Narwhal's Crafted will open a location at The District in Chesterfield next spring

In an Oct. 30 Instagram post, Narwhal's Crafted teased its social media followers that it plans to open another location somewhere in the St. Louis area next year. The third location will be at 17081 N. Outer Forty Road at The District in Chesterfield.

Coming in at 3,600 square feet, the space will be bigger than the Streets of St. Charles location by about 600 square feet and it will also boast a roughly 1,000-square-foot patio space. The move is something that has been in the works since the spring of this year, and even before the opportunity presented itself, the team at Narwhal’s knew a Chesterfield location was a given at some point.

“We’d been eyeing the area for some time,” said co-owner Brad Merten. “Between what we have to offer and the way Chesterfield has shifted to start offering more city concepts, it will be a huge draw for the area.”

Back in 2021, the company announced its third location would be a massive building shaped like a ship in the Grove, but after several setbacks, ground never broke on the site. Merten said that the plans for that location were scrapped due to a number of reasons, including increased construction costs and higher interest rates. The property is currently listed for sale, and although Merten said the owners are always considering what else could be in the future for the company, at this time, Narwhal’s doesn’t intend to open another location in that area. 

“It’s a bummer it didn’t work out, but on the bright side, it allowed for Chesterfield to happen,” Merten said.

Guests can expect to find the slushy cocktails that are on the menu at the other two Narwhal's locations, but the Chesterfield spot won’t offer food. According to Merten, it was something they considered briefly, but ultimately the team decided that the location will be somewhat of a return to its roots. 

“For this location, we’re going back to what Narwhal’s was originally conceptualized to be. We will have enough food neighbors we can work with to streamline the process to work similarly to how it is in St. Charles with Loaded,” Merten said. 

Some of those neighbors at The District will include Napoli, Hi-Pointe Drive-In and 4 Hands Brewing Co. In addition to having those eateries nearby, Narwhal’s will be situated on the northwest corner of the greenspace at The District. Dubbed “the hub,” this bustling spot is a place where people can linger to watch televised sporting events or just hang out with friends. And between the hub and other draws in the area, the team at Narwhal’s are anticipating heavy traffic at The District location.  

“From an operational standpoint, we’ll be optimizing points of ordering and making it a place built for volume. We expect it to be a very busy store.” 

Currently, the team is working through the construction documents and hope to have permits in hand by December. Right now, Merten said the anticipated opening timeline for the third Narwhal’s Crafted is looking like April 2024.