Goose Island Shrimp House wins North Branch Works’ Small Business of the Year award

The carryout fried seafood shop Goose Island Shrimp House at 1011 W. Division St. on Goose Island will receive the Small Business of the Year award from North Branch Works on Thursday, October 8, 2026. The nonprofit economic development group will hand out the award at the group’s annual Fall Fest, held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Greenhouse Loft, 2545 W. Diversey Ave., according to the group’s announcement and the event’s ticket page, which lists the honorees.

City business records list Lamon Eichelberger as president of Goose Island Shrimp House, Inc., the company that holds the shop’s retail food license. North Branch Works describes the shop as family-owned and Black-owned, and says the business has operated from the Division Street address for more than 50 years.

Here is a quick rundown of the award and the shop.

• The Small Business of the Year award is one of five honors on the Fall Fest program.
• The ceremony runs from 6 to 8 p.m. on October 8 at Greenhouse Loft in Logan Square.
• General admission tickets cost $100 plus a processing fee, and the ticket page says there are no refunds.
• The shop gave away 100 Thanksgiving meal packs with North Branch Works in November 2025.
• The shop is cash-only and carryout, according to the shop’s website.

Why North Branch Works picked the shop

North Branch Works is a membership-supported nonprofit that promotes job-creating economic development along the North Branch of the Chicago River, according to the group’s website. The organization started in 1982 as an affiliate of the New City YMCA, under the name Local Economic and Employment Development Council, became an independent nonprofit in 2001 and took the North Branch Works name in 2012. The group works as a delegate agency of the city’s Department of Planning and Development. Each year at Fall Fest, the group honors businesses along the North Branch that give back to the area.

The shop and the group have worked together before. In a November 2025 post, North Branch Works called Goose Island Shrimp House a longtime member that supports charitable causes in the group’s service area. The two teamed up on a turkey giveaway at the shop on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, starting at 11 a.m. and running first come, first served. The group asked businesses and individuals for donations, sponsorships and volunteers, with Steve Simmons, the group’s director of business and economic development, as the contact.

Afterward, the group reported that the shop handed out 100 meal packs, each with a turkey, side dishes and drinks, within two hours. North Branch Works called it the first turkey giveaway on Goose Island and wrote that one recipient “would not have had a meal on Thanksgiving” without it. The post described a busy scene on Division Street, including a semi-truck driver who made a U-turn in traffic to pick up a meal. The group later included the giveaway in a January 2026 roundup of the group’s top North Branch stories of 2025.

The business plans more giveaways and hopes to partner with other companies to reach more people, North Branch Works said in December. The group plans to work with the family on a larger event in 2026, according to the post.

Roots in Cabrini-Green

North Branch Works also points to the shop’s historic ties to the Cabrini-Green public housing complex on the Near North Side. The complex began with the Frances Cabrini Homes rowhouses, which CBS Chicago reported date to 1942, with the first high-rises following in 1957. The high-rise Cabrini Extension and William Green Homes came later, and together the buildings became known as Cabrini-Green, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

The last high-rise came down in 2011, CBS Chicago reported in 2019. At that point 137 renovated rowhouse units remained, and the Chicago Housing Authority was looking for a developer for the rest of the rowhouse site.

A short menu of fried seafood

The shop’s website calls Goose Island Shrimp House a cash-only, carryout spot for fried seafood, with jumbo shrimp, oysters and catfish as signatures. The menu posted on the site lists regular and jumbo shrimp, catfish, fish chips, frog legs, smelt, scallops and oysters, sold by the half pound, three-quarter pound and pound. A half pound of regular shrimp is $8, and a pound of jumbo shrimp is $19. Sides such as fried mushrooms, fried clams, french fries, coleslaw and macaroni salad run $1 to $2.50, a homemade sauce is $1.50, and the menu notes that prices can change without notice.

Prices have roughly doubled over two decades. In 2005, Time Out Chicago put a half pound at $4 and called the shop “Chicago’s best shrimp value.” That write-up also mentioned a shelf of photos, including one of actor Michael Clarke Duncan at the fryer and one of Steve Harvey placing an order. North Branch Works lists Harvey and Jamie Foxx among the celebrities who have stopped in. WBEZ’s Steve Dolinsky put the shop on his 2011 list of top shrimp shacks in Chicago.

The hours used to run much later. A 2016 Time Out Chicago listing described a late-night shrimp house and gave closing times of 4 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. The shop’s website now lists an 8 p.m. close.

Where the shop sits on Goose Island

Goose Island is the strip of land between the North Branch of the Chicago River and the North Branch Canal. The Encyclopedia of Chicago credits William B. Ogden with creating the island by having a canal dug across a bend in the river. The shrimp house sits on the island’s stretch of Division Street, between the bridge over the canal and the bridge over the river, in what city records list as the Near North Side community area.

City business license records show Goose Island Shrimp House, Inc. holding a retail food license, with renewals on file back to 2002 and the current license running through November 15, 2026. The license lists the address as 1013 W. Division St. The city’s business owner records name Eichelberger as the company’s president, and the most recent city food inspection on file, on December 3, 2025, was a pass.

The shop has also applied for a city building grant. North Branch Works reported in September that Goose Island Shrimp House was one of five businesses to apply for the city’s Small Business Improvement Fund when the program opened in the Goose Island tax increment financing district in August. The fund reimburses half the cost of building improvements, up to $150,000 for commercial businesses, according to the group’s July post. The group did not say what work the shop proposed or when awards will be decided.

The street out front is due for work, too. After a September 15 meeting with the Chicago Department of Transportation, North Branch Works reported that the city plans to replace the Division Street bridge over the river with a tied-arch bridge and the temporary bridge over the canal with a thrust-arch bridge. Traffic will use a temporary run-around instead of a detour, according to the group’s summary.

Hours, prices and getting there

These are the details to know before heading over.

• The shop is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is closed Sunday and Monday.
• The phone number is (312) 642-3640.
• Payment is cash only, and orders are carryout.
• A half pound of fried shrimp costs $8 for regular and $9.50 for jumbo on the posted menu.
• The #70 Division bus stops at Division Street and Cherry Avenue, less than a block from the shop.
• The Blue Line’s Division station and the Red Line’s North/Clybourn station are each about three-quarters of a mile away on foot.

Drivers coming from the south should plan around the Halsted Street closure at Chicago Avenue, where the city is rebuilding the Chicago Avenue bridge over the river and replacing the Halsted Street viaduct. The Chicago Department of Transportation expects that project to finish in December 2026.

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