

“Since 2000, things have slowed down a lot for some reason,” Lau says.

The street’s minor recession, which mirrors a slowdown in the overall United States economy this decade, is due to several problems that have only recently faced Argyle’s shop owners. One of them, ironically, is the result of the community’s hard work and great economic strides over the past 30 years.

“Immigrants opened up the businesses and aroused the community and made the area more valuable,” Van Nguyen says. “But when an area is developed that well, condominiums come in and payments on property taxes increase.”

Property tax rates in Chicago have increased drastically since the 1990s, culminating in a recently approved $83.4 million hike this year, the largest in the city’s history, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

These high taxes on growing property values have driven some Argyle Street small business owners out in favor of corporate establishments. Dunkin’ Donuts and video game retailer GameStop are two of the latest corporate additions to the Argyle neighborhood, both opening on Broadway Street in the past month.

“The taxes have pushed out some of the smaller, original shops, and brought in new corporate ones,” Lau says. “It’s very sad and very expensive. It hurts the pockets of the ones that stay, too.”

Imported Food Prices Soar

Groceries and restaurants on Argyle Street have also fallen victim to increased prices on imported foods. Surat Vattanavanitkul, the owner of a Thai grocery located at the western end of Argyle Street, says that the prices began rising about three years ago. Rice, a staple of Thai cuisine, has undergone a price increase of over 20 percent, he says.

“The prices are a problem,” says Vattanavanitkul, who opened the grocery in 1978. “Business a few years ago was better than business now. I hope it picks up again, but it all depends on the world economy.”

Argyle’s Feeble Marketing Programs

Another major problem that confronts Argyle’s business district is its anemic marketing effort. Mark Zak, a self-employed marketing consultant who lives in nearby Edgewater, says that unlike owners on Argyle Street, owners in other commercial strips throughout Chicago construct small merchant associations. These groups pool together funds and use them on promotional programs that attract shoppers to the neighborhood.

“The reason you join a retail strip like [Argyle] is because you’re relying on foot traffic,” Zak says. “Retail always has to have foot traffic, but foot traffic does not always come in on its own. You have to bring it here.”

Joyce Dugan believes that marketing the street has been difficult because the shop owners lack a cohesive identity. Argyle Street, she says, is instead made up of many independently minded businesses.

“There isn’t one voice for the street,” Dugan says. “There aren’t even several consistent voices. That’s what is holding them back. They need to develop a homegrown leadership that looks out for the business district as a whole.”

The Argyle business community has been through worse times. Despite the recent problems, Jolie Lau, the Furama restaurant manager, is confident that the street’s small downturn over the past seven years will be overcome.

“Business is a little slower right now,” she says. “If a few things go our way, I think business will get better again.”