Retail

Leaded-glass windows with gold leaf and hand-painted signage, custom woodwork, tin ceilings and twinkling chandeliers: step into this family-run pharmacy and, clichéd as it might sound, you’ll feel as if you’ve been transported to a traditional apothecary in 1800s Vienna. In 1875, Peter Merz founded a small pharmacy focused on herbal remedies and, after being purchased by Abdul Qaiyum in 1972, the business expanded and moved to its current location. Choose between Santa Maria Novella soaps, Byredo fragrances and Dr Hauschka skincare before nipping next door to the more modern The Shops at Merz, featuring men’s grooming specialist Q Brothers.

Space 519 started life in 2010 in a luxury shopping centre on Michigan Avenue. “We literally were space 519 in the building,” says Lance Lawson, a former attorney who co-founded the shop with his partner Jim Wetzel. In 2018 they moved to the ground floor of this 1920s building on East Chestnut Street and added The Lunchroom, a 40-seat restaurant with Breuer chairs and white marble tables. On offer are women’s clothes from independent designers such as Sara Roka, accessories discovered on Lawson and Wetzel’s past trips to Paris, homeware and books – and much more. “We want to be a place of discovery for our clients – somewhere special they wish to return to,” says Wetzel.

George Vlagos founded Oak Street Bootmakers in 2010 and went on to open Independence, its flagship retailer, two years later. Just as the boots are designed and produced in the US – using Chicago’s Horween Leather, no less – the focus at Independence is on national brands. “We’re not about fashion and trends,” says Vlagos. In 2019, Independence moved to a former food and seed warehouse on Randolph Street in the West Loop, kitted out with Vlagos’s own vintage furniture and 19th- and 20th-century hand-knitted rugs. Alongside Oak Street Bootmakers, expect to find Engineered Garments, Gitman Brothers Vintage and, as an exception to the rule, Orslow and Kapital from Japan.

Husband-and-wife duo Jena Frey and Joe Lauer founded the fashion boutique Penelope’s in 2002 and 16 years later opened this slightly higher-end sister shop, Gemini, next door. Behind a classic Chicago shopfront erected in 1885 is a light and airy white-walled space with walnut floors and splashes of colour. “We wanted to bring to our neighbourhood a world-class boutique for men and women that blends the best in contemporary fashion and design with heritage collections,” says Lauer. French workwear by Vetra and traditional shirts by Portuguese Flannel brush shoulders with playful womenswear by Barcelona-based Paloma Wool and Swedish menswear by Our Legacy. Plus wall hangings, leather bags and many more made-in-Chicago wares.

The Fine Arts Building has a long literary history: two 20th-century journals were published here; Frank Lloyd Wright designed an on-site bookshop and had an office upstairs; and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was penned and illustrated on the premises. Today, Peter Hopkins and Heidi Zheng run The Dial Bookshop on the second floor. Books sit on shelves made from 100-year-old bleacher wood sourced from a nearby basketball gym. The focus is on contemporary titles but you’ll also find vintage and rare tomes, plus small-press publications.