Tea Monster, the bubble tea shop tucked inside the pedway of Block 37 in downtown Chicago, is set to reopen Wednesday, September 30, months after a fire forced it to close in March. The shop sits along the stretch of underground walkway that connects the CTA Red and Blue lines, a high-traffic corridor for commuters passing through the Loop.
The planned reopening comes as CBS Chicago reports Tea Monster has been closed since March following the fire. When it reopens, the shop plans to debut two new drinks, the Thai Coca Cloud Bingsu and the Thai Tea Cloud Bingsu, alongside its existing menu of bubble tea and jianbing, a Chinese breakfast street food similar to crepes, according to the same report.
Tea Monster describes its location as being on the lower level of Block 37 Mall, just off the Blue Line station near the ticket machines, per its own event listing at teamonsterusa.com. On Instagram, the shop bills itself simply as serving “Authentic Taiwanese Bubble Tea.”
A Pedway Fire Sent Smoke Through the Mall
The closure traces back to a fire that sent smoke billowing through the Block 37 pedway, according to CBS Chicago's reporting on the shop's reopening. A separate CBS Chicago account of the incident describes a small fire that filled parts of the Block 37 mall with smoke on a Sunday evening, with the Chicago Fire Department locating it in a restaurant in the mall's pedway, in the stretch connecting the Red and Blue lines.
That fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported, the outlet's coverage of the incident states. What was left behind, per the same account, was burned-out equipment and flooded hallways in the aftermath.
Commuters Faced Transit Disruptions
The fire's ripple effects reached beyond the mall's storefronts and into the transit system riders rely on to reach it. CTA Blue Line trains kept running but stopped bypassing Washington and Monroe stations, the report noted, and riders were advised to use alternative services, including the #22 Clark and #36 Broadway bus routes, while the pedway situation was sorted out.
Block 37 itself is billed as a landmark development on State Street featuring first-to-Chicago retailers, signature dining, and entertainment venues inside a five-story atrium, according to a listing from Enjoy Illinois. The center has direct access to the CTA Red and Blue lines as well as Chicago's broader pedway system, the tourism listing notes, with the mall generally open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
For regulars who pass through the pedway on their daily commute, Tea Monster's return means one more familiar stop is back in rotation after a stretch of scorched equipment and detoured trains. With new bingsu flavors on the way alongside its jianbing and bubble tea staples, the shop is looking to pick back up where it left off before the fire pulled it offline for months.
