Utotem Furniture utotemfurniture.com There used to be a convenience store chain in certain parts of the country called UtoteM, which was bought out by Circle K in the mid-80s. Pilsen’s year-old Utotem Furniture is nothing like those. One of the shop’s three owners, Jordan Grimes, is a furniture designer, and his work is sold in […]
Category: Goods & Services 2015 Critics’ Picks
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best schvitz with a side of politics
Red Square redsquarechicago.com On a Sunday afternoon not long after Mayor Rahm Emanuel was forced into a runoff in his bid for a second term, Jesse Jackson sauntered through the men’s locker room of the Wicker Park sauna Red Square wearing nothing more than a towel and flip-flops. The reverend’s six-foot-three-inch frame entered my line […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best record store for a musicological dig
Out of the Past outofthepastrecords.com Record collectors like to dig, but few shops in town really give you the sense you might actually unearth something quite like this West Garfield Park spot. At Out of the Past, you’ll want to set aside a few hours, roll up your sleeves, and prepare to get dust on […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best waterproof notebook
Field Notes Expedition edition fieldnotesbrand.com Field Notes provides the perfect pocket-size notebooks to make you feel like you’re in a Wes Anderson movie, exemplified by the charmingly specific details of the Expedition edition. It’s easy to imagine a pastel-tinted Anderson sequence outlining the 12 scientific tests the notebooks passed—they scored especially high marks in “tensile […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best hidden bookstore
Open Books Pilsen open-books.org Open Books Pilsen isn’t hidden, exactly. But since it’s camouflaged as a garage on a quiet block of 19th Street, a few minutes’ walk from the taquerias and bakeries and thrift shops of the commercial strip on 19th, you could easily walk right by—unless you happen to peer through the door […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best dessert-scented landscaping supply
Blommer’s cocoa-shell mulch blommer.com Last summer I started noticing that I’d get smacked in the face by the smell of chocolate whenever I stepped outside my apartment on a hot day. It took me weeks to figure out the source of the scent, which is reminiscent of a freshly toasted chocolate fudge Pop-Tart. Then one […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best intimidating jewelry
Blue Buddha Boutique bluebuddhaboutique.com Anybody who’s in the business of brainwashing women into buying more clothing and accessories will tell you the best way to brighten up a blah outfit is to add some statement jewelry. There are plenty of stores in Chicago selling jewelry that will help you state that you are a fun, […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best way to celebrate everyday accomplishments
Trophies You Deserve from I Am Home iamhome.us Though I feel I’ve accomplished a lot in my life, when I gaze upon my shelves I realize I don’t have much to show for it—though, yes, there’s my college diploma and that photograph of me with 1998 Olympic Gold medalist Tara Lipinski. Look, not everyone can […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best unassuming treasure trove
The Antique and Resale Shoppe antiqueandresale.com If you travel on Harlem Avenue so far north that you’re practically in Niles, you’re likely to notice Nick’s Drive-In, with its mural of a stern-looking Uncle Sam instructing you to try the “best homemade gyros in America.” However, you might not spot the place right next door, the […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best introduction to healing crystals
On the Rocks ontherockschicago.com When friends first started gushing about the healing power of crystals, I brushed it off as New Agey nonsense. But after stepping into On the Rocks, I realized how easily the interest could snowball into obsession. The store stocks a large variety of sparkling, visually mesmerizing crystals; the pleasing sight of […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best place to step into an antique collector’s fever dream
Zap Props and Antiques zapprops.com At first glance, Zap Props and Antiques might seem like nothing more than an enormous, highly disorganized pile of junk, but this three-story, 36,000-square-foot warehouse, tucked away in one of Bridgeport’s more nondescript enclaves, is a ramshackle museum of ephemera. Everything belongs to owner and proprietor Bill Rawski, who rents […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best reason to not ditch your CD player
Laurie’s Planet of Sound’s Sharkula section lauriesplanetofsound.blogspot.com These days a portion of the music-consuming public talks about CDs as if they’re the child kept in a crawl space beneath the stairs and fed an unsteady diet of fish heads. When it comes to music media, even the eight-track tape has more cool cachet. But CDs […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best clothing designer for urban pixies
Anastasia Chatzka anastasiachatzka.com That Anastasia Chatzka hasn’t experienced burnout is a wonder. The 31-year-old has financed her own business by working multiple jobs, designed her own fashion line, managed two boutiques (located in Ukrainian Village and Hyde Park), handled on-site alterations, presented seasonal fashion shows, and now plans to open pop-up shops in LA and […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best clothes for biking
Tenspeed Hero store.tenspeedhero.com Last November, Reader street-style maven Isa Giallorenzo snapped a picture of Aleia Murawski, one of nine friends who create cycle-centric clothing under the label Tenspeed Hero. The company prides itself on making pieces that look good in or out of a velodrome, and sure enough, Murawski’s reflective leggings (which she’d paired with […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best streetwear gear for the whole family
Joe Fresh Goods’s “Glo Up” line dont-be-mad.com/glo-up When gossip outlet TMZ abushed Chief Keef in November 2013, the world got a taste of a brand-new Keefism: “I growed up—I glo-ed up, I mean.” “Glo” has since infiltrated Keef’s persona, and in 2014 he ditched Glory Boyz Entertainment, aka GBE, for a new label called Glo […]