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57th Street Books
A vast selection of general-interest titles fills the basements of two buildings. It's the kind of old-fashioned bookstore that makes you want to own a bookstore. The travel section features a commendable choice of Lonely Planet guides, a table and chairs for careful choosing and a chilled-water dispenser. Seminary Co-op is the sister shop selling academic tomes.
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900 N Michigan
This huge mall is home to an upscale collection of stores including Diesel, Gucci and J Crew, among many others. Water Tower Place is under the same management, and they simply placed all the really expensive stores over here.
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A Ok Official
Local artists design and customize sneakers, which are sold here alongside weird vinyl toys. It's all very hip and urban, with sneakerheads clamoring for the limited-edition goods.
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Abraham Lincoln Book Shop
This hushed, museum-like shop carries new, used and antiquarian books about Honest Abe, the Civil War and the presidency in general. If you want a real, Lincoln-signed White House memo, you'll walk out of here a satisfied customer. The knowledgeable staff regularly hold open round-table discussions with Civil War scholars.
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Aji Ichiban
The front sign at this Asian snack and candy store says 'Munchies Paradise', and so it is. Sweet and salty treats fill the bulk bins, from dried salted plum to chocolate wafer cookies, roasted fish crisps to fruity hard candies. It's all packaged in cool, cartoon-y wrappers, with plenty of samples out for grabs.
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Akira
Several fashion design students work here, manning (or woman-ing, to be precise) the denim bar, stocked with 20-plus different brands of jeans. There's a focus on up-and-coming and newly popular lines. This particular location is women-oriented, but three other Akira shops - one for men's clothing, one for shoes, and one for accessories - hover on the same block.
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Alamo Shoes
This throwback to the 1960s focuses on comfortable Swedish shoes and Birkenstocks for both men and women, all at really good prices. The enthusiastic staffers hop off to the back room and emerge with stacks of boxes until you find what you want or you're entirely walled in by the possibilities.
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Alley
A vast emporium based on counterculture and pop trends, the Alley offers everything from pot pipes to band posters to human-sized dog collars. Loud, obnoxious punk-rock tees ('I've got the biggest dick in the band' etc) are a specialty of the house. The labyrinth of rooms includes one devoted to the Alley's 'Architectural Revolution' store, which sells items that have found a mainstream market with non-dog-collar-wearing interior designers.
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Alternatives
The kinds of shoes that delight the eye and appall the feet are the specialty at this store, located in the 900 N Michigan mall. Alternatives features one of the most cutting-edge collections in town, at prices that gladden the hearts of budding Imelda Marcoses everywhere.
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American Girl Place
You know the red shopping bags you see every female under the age of 12 carrying on Michigan Ave? They come from American Girl Place, a three-story doll store so bizarre you must see it to believe it. Dolls are treated as real people here: the 'hospital' admits them and takes them away in a wheelchair if they need repair; the café seats and treats them as part of the family. You can even order a doll made to look just like you.
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Antiques Centre at Kinzie Square
If you're after a priceless souvenir of the old USA, then this is your place. Twenty different dealers peddle high-end homewares, ceramics and art from the 18th and 19th centuries. Although very competitive price-wise, the high quality ensures that you won't come out of here without racking up some serious damage to your credit card.
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Apple Store
Powerbooks, iPods and everything else for Mac enthusiasts are splayed across butcher-block tables in this bright, airy store. The user-friendly setup comes with plenty of clued-up staff to answer product questions, a 'genius bar' on the 2nd floor to sort out equipment issues and free internet access on machines throughout the store.
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Architectural Artifacts
This mammoth salvage warehouse, located a bit northwest of Lake View proper, is a treasure trove that prompts continual mutterings of 'Where on earth did they find that ?' Italian marionettes, 1920s French mannequins and Argentinian cast-iron mailboxes rest alongside decorative doors, tiles, stained-glass windows, fireplace mantels and garden furnishings. Be sure to step into the free, attached Museum of Historic Chicago Architecture.
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Army Navy Surplus USA
The merchandise area here would send a drill sergeant into a conniption. The place is a huge mess. But among the torn boxes and shambles of merchandise there are actual military surplus items of the highest quality the taxpayer can afford.
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Barbara's Bookstore
For serious fiction, you can't touch this locally owned store. Staff members have read what they sell, and touring authors regularly give readings. Politics and current affairs are well represented.
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Barker & Meowsky
Fido and Fluffy get their due here. Sales staff welcomes four-legged visitors with a treat from the all-natural pet food stash, and then the critters are allowed to commence sniffing up and over the fun apparel, beds and carriers. Top wags go to the Chewy Vuitton purse-shaped squeak-toys and Cubs ball caps, the shop's best sellers.
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Beadniks
Incense envelops you at the door, and you know right away you're in for a hippie treat. Mounds of worldly beads heaped on tables. African trade beads and Thai silver-dipped beads? Got 'em. Bright-hued stone beads, ceramic beads, glass beads? All present. For a small fee the kindly staff will help you string your choices into a necklace. Or take a workshop and learn to wield the pliers yourself. Call for further information.
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Blommer Chocolate Store
Often in the Loop, a smell wafts through that's so enticing you'd shoot your own mother in the kneecaps to get to it. It comes from Blommer Chocolate Factory, which provides the sweet stuff to big-time manufacturers like Fannie May and Nabisco. Luckily, the wee outlet store sells a line of Blommer's own goodies straight to consumers at cut-rate prices. The dark chocolate, especially with covered almonds, reigns supreme.
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Bon Bon
A mother-daughter team infuses the handmade chocolates with exotic, heady ingredients like rose petals, chilies and chai tea. As if that wasn't sensuous enough, they then mold the pieces into figures from the Kama Sutra (as well as into little Buddhas and King Tuts, who are still kind of sexy). Serve the rich concoctions to the object of your affection, and you'll be ripping each others' clothes off in no time.
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Borders Books & Music
This humungous Borders, right across from the Water Tower, is always crowded. Thousands of books, including lots of special-interest titles, are spread out over four floors. You'll find a good selection of magazines and newspapers near the main entrance. Borders also has opened a much-needed branch in the Loop and a less attractive store in Lake View.
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Boring Store
The big orange sign out front will have you scratching your head, but do yourself a favor and step inside. The place sells crazy-ass spy gear! Mustache disguise kits, underwater voice amplifiers, banana-shaped cases to hide your cell phone in - it's genius. And better yet: profits from sales go toward supporting the after-school writing and tutoring programs that take place on-site at nonprofit group 826CHI.
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Casa De Soul
While the turntable in front blasts groovy tunes, check out the shell-inlaid coin purses, beaded handbags, unique clothing and earrings, and African wood-carved items (from the owner's homeland).
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Central Camera
Whatever your photos needs, Central Camera has the answer. If you're traveling with a shutterbug, be sure to avoid this place until the very end of your trip, lest you risk seeing the sights all by yourself. Once photo-holics step inside the long, narrow store, it will be days before they surface again.
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Chicago Antiques Market
This market has become quite the ta-do in town. It takes place inside the beaux arts Plumbers Hall, where more than 200 dealers hock collectibles, costume jewelry, furniture, books, Turkish rugs and pinball machines. One of the coolest facets is the Indie Designer Fashion Market, where the city's fledgling designers sell their one-of-a-kind skirts, shawls, handbags and other pieces.
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Chicago Architecture Foundation Shop
Skyscraper playing cards, Frank Lloyd Wright notecards and heaps of books and posters celebrate local architecture at this haven for anyone with an edifice complex. The items make excellent only-in-Chicago type souvenirs.
