BOOKS
Most of us see so many Barnes and Noble and Borders lurking around every corner that we turn off our cute-little-charming-independent-bookstore radar and don’t realize that we pass them by every day. Here are two of the most popular indie book shops in Chicago:
Powell’s Bookstore
2850 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 248-1444
Powell’s is known for its comfortable, fuzzy chairs and large selection of non-fiction and children’s books. It was started by University of Chicago graduate Michael Powell in 1970, a member of the same literary circle as novelist Saul Bellow. Awesome for browsing and finding a chair to curl up in with a title that’s always intrigued you; the store has great prices and offers new and used books.
Myopic Books
1564 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 862-4882
www.myopicbookstore.com
Now with a special online store to make purchasing books even easier and more efficient for those who can’t frequent this small used book store, Myopic is known for its wide array of genres, offering over 80,000 books on three levels. If you are looking for a rare or hard-to-find read, this is the place to check out. Bookworms into beat poetry like to come here for poet talks every Sunday at 7pm, and others enjoy it for the cat named Leonard wandering around at their feet. The coffee shop upstairs serves the caffeine fiend in a late night reader or studier, and is open until 1am on Mondays and Saturdays.
CLOTHES, ACCESSORIES ‘N’ STUFF
Never Mind
953 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60657-4408
(773) 472-4922
From the start, this independent clothing store right underneath the Belmont el stop is destined to catch a female shopaholic exiting the train station, waiting for a bus or cab, or just walking by to one of the numerous hot spots nearby. Its backward E’s on the front sign make you curious, and the flashy selection of high heels and dresses with matching belts and complementary jewelry in the window are what draw you in the door. This store carries a variety of trendy, casual and cutesy women’s clothing, with everything from faded jeans to sundresses to sequence belts to camisoles. Most shirts, pants and skirts run around $25-$30 and dressing rooms are available at one side of the store with a limit of four articles at a time. The purple walls put you in the mood for flirting with the club-tops that you immediately envision yourself dancing the night away in under a strobe light next weekend, and the extensive racks of stylish buys leave little to be desired.
The Alley
3228 N. Clark St.
Chicago IL 60657
(773) 883-1800
This is kind of like Chicago’s own Hot Topic. It definitely has a gothic edge, but also has some really cool and cheap jewelry, t-shirts and other stuff. A lot of people go there for body jewelry. They also sell belts, jackets, anti-Bush apparel and a lot of stuff with cross bones, famous dead musicians and that kind of thing. Lots of black and red, you get the picture. The Alley Stores also own Taboo Tabou, Jive Monkey and Blue Havana, just down the street, one block West of Clark on Belmont. This company really serves up a little bit of everything—from belly rings to vibrators to cigars and pipes! I very much recommend any of the stores and can guarantee you that The Alley will at least be a check off your “been there, done that” list.
Land of the Lost
614 W Belmont Ave
Chicago IL 60657
(773) 529-4966
The name of this store is ironic considering that there is absolutely no way to get lost in it, being the size of my smallest dorm room in college, or thereabouts. But what they lack in space they make up for in selection and authenticity. Everyone knows (if they are not themselves) those people that wear only retro t-shirts and this is the kind of store where you can satisfy those old-school t-shirt addictions. There is a funky selection of Western wear including old cowboy boots and other clothing that make you want to dance around and yell yee-haw as loud as you can slapping your butt (or is that just me?), and all kinds of art and cool vintage stuff to appease the most notorious pat rack around.
MUSIC
Dave’s Records
2604 N Clark St.
Chicago IL 60614
(773) 929-6325
One of the only vinyl shops left in Chicago, Dave’s is a second heaven for DJ’s, fans of underground hip-hop, oldies or any kind of indie lovers, and just plain turntable freaks. It is known around the city for its helpful staff, wide variety of around 30,000 rare and unique records, and more than reasonable prices. If you have questions, the employees know their music, and it is a great place to find that old beat or tune that you can’t find anywhere else.
Hi-Fi Records
2568 N Clark St
Chicago IL 60614
(773) 880-1002
Hi-Fi prides itself on having the city’s largest selection of new and used CD’s and LP’s, with everything from reissues and imports to 12” singles. What I love about this store is the multiple listening stations available to test out a new CD you’ve been thinking about buying. For example, I hadn’t heard the latest Atmosphere album and right as I walked in the door, the sales clerk saw it catching my eye up on a shelf and asked if I wanted to hear it. Unlike large, crowded music stores where you are overwhelmed with the enormity of the store, have to fight to get your hands on what you want and almost always wait in long lines at the checkout, Hi-Fi is a small shop with an intimate feel. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, you feel like you can browse and enjoy yourself without being trampled, and you leave with a sense that you had a worthwhile experience — even if you didn’t buy anything.
ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES
Wow & Zen
1912 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 269-2600
Ever since I started taking Yoga, I’ve been a fan of Zen Buddhism. This store filled with Asian style makes me an even bigger Buddhist-wannabe. Not only that, but it usually seems like the word antique is synonymous with expensive, like there is something inherently out of reach about anything that old, fragile or intricate, doesn’t it? But in Wow & Zen, almost all of your associations with things antique will be challenged. The shop, which carries mostly accessories, art and furnishings from 18th and 19th century China and Tibet, has decent prices for the fine collectibles and antiques it displays, and leaves a sweet treat for consumers like jelly beans or Hershey kisses in some drawers and plates throughout the store.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING
Continental Sales Superstore
6333 S Cicero
Chicago IL
(773) 581-8100
I have heard this place been called a Wal-Mart before there was a Wal-Mart in Chicago, and it is compared to an indoor flea market of sorts. To give you an even better idea of what it’s like, know that I went there after visiting a haunted house and I should have gotten my money back from the haunted house, because this was a much better show. It is: a giant store with more inane, random stuff than you could ever conjure up in your imagination put under one roof. And it is CHEAP. Believe me. You can buy desks for $30, Christmas ornaments for not more than a penny, utensils for the kitchen, t-shirts sporting all sorts of Chicago-pride slogans and designs, ugly aprons that make you laugh and weird useless stuff that you find ways to make useful and cool—just because it’s so cheap!! They also have some CD’s and books that you cannot pass up once you realize you will never, ever see those again in your lifetime. There are also bulk quantities of energy drinks or pop on the way out that make you think twice about ever shopping at Walgreen’s or even the local Jewel-Osco for beverages ever again. I’m telling you, this is the place for a ton of weird, cheap stuff that you won’t get anywhere else.
Maxwell Street Market
Canal St. & Roosevelt Rd.
Chicago, IL
The original Maxwell Street Market, officially established in 1910, was a colorful mixing of Chicago vendors, residents and immigrants of all races located conveniently near the South Water Street Wholesale Market, Barbara Wright HUD Housing and businesses along Halsted, such as the famous Nate’s Delicatessen seen in Blues Brothers. It was known as a place where anyone and everyone could come and gather, listen to free live blues music, buy a taco for a dollar, corn for 50 cents or fresh mango on a stick. On any given day one could buy a pair of roller skates, an old photo of Elvis or a Glamour doll. Now, the market exists about a half mile east of where it used to, and is more difficult to get to using public transportation. Still, every Sunday at 8am, vendors set up shop selling anything from a pair of blue jeans to an old wooden boomerang to a VCR, and believe it or not you can still get food like tacos and corn cheap. Yes, you will definitely still leave ready to say to your friends: “you won’t believe what I got for five bucks!” And while it may not be the heart and soul of the city like it once was, it is definitely worth visiting if you want to spend a few hours strolling around downtown Chicago looking for bizarre and nifty steals as the end to a relaxing summer weekend.
OUTLET MALLS
Chicago Premium Outlets
1650 Premium Outlets Boulevard
Aurora, IL
(630) 585-2200
If you’ve ever traveled to Iowa from Chicago, or any place due west, you have probably blown by a bunch of outlet stores and told yourself you should stop — maybe next time. But seriously, make a point to make a “next time” one of these days and actually exit the I-88 at Farnsworth Avenue North, because it will put a smile on your face for a good few hours. This outlet mall is my favorite, not only because the amount of stores make it ROCK, but because it has awesome deals and is so big it never seems crowded. This is where you should go if you are a sucker for name brands, like I don’t know, say Calvin Klein, Kenneth Cole or Oakley. The best store for the athletically inclined (or just cool people) is Puma, because they always have a load of shoes on sale that are super cool and funky, and just trust me when I say they are styles that you won’t see your friend wearing the next day. Whether you go for Kate Spade purse, khakis from Eddie Bauer or an Adidas sweat suit half off, you are sure to find something in the 120 stores there that you absolutely love and feel lucky to own for such an incredibly low price. I swear on my generic wardrobe.
Gurnee Mills Mall
6170 W Grand Avenue
Gurnee, IL
(847) 263-7500
It has such a nice ring, Gurnee Mills Mall, and justifiably so! It may be a short trip to the 'burbs, but this place is a major tourist attraction in Chicago because it is such a big mall that they have to label the parking lot with letters and numbers so you know where you parked—it makes you feel like you’re at Disneyland. I don’t think Mickey Mouse will be there, but you can see some cool animated characters on video games in the arcade (this was the first place where I saw people doing Dance Dance Revolution—otherwise known to the cool kids as DDR), go ice skating on the rink, see a movie in the Cineplex or choose to shop from more than 200 outlet stores. The bottom line is that if you can’t find something fun or buy something cheap at Gurnee Mills, you are either boring and a bad shopper, or I have yet to visit the places you have been that are fun and cheap in comparison.
