Posted inBest of Chicago

Best rug cleaner

Mathew Klujian & Sons klujianrugs.com Of all my household furnishings, my rug has been with me the longest. We’ve been through a lot together, my rug and I. For years, it has faithfully protected my feet from cold floors and covered up depressing-looking stains. And yet I treat it so shabbily! I track mud and […]

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Best piercing shop for adults

Insight Studios insightstudiosonline.com As a piercing veteran, I’ve gotten over the adolescent impulse to rebel at the nearest body shop. I still have the urge to get pierced, but these days it’s in the most cautious, mature manner possible. At Insight, “Santi,” aka Juan Santiago, one of Insight Studios’ resident piercers, took hold of my […]

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Best reason to kick off your shoes

Relax Feet relaxfeet.us Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega would agree that a foot massage is a touchy matter. Relax Feet takes them seriously, providing certified massage therapists, a soothing and thoughtfully decorated environment, clean premises, and very competitive fees. There’s even a separate room for two people where you can throw the most relaxing party ever—if […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]