Downtown Riverside IL Fall Events, New Shops and Local Changes

Sara Burcheri did not spend years hunting for a storefront. She told the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark that her lease on East Burlington Street came together "almost on a whim" when a space opened up, and she credited that to how little commercial real estate Riverside has. Her shop, June & Lark, opened at 39 E. Burlington St. on August 1.

The point about scarcity explains a lot of what's around the train station this fall. Riverside's downtown has few blocks and few storefronts, so new things show up wherever a space comes free: inside the depot, on a lot that sat empty for years, in a handful of parking spaces. Walk from Bloomingbank Road to East Quincy Street this October and you pass each step of that process, from finished to fenced off to still on paper.

The depot now pours wine

Start at the station. The Village-owned tenant space at 90 Bloomingbank Rd. used to be Gears 2 You. After that business moved out, the Village renovated the space into a wine bar and shop, according to the Village's 2025 community development annual report.

The new tenant is Vinette, which the Village calls "the little wine shop." Its ribbon cutting was February 12, 2026. You can taste and buy wine there, sit with a glass, or join its Little Wine Club. When the Village posted its welcome, Vinette's hours were 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Those are February hours, so check before a weeknight visit.

A wine shop in a commuter station makes sense in a village where storefronts rarely come open. The depot is also where the Village keeps scheduling its evenings, which comes up again further down.

A gift shop that filled a gap Burcheri heard about at her door

Head east on Burlington to June & Lark. Burcheri, who lives in Riverside, stocks household goods and home decor along with gifts for people into meditation, golf, bees, and more. Her idea is that you can "build a gift" out of a few small items. She told the Landmark that nearly everyone who comes in says some version of "We needed this," and that she wanted people to be able to pick up a birthday or hostess gift without leaving Riverside.

Her hours are short and specific, so here they are as she reported them in August:

She uses the slower days to restock. She spent about 15 years in event marketing at Macy's and plans pop-ups, frequently rotated inventory, partnerships with Riverside entrepreneurs who don't have a storefront, and eventually a concierge service that puts together gift packages to fit a recipient's interests and a budget. If the Holiday Stroll is on your calendar, a call ahead about concierge gifting may save you a December trip.

The fence at 28-30 E. Burlington took eight years to go up

A few doors down, the sidewalk is blocked. The Village closed the sidewalk in front of 28-30 E. Burlington on August 21 and sent pedestrians to the south side of the street with signs. The notice gave no reopening date, so expect to cross the street for a while.

Behind the fence is a five-story building with 22 apartments, two of them live-work units on the ground floor where tenants can live in the back and run a business out front. The timeline tells the same scarcity story as the gift shop, only much slower:

The parcels once held Coveny Lane, a home decor and beauty boutique, and a medical office. Since both had been empty and then torn down, the construction didn't push out any open business. The two completion dates are estimates, about five months apart.

Mary Leone told the Landmark that she and her husband hope the building will serve longtime residents who want to downsize and stay in town. Cyran called housing for residents aging in place "a missing housing segment in Riverside." She also connected the project to the new businesses, the farmers market, Spring Fling, the Holiday Stroll, and the streetscape work already finished on East Burlington.

Where to eat on the same walk

Downtown's long-running places are within a few blocks of the fence, and each keeps current hours or ordering on its own site:

• La Barra, 2 E. Burlington, takes reservations and orders online.
• The Chew Chew, 33 E. Burlington, posts kitchen hours and takes reservations.
• Sawmilly, 35 E. Burlington, the sandwich shop, orders online.
• Riverside Foods, 48 E. Burlington, runs a grocery ordering site.
• La Estancia, 25 Forest Ave., posts its hours.
• Quincy Street Distillery, 39 E. Quincy St., runs a speakeasy and retail shop with reservations.

The depot's evenings, in date order

Most of downtown's fall and early-winter programming starts at the station or near it. Here is the calendar from today, October 4, through the first week of December:

1. Wednesday, October 7. The last 2026 Riverside Farmers' Market runs 2:30 to 7 p.m. at Centennial Park, next to the Water Tower.
2. Thursday, October 8. The Village's third annual Trunk-or-Treat runs 5 to 7:30 p.m. at 10 Pine Ave., with a costume-and-lighting parade and candy.
3. Saturday, October 17. OAKtober drop-in crafts with the Village Landscape Advisory Commission run 10 a.m. to noon at the Riverside Public Library. No registration, but supplies are limited. The Haunted House at the Scout Cabin, 417 Fairbank Ave., runs 3 to 7 p.m. the same day.
4. Friday, October 23. The Frederick Law Olmsted Society's Riverside Spooktacular, "Phantoms of the Past," sends walking tours out from the train station at 90 Bloomingbank Road, with start times from 5 to 7 p.m. Tours take about two hours. The Village's Star Party is the same night at Big Ball Park, Longcommon and Delaplaine roads, with nature activities around 5:30 p.m. and stargazing around 6:30 p.m. An early ghost walk finishes around 7, so families doing both should probably head to the park first and catch one of the last tour departures.
5. Saturday, November 14. Riverside Magic and Mingle, a 21+ BYOB evening with magician Bill Cook, runs 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the train station.
6. Friday, December 4. The Holiday Stroll runs downtown from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Village listing promises lights, music, carolers, and hot cocoa. It hasn't posted a full itinerary or any street closures yet.

What's still on paper

Two more projects would keep this pattern going, and both are proposals for now.

The first is the streetscape work. On August 20, trustees approved an application to the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program for $2,238,523 toward work on Riverside Road, East Quincy Street, East Avenue, and Forest Avenue. If Riverside is selected in spring 2027, construction could start in 2028. The plan includes permeable pavers, curb bump-outs at crosswalks, a wider sidewalk on East Avenue, raised planters with native plants, new seating and bike racks, and new traffic control at East and Pine avenues. The Village first applied in 2016 for East Quincy alone. Its 2020, 2022, and 2024 applications were turned down, and the project area grew each time. A July Invest in Cook grant covering $120,698 in engineering costs puts this round in a stronger position, Cyran said. Village President Doug Pollock said the Burlington streetscape and the brick paver parking lots near the station were also paid for mainly with grants.

The second is Riverside Shops, a retail incubator. A Village map put four vendor sheds in an area of five parking spaces in the Burlington-side lot. The original target was June 2026. In February, Finance Director Yvette Zavala told the Landmark the Village didn't expect a real project until 2027 and was looking at other possible locations. If it happens, small businesses would set up in what is now parking, the smallest spare space downtown has.

When we walk downtown Riverside with clients, the depot, the fence, and the next storefront to open usually come up as much as the houses do. If you want to know how changes like these play out when it's time to buy or sell, Cynthia Gajewski and Team Cynthia are glad to talk it through over coffee on Burlington. Let's Find Your Perfect Home Together.