Fashion entrepreneurs of Chicago, behold! The Apparel Industry Board, Inc. (AIBI) has much of the equipment and instruction you need. In AIBI’s Fashion Lab, designers have access to 14 industrial sewing machines, multiple specialized machines, and three cutting tables. They also offer a Gerber pattern-making system—which includes a large format plotter to print patterns and […]
Category: Buy Local
Best place to reminisce about childhood
I found the tiniest naked Troll doll here. It was lying on its stomach, with its feet kicked up, holding its little face in its hands. As a kid, I really hated Troll dolls; their miniature grotesque faces scared me. But now, as an adult, I find them sweet and endearing—their inordinately long tufts of […]
Best woman-owned bra shop where every bra-wearer is welcome
The right bra can improve your posture, relieve back pain, help clothes fit better, and sometimes make you feel a little sexier (or a lot), but let’s face it: shopping for bras can be a major pain in the boob. Many top-selling brands prioritize fashion over quality (as if we can’t have both), and center […]
Best local alternative to the Gap
Clearly, Robert McMillan is not trying to make a quick buck. After leaving a more lucrative (yet less personally fulfilling) job in trading, he established Dearborn Denim in 2016. “It was exciting to build an apparel manufacturer from the ground up. I had a bunch of old, beat-up sewing machines in an abandoned laundry and […]
2022 Buy Local poll winners
The people, places, and things voted Chicago’s best—and runners-up: apartment finder, real estate agent, real estate company, bicycle shop, motorcycle shop, auto dealership, auto repair shop, comics shop, independent bookstore, record store, financial institution or bank, financial planner, florist, garden store, landscape company, jewelry store, tattoo artist, tattoo shop, barbershop, hair salon, pet adoption or animal shelter, pet store, veterinarian, picture framing store, place to buy local wares, home furnishings, resale shop, vintage store, kids clothing, place to buy gender-neutral clothing, place to buy women’s clothing, place to buy men’s clothing, T-shirt shop, streetwear brand, local clothing designer, shoe store, dancewear shop, sex toy shop, place to get married, recovery center, and more
Best used poetry section in Chicago
Myopic Books in Wicker Park has a ton of poetry on offer, but the prices aren’t that much better than you could find new. The late, lamented Bookman’s Corner in Lakeview sold books so cheap it made it feel like you were stealing them—but there weren’t that many poetry books to steal. Between those extremes, […]
Best bookstore tote bag
This is not just a tote bag (though their new caterpillar design by the local Bear Wood Editions is adorable and helps support the Atlanta Solidarity Fund). Pilsen Community Books is a neighborhood bookstore that actually serves their neighborhood. Located on 18th Street in Pilsen, PCB offers a variety of bilingual programming (book clubs and […]
Best organization for altruistic weaving nerds
At The Weaving Mill a textile is not only a textile—it is also an intriguing puzzle to be solved, a way of making sense of our surroundings, a community builder. With this philosophical approach—and so much taste—Emily Winter, 35, has helmed this beloved local enterprise since 2015. At the time, the Chicago Weaving Corporation had […]
Best place to find vintage music ephemera at reasonable prices
Let’s Boogie Records & Tapes (3321 S. Halsted) is a time machine to a different era. Bridgeport and Pilsen have no shortage of outlets for serious crate diggers (shout-out to 606 Records), but Let’s Boogie has been around longer than any other shop in the area—Neal S. Keller opened it in the mid-70s—and it has […]
Best values-driven custom pet art
Hopefully other pet owners can relate to my obsessive need to order custom art pieces of my dog, Swift, in literally any medium you can imagine. If only our four-year-old, now iconic, mini poodle mix knew he’s a muse—captured with felt, on a wood block, in photo shoots, on holiday cards, and even on a […]
Best shop booted from the Thompson Center when Google took over
No matter what dreary business might have drawn you to the Thompson Center before Google purchased it last year, every visit offered its own rewards. For me, they included the jaw-dropping architectural splendor of the lobby (best appreciated with a hot coffee and a Munchkin from the food court), the rotating exhibits of the Illinois […]
Best low-key place to impress a dog
If you’re looking to impress a dog with a playdate, Bosly’s Backyard is all a dog could want. Kiddie pool full of tennis balls? Check. Obstacle course of jumps and tunnels? Check. Bridges to traverse and a wide-open, soft floor to run around on with pals? Check! But this is not some random doggy daycare […]
Best place to feed your stationery addiction
There is something so calming about a stationery store—the colorful rows of notebooks, the tidy aisles of office gadgetry, the stacks of pens and planners. If the only stationery store you’ve set foot into is a Staples, you are missing out on a true vibe that offers a sense of space and order in an […]
Best cross streets for marriage and divorce
The most memorable doughnut of my life was from the Do-Rite that used to be right around the corner from Petterino’s. It was the morning of my divorce. My soon-to-be ex-husband and I were meeting for coffee before walking across Randolph to the Daley Center, where we would kick our three-year marriage to the curb. […]