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Chicago · Venue

The Checkout

A 60-seat Chicago listening room for chamber music, jazz, cabaret, and new work.

Upcoming shows
22
Address
4116 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60613
Phone
(773) 334-3650
Next show
Mon, 16 Nov 2026
Official siteDirections
The Checkout in Chicago

About The Checkout

The CheckOut is a 60-seat Chicago listening room operated by Access Contemporary Music, with chamber music at its center and jazz, cabaret, film-score events, and new work around it. Its concrete distinction sits in plain sight: the room occupies a converted 7-Eleven storefront. That convenience-store past still informs the venue’s playful presentation, while the scale keeps performers and audience in close range.

A storefront finds its score

The origin story began in February 2023, when Access Contemporary Music founder Seth Boustead saw a for-rent sign at the long-vacant Clark Street store, formerly a 7-Eleven and before that a White Hen Pantry. He saw a chamber-music room where most passersby saw an empty retail shell; ACM then took on the conversion as its first permanent brick-and-mortar home.

The doors opened in September 2025 with a September 13–28 festival built around a dozen ACM commissions and Chicago chamber performers. Opening night belonged to the Amos Gillespie Quartet’s Celebrate Uptown, a jazz-classical program of music by Chicago composers. The next evening brought an Arvo Pärt 90th-birthday program, establishing a season format that places contemporary local work alongside repertoire with a wider frame.

Close-up listening, flexible staging

ACM programs much of the calendar and also takes performance, rehearsal, screening, and private-event rentals, making this a working arts space alongside a presenter-led venue. The musical emphasis falls on contemporary chamber music and living composers, with recurring jazz and cabaret. Inside, a white-box room with a blonde sprung-wood floor, seating risers, floor cushions, a full bar, and an 8-foot concert grand piano creates a compact, configurable setup. General-admission seating and the low capacity make early arrival useful for preferred sightlines.

Sources

  1. About The CheckOut – Chicago’s Most Unique Music Venue — The CheckOut
  2. The CheckOut — Access Contemporary Music
  3. Access Contemporary Music’s New Venue: A Former 7-Eleven Store — Symphony
  4. The CheckOut Opening Festival — Access Contemporary Music
  5. Preview: Chicago Welcomes The CheckOut, a New Performance Space for Contemporary Classical Music — Third Coast Review
  6. Rent The CheckOut – Venue for Performances, Parties & Private Events — The CheckOut
  7. The Checkout — Rembrandt Chamber Musicians

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