Results tagged “shopping”

If you prefer to shop local during the holiday season, then save the date for Saturday, December 5 and the return of the annual Do Division blowout. Merchants, restaurants and bars located on Division St. between Milwaukee and Leavitt will offer deep discounts, original gift ideas, freebies and plenty of opportunities to gather and relax in like company.

Back in the day, it was customary to buy the newspaper right around Thanksgiving and check out all the ads and circulars to see which store had the best Black Friday deal. But now things are a bit easier, thanks to bargain-hunting website gotadeal.com, a site that specializes in bringing consumers the newest and cheapest deals from major chain stores such as Target, Best Buy, and Walmart, among others.

Most of us have little time, or desire, to scrutinize food labels. Not to mention doing so can perplex even the most astute shopper. But the ability to quickly interpret a food label, and weed out key information, is requisite to healthy eating. So leave your calculator at home, enter your grocery store armed with patience and a satisfied belly, and consider these key points to efficient label reading.

LUPEC, the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails, is having the prohibition-era equivalent of a pub crawl. The Chicago chapter is led by Sonja Kassebaum of North Shore Distillery, and with a slogan like "Dismantling the Patriarchy, One Cocktail at a Time," what's not to love? On November 12, LUPEC is hosting "Women Helping Women," an evening of shopping, drinking and charity. Participants (ladies or gentlemen) will take a tour through the fashionable shopping of the West Loop, visiting boutiques like Bess and Loie, 2 Sisters and Smitten. At each of the twelve stops, enjoy shopping and try one classic cocktail.

Lord knows there was plenty of music to consume over the weekend, but none of it was really in vinyl or shiny digital plastic form. Well, if you can hold out till Saturday you won't be disappointed. We're loathe to share this information, seeing as how we want all the goodies to ourselves, but this Saturday ubercool music store Dusty Groove is holding a rare sidewalk sale. The treasure hunting starts at noon on the dot and lasts till 5 p.m., or whenever everything's gone. Items will include "weird Brazilian titles, lots of indie-label releases, unusual Latin, offbeat Now Sound, vintage Vocals, sealed Soundtracks, long-lost 12" Singles, Funky 45s, and lots more great bits."

When a trailer for the upcoming cine-adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are debuted online this spring it caused a minor sensation, with everyone going nuts about its use of an Arcade Fire song and the decidedly non-CGI looking creatures. Although we were frankly disappointed by the Dave Eggers-penned Away We Go we're still genuinely excited; because, luckily, Spike Jonze is no Sam Mendes. In fact we haven't been this anxious to see a book-to-movie project since ... well, Wes Anderson's upcoming Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Ah, the shopping mall: food courts, chain stores, erstwhile home to zombie uprisings and Tiffany concerts (specifically "The Beautiful You: Celebrating The Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87"). The first enclosed shopping center, Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota (shown above), opened in 1956. Since then they've spread to practically every corner of the globe. In fact the world's largest malls are now in Asia, dwarfing their North American ancestors. Aside from McDonald's perhaps no other American innovation has been so equally reviled and embraced.

  

Our Saturday visit to Green City Market resulted in a pirate's booty of fresh produce, planters, milk and meats. The highlight of our visit was the purchase of French breakfast radishes and white carrots from Green Acres Farm in North Judson, IN. June is when radishes just begin to make their way to farmers markets and Green Acres's French breakfast radishes have a crispness when you bite into them and taste best raw with a little bit of butter and salt. Wanting to use all of the purchase, we made a pesto from the radish greens. (Incidentally, radishes will be the subject of a future "Ingredient in Focus" post.) The white carrots were a revelation, with a taste to their greens similar to cilantro. We dehydrated some and used them on tacos last night.

We love Reckless; and frankly, we've always preferred the Lakeview store to the one in Wicker Park. When we heard they'd be moving, we initially feared that it'd be to a smaller space. Luckily, that's not the case. The new digs at 3126 N. Broadway, about a block south of the old location, are fairly spacious. In fact, there's even more browsing room thanks to wider aisles. Unlike the old store, you won't have to elbow your way past people staring at the box sets and New Arrivals. Another bonus: the new store is right across the street from Intelligentsia.

       

We went to the opening of the Randolph Street Market this weekend to check out the hodgepodge of vendors, ranging from the mundane to the bizarre. You can find antiques, jewelry, vinyl, local indie designer clothing, and a million things you never knew existed. We saw antique suitcases and birdcages, lava lamps, action figures and pottery recovered from a shipwreck. And a lot of sunburns; don't forget the sunscreen, folks!

Let's face it, shopping is one of the first things to be scratched off the priority list in this shit can economy. In fact, many of us are looking for ways to keep more cash in our ever-fraying pockets. Lately we've used a more discriminating eye when throwing clothes in the donation pile and weeded out a few items to take to thrift stores in an attempt to make an extra buck. Our success at selling our old duds was questionable, but we obtained a wealth of knowledge on what brings in the bucks and what doesn’t that we’ll benevolently share below. Here's our story:

   

Early indications are that the economy will continue to put a crimp in retail sales including the coveted after-Christmas sales.

Though many retailers opened before dawn and advertised bargains aggressively, malls appeared relatively quiet Friday. The number of people visiting shopping centers declined an estimated 19 percent from the day after Christmas last year, according to NPD Group Inc., a Port Washington, N.Y.-based market research firm, based on visits to 26 malls nationwide....

Continue reading "Retail Sales Continue to Underwhelm"

We recently brought you a quick write-up of holiday shopping events that would help you get your gift-buying done in a hurry, but we've found one more happening this weekend that's worth a look. Neighborhood Artists in Logan Square (otherwise known as N.A.I.L.S.) is throwing a holiday bazaar this Saturday full of original and unique art pieces at reasonable prices, making them perfect gifts to purchase in this shoddy economy. Dozens of local artists (disclaimer: including our very own Lauri Apple!) will be on site to showcase a wide variety of pieces including paintings, jewelry, stained glass, photos and more. Christmas shop, get free munchies, support the local art scene. Can't go wrong.

Yeargh, this stuff sells out fast. Local outfit Orange Beautiful's limited edition "Motivate Prints" are back. The set of four includes "get your sh*t together," "get on with it already," "quit your bellyaching" and "do something about it."

This adorable Illinois necklace is cheaper than a movie. Cute!

Sears announced yesterday that it will begin selling official U.S. Army-licensed clothing. The All American Army Brand's First Infantry Division collection will offer "vintage inspired design, intricate attention to detail, and supreme quality standards, inspired by Army technology," according to Sears's press release. The clothes, ranging in price from $12 for a t-shirt to $120 for coats, will be in stores in October. [Sears]

Just us, or is time kinda standing still today? Maybe it's because I had a second this morning where I for some reason believed today was Friday, which it is not.

Our love of Chicago paraphernalia continues. This handmade cuff bracelet, $32, dresses up or down.

Bah, what a great bag. And only $35.

El stops are looking pretty snazzy these days, which is all the more reason to be jazzed up about the one you call home.

Local illustrator Frank Chimero (whose state series we adore) teamed up with Portland's TinyMeat to create this wallet.

The Armitage Avenue area in Lincoln Park is normally a trendy, hoity-toity retail district that’s reserved for gold card shoppers, but this weekend it’s dripping with discounts that make it more accessible to you and your pocket money. Domino magazine, which is dedicated to stylish home decor, is throwing a weekend long shopping and style block party where prices are cut and free stuff abounds.

Today was supposed to by the last kernel for the popular Garrett’s Popcorn Shop on Michigan Avenue, but it’s been granted a stay for the moment. According to Garrett’s P.R. people, the lease has been extended for an unspecified amount of time.

LL Cool J is designing a hip-hop clothing line for Sears, called "LL Cool J for Sears". (Really LL, that's all ya got?) The LL Cool J for Sears line will be available for purchase in most Sears stores by September. Mr. Cool J is said to have an emotional connection with Sears as he used to beg his grandfather to take him shopping there when he was a child growing up in Queens, which factored into his decision to launch the LL Cool J brand there. Sears is expecting another loss in profit this quarter and is hoping this line will appeal to the “urban” customers that they are not currently reaching.

Garrett Popcorn is closing its Michigan Ave store on May 31, making room for the Ritz Carlton and for people to actually walk on the sidewalk. Don't panic, you can still get your "Downtown Mix" at several other locations throughout the city, and plans to open another Garrett on Michigan are in the works. History snippet: Garrett Popcorn Shops has been a Chicago institution since 1949 and after Oprah listed it as one of her coveted favorite things in 2002 and 2005, internet sales increased like whoa, where "whoa" = 35 percent.

We'll always have a soft spot for those CTA-soled sneakers, but these Chicago-themed Pumas, designed to honor the 1990 Bulls, are pretty fabulous, too. [via]

We were just wondering what was going to go in at the Sullivan Center (née the Caron Pirie Scott building), and now we know: fancypants grocer Fox & Obel is opening up a 25,000 square foot store at the 1 S. State location. The building will also house a FlatTop Grill (whose name always makes us think haircut, not stir-fry), and a three-floor Billabong store. Billabong? They're still around?

], but that doesn’t mean we’re not into stretching a buck. We found a few shopping events going on this weekend that are a bargain-hunter's paradise.

Back in our New Orleans days, we used to see billboards that read "40K A State Away!", an attempt by the state of Texas to entice what few competent teachers southeast Louisiana had left. Our first reaction was annoyance. Who does Texas think they are, trying to pilfer our educators? Isn't everything already bigger and better there? Then, after a daiquiri from the drive-thru, we just shrugged. That's capitalism, baby.

We're pretty lucky to live within a short train ride to the South Loop, where we can choose between Jewel, Dominick's, Whole Foods and (on Sundays) the Maxwell Street Market. Sometimes, though, even Jewel and Dominick's can be too pricey. Which is why we're glad to know about Pete's Fresh Market. It's one of our secrets, and today we're sharing it with you.