Returning to the Merchandise Mart After 22 Years: First Day at the New Grubhub Office

December 12, 2024

Up a little earlier than normal, hopping a Metra train downtown. Today is a bit of a first, though it’s technically also a revisiting. Today is my first day going in to the new Grubhub office, which has relocated to the Merchandise Mart.

For me, I’m going back to the Mart – a place where I worked for an age, an age ago.

My first day at the Mart was in 2002, and my last day there was in 2007.

It’s been 22 years, since I first set foot in that building for work. And today, I’m headed back.

Riding on the Metra. Same stop, but ultimately a different destination.

Walking up the ramp, thinking again about the Man, the Woman, and the Medic.

I wandered around the station some, trying to find the best point of exit. Ended up finding a stairwell that kicked me out to Lower Wacker, which then got me up to Michigan.

A cold, cold walk from Millennium to the Mart. Going to have to figure out a way to make this trek bearable.

On the way, saw the river with a lot of steam. Looking forward to seeing ice along the water again.

It’s weird how certain things can trigger memories. I recall seeing a You Are Beautiful sticker here, back in 2003. And also how I saw some painters here, a few months later, with me asking them to not paint over the sticker.

The driveway between the Mart and the river has definitely changed. There’s a grassy area now, and more specific lanes for traffic to/from both directions.

Hard to picture this area without a huge chair, or without a snowman, waiting to be tackled.

Trying to make things hip for the kids: it’s “The Mart.”

Inside the main entrance/atrium. Looking towards what used to be, two decades ago, an Au Bon Pain.

And across the way, the prior location of the Artisan Cellar. Where I got to sample the Cadillac of Balognas.

Main entrance.

What’s weird – the elevators are not what I remember. And when I try to imagine them, I can’t actually recall how they were oriented. But the elevators seem weird now (they face East/West, and I have an odd memory of them only facing South).

Down the hallway. While we don’t have a full floor of the mart, we have the entire South section of a floor.

Desks and monitors, as far as the eye can see. Sad to say, there are no assigned seats… and everything is done through a hotel-ing approach. Which is less than ideal.

More desks and monitors.

Favorite room name: Affogato.

Storage lockers, for people to put things. Since no one actually has a desk anymore.

Looking down the hallway/corridor.

Weird to see the Bridge, and to see the river from this new/different angle.

In my mind’s eye, I can still see Mike holding onto a set of balloons… and then letting them go.

The desks and monitors just don’t stop.

Main meeting area.

Outside the office, I walked down the main corridor. This seems… much smaller, and narrower than I remember. I think we share this floor with the Chicago Allstate office.

Finding some freight elevators. I think we had them in the Q101/Loop office from the other side, opening into our hallway.

Exploring around on the first floor: this was where Dunphy’s used to be. I wonder where Opie is nowadays.

Another really weird, weird thing: on the first floor of the Mart, there is this huge set of stairs that didn’t exist before. It leads up to… I’m not sure what. Maybe a bar? But its existence is a bit surreal to me.

This is going to take some getting used to.

Weird to be back, but somewhat nice to be back. Hard to comprehend it’s been over two decades. A lot has changed, a lot has stayed the same. I wonder how I fare, in all of that math.