Not far from Humboldt Park, on the Paseo Boricua (the “Puerto Rican Promenade”), in co-residence with The Succulent City, sits Bendición Bottle Shop. Bendición, the first completely dry “liquor store” in Chicago, is owned by queer, Latinx purveyor Cristina Torres.

Torres started her sobriety journey immediately preceding the pandemic and created Bendición as an occasional pop-up at The Native in Logan Square. “For the whole month of February 2022, we did [a happy hour] every Saturday from like 5:00 to 8:00, and there was a different event or theme for the night. I was really appre- ciative of working with them specifically because they were my ‘home bar’ when I was drinking. After I got sober, one of the bartenders reached out to me and he was like, ‘Hey, I know you’re sober now. But when everything opens back up, we’re gonna have a non-alcoholic menu. So you can still come and hang out with us.'”

She continued, “I realized that there were not really a lot of sober things for me to do. Even with friends who didn’t want to hang out with me, because it was either ‘you go to the movies ,and you go to bars’, or ‘you go to the restaurant, and you order drinks’, or ‘you go for a walk, and you end up at a bar’, you know, it always ended up with drinking. And aside from things like going to a Starbucks or a library, there weren’t really a lot of fun social things to do. And so because of that, I decided to do it myself.”

In summer 2022, Torres launched a successful Kickstarter campaign and the shop began opening up last fall. Bendición carries a wide range of non-alcoholic beverages, from the standard ‘replacement booze’ and mixers like bitters to N/A beer and a small selection of CBD and THC drinks. Since its inception last fall, the shop has grown and grown. The popularity of the “sober curious” and “California sober’ movements have caused an explosion in consumer demand for non-alcoholic options.

Torres has seen this growth in her shop. “We’ve definitely grown. We added a lot more shelving [since the beginning] and we’ve added a lot more products. And I think the way that I stock products in the shop has changed. I’m very particular about the brands that I carry, and more specific and more intentional about who I work with. I like to stock a lot of brands that are women-owned or minority-owned, queer- owned, and give them a spotlight. If there’s a way that I can support any and all of my communities, I will.”

This sense of community inspired Torres to curate a “hangout space” for anyone who drops in, with ample tables and chairs for approximately 20 people at a time. Torres likes to have people drop by the shop, co-work in the space, or bring friends to hang out and sample the products. She also created extensive programming, some BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ focused.

Bendición hopes to expand in the coming year, considering north-side spaces, and intends to create a partnership with UberEats to deliver inventory across the city.

Drop on by Bendición Bottle Shop, 2540 W. Division, any time Wednesday through Friday, 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., or Saturdays and Sundays beginning at noon.