The year in restaurants and retail in McHenry County: What opened, what closed, what marked milestones

Dozens of new restaurants, shops and other retailers opened in McHenry County in 2024. Here’s a recap of some of the local business milestones the Northwest Herald wrote about over the past 12 months:

Openings

The Chick and the Pig, 1000 N. Main Street, Algonquin. The new Algonquin restaurant offers late-night eats, including fried chicken and barbecue.

Pawstock, 665 S. Eastwood Drive, Woodstock. The independent pet store, along the Route 47 corridor, opened its doors earlier this summer. The store provides natural pet food and other products for furry friends.

Food Shed, 2390 Lake Shore Drive, Woodstock. The grocery store opened in the spring, 10 years after the idea for the store came into being. The store is unique among McHenry County groceries in that it allows people to become owners of the store.

KD Market, another grocery store, debuted at 29 Crystal Lake Plaza in September.

Revelry Toys, 205 N. Throop Street, Woodstock. The locally owned toy store, which has a birthday box program, debuted earlier this year.

Greenwood General Store, 4409 Greenwood Road, Greenwood. A business that has been around on and off for 130 years reopened in the spring.

Pop-a-doodle-doo, 201 Main Street, Woodstock. The popcorn store in downtown Woodstock also offers milkshakes, which have a variety of toppings such as donuts.

Colorways Yarn Shoppe, 1D Crystal Lake Plaza, Crystal Lake. The yarn store premiered late this year and aims to unite the craft community.

Squire on the Square, Old Courthouse, Woodstock. The restaurant, a joint venture between the Linardos family and Bob Karas of Karas Restaurant Group, opened its doors in November. The restaurant features menu items from both the Linardos' restaurants and items familiar to diners at the Village Squire. The Village Squire celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.

Whiskey Diablo, 1325 Riverside Drive, McHenry. Dan Hart, who owns the D.C. Cobb’s family of restaurants, debuted the Mexican-American eatery in September.

Cary Apothecary, 395 Cary Algonquin Road, Cary. The apothecary, which began business in June, stocks local products and was inspired by the owner’s Lyme disease journey.

Fox Hole Pizza and Pub, 3308 W. Elm Street, McHenry. The McHenry staple closed at the end of 2023 but reopened earlier in 2024 under new ownership.

To Steki, 3918 Main Street, McHenry. The Greek-American eatery premiered in the spring. The word “steki” means “hanging out” in Greek.

The Courthouse Tavern, 1401 Riverside Drive, McHenry. The tavern, located in the first McHenry County courthouse, opened its doors in March.

Toast & Roast, 1250 N. Green Street, McHenry. The coffeeshop, which features menu items such as “Lox on the Fox” and “Good Morning McHenry,” opened up in downtown McHenry in March.

Sierra and Burlington took over the former Bed Bad and beyond space at 5794 Route 14 in Crystal Lake.

The Spice and Tea Exchange of Crystal Lake opened at 57 N. Williams downtown toward of the end of the year.

Biggby Coffee opened at 3523 Diamond Drive, McHenry.

Smokehouse, a cannabis dispensary with boat parking, opened over the summer at 44 U.S. Highway 12 in Fox Lake.

Anniversaries

Isabel’s Family Restaurant, 1110 N. Seminary Avenue, Woodstock. The restaurant, which is farm to table and offers guests food from the family farm, celebrated 20 years in business this year, weathering events such as the Great Recession and COVID-19 along the way.

Best Friend’s Consignment, 3955 W. Algonquin Road, Algonquin. The store celebrated 20 years in business in 2024, pivoting to Facebook lives and online sales helped the store get through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Port Edward, 20 W. Algonquin Road, Algonquin. The iconic restaurant celebrated 60 years in business this summer.

Moves

The Records Department, 216 Main Street, Woodstock. The Records Department was one of two incubator businesses in the Old Courthouse. The store moved to a larger location in downtown Woodstock this past summer after outgrowing its space in the Old Courthouse.

Seleta Scents, 7 N. Wilke Road, Arlington Heights. The scented goods company was the other Woodstock incubator business. The store also outgrew its space and is moving to a new storefront in Arlington Heights.

WorkUP Ninja, 10711 Wolf Drive, Huntley. The indoor obstacle course and fitness facility moved from the MAC in Crystal Lake to Huntley earlier this year.

Wild Hunny Boutique, 3433 W. Elm Street, McHenry. The clothing store moved from Ringwood to downtown McHenry earlier this year.

Shop 3430, 3430 W. Elm Street, McHenry. Three former McHenry Riverwalk Shoppes incubator businesses joined together and opened a storefront in downtown McHenry. Trend Cellar, another McHenry “tiny shops” graduate, opened a permanent storefront on Riverside Drive this year.

Closings

Duke’s Inferno, 11671 Catalpa Lane, Woodstock. The restaurant was candid about its struggles to stay afloat earlier this year, and ultimately shut down Dec. 1.

MobCraft Beer, Old Courthouse, Woodstock. The brewery closed up shop Nov. 30 after being up for sale but a new owner wasn’t found in time. The city approved a settlement with the beer company earlier this month.

Susie Sushi, 700 Northwest Highway, Fox River Grove. The sushi restaurant shut down at the end of November, but the owner hopes to open in a new location soon.

Public House, Old Courthouse, Woodstock. Public House abruptly closed at the end of March, and the city as its landlord reached a settlement with the restaurant in June. Squire on the Square took over Public House’s former space.

Spark’d dispensary of Crystal Lake closed suddenly at the end of the year.