diff --git a/static/js/narrow.js b/static/js/narrow.js
index 3070d39a78..039d6dcf23 100644
--- a/static/js/narrow.js
+++ b/static/js/narrow.js
@@ -858,7 +858,7 @@ function pick_empty_narrow_banner() {
         }
 
         // For empty stream searches within other narrows, we display the stop words
-        if (current_filter.operators("search")) {
+        if (current_filter.operands("search").length > 0) {
             show_search_query();
             return $("#empty_search_narrow_message");
         }