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Category: Shopping

Ooh-la-la: A special feature written by Peggy Laemle

March 15th, 2010 in Shopping

Highland Park resident Lisa Farrell sells hats. But more than hats, she sells dreams. Just step inside her tiny shop at 441 Central Avenue – next to the Highland Park Theater - and you can imagine the occasion for which you must wear that sculptured hat, embellished with decorative touches of feathers or hand made flowers and a ribbon or two. Or how about the elegant cloche with the tiny design embedded in it? Perhaps you’d like to buy your child or grandchild a winter hat with a lamb design, or polka dots?

Though she sells hats designed by several other milliners – note the children’s hats - her specialties include hats created from hand-blocked felt (90% comes from the Czech Republic; the rest from Italy), straw (from Asia), or fabric. She discovered her love and aptitude for hat design after studying at Ray Vogue School of Design, working on costume design for the theater, and attending the North Carolina School of the Arts. Lisa’s customers come from all over the country, for they know she can design a hat in a style that best suits one’s face and shape, not to mention the occasion. This past summer, a bride and her mother flew in from Las Vegas for wedding chapeaus to wear to the nuptials in Rome, Italy.

Lisa told me that there is no typical customer. Years ago I bought a gardening hat for my daughter at Ooh-La-La. You may think a gardening hat is a baseball cap with a long brim. But not the one I bought. It was made of straw, easily folded for travel – my daughter lives in Oregon - and now stylishly protects both her face and neck while she gardens.

Though small, Ooh-La-La has enough display room for a variety of hats and an array of hat blocks, which line the walls. These hat blocks came from a very well known St. Louis millinery business owned by Sam Schneider. When he died, his heirs put his entire factory up for auction. Lisa, who found out about the auction from Sam’s daughter, a fellow Highland Park resident, won a bidding war for the contents of this factory by including sweat equity in her offer. She and her husband drove a truck down and, during the course of one week, boxed and sold, donated or kept items in the factory, including machines (kept several), hat blocks (kept all those!), fabrics, and a tall safe, which someone, thankfully, purchased from her. In all, it took over six truckloads to clear out the factory. 

One of several Chicago area milliners, Lisa is the only one with a storefront with regular hours. She was very busy last November getting ready for the fifteenth annual La Fete des Catherinettes Celebration of the Millinery Arts Alliance, whose opening night was at Perennial on North Lincoln Avenue, followed by a weekend display at The Peninsula Chicago. Wish I could have been there!

Interesting fact:  Ooh-La-La is not the first hat shop to be located at 441 Central.  In the 30’s and 40’s, Etienne Millinery was there!

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Bett's: A special feature written by Peggy Laemle

January 18th, 2010 in Shopping

Bett Barnett of Bett's and B2 Contemporary has the artist’s eye of a clothing designer. In her first Highland Park store, opened in 1976 and which she called Bett's Leathers, she sold primarily clothing she designed herself.  By the time she moved to her third and current location on the corner of Green Bay Road and Central Avenue, her store was named Bett's and she was shopping at designer trade shows nationally and internationally for clothing in the latest styles and easy travel fabrics that would most suit her customer base.

She has been a U.S. Delegate to the Southeast Asia Fashion Week in Singapore and to Montreal's Fashion Week. Her interest in championing young designers has led her to attend and judge fashion shows at Chicago's School of the Art Institute and Columbia College.

Two years ago she opened B2 Contemporary next door to Bett’s.  She refers to this as her “younger trendy boutique [whose] mission is to pair fashion and philanthropy.” By hosting evening shopping events benefiting the charitable interests of her clients, she brings awareness, and donates a percentage of the profits, to these causes.  Her shopping evenings have benefited Breast Cancer Research; Friends for Steven: Pediatric Cancer; CURED – Campaign Urging Research for Eosinophilic disease; Gene Therapy research; the Oak Terrace School’s Computer Center; the Apple Tree Theater; and Highland Park’s Volunteer Pool.

Bett’s customers come from the greater Chicago metropolitan area as well as the surrounding states for fashion - forward or classic attire. Bett has scoured the markets for the best looks to offer the customers great value in response to the economic climate. The bargain conscious mark their calendars for her once-yearly 6 a.m. sale in January and for Highland Park’s end of July Sidewalk Sale.

Though Bett moved from Highland Park seven years ago, she remains passionate about her shop’s location and clientele. She was instrumental in starting Highland Park’s own Fashion Week four years ago, enjoys her membership in the Chamber of Commerce, and is active in the Chamber's Women’s Networking Group.

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Eco-Friendly Style on the North Shore

September 18th, 2009 in Shopping

Becky Barnes Jackson, Store Manager/Buyer, Notice: Accessories for Living

Notice: Accessories for Living has been a Downtown Highland Park shopping destination for over two years. We carry everything from jewelry to home décor items and we focus especially on eco-friendly products. Buying green is very important to us, but being fashionable is equally so. We do not compromise style or quality to be green. There are a lot of poorly made products out there claiming to be green but we comb through them and only carry what we feel is best. We also strive to sell products that you can’t find anywhere else on the North Shore. We want to be really different, to set ourselves apart and I think our customers appreciate that. In addition to eco-friendly items, we are particularly drawn to small family-run companies and women-owned businesses.

One really unique product line that we carry and are very excited about is Cardboard Design. They are a fairly new company, based out of New York and they produce a line of furniture and home décor accessories that is constructed of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable cardboard. We will be featuring their products in a trunk show as part of the ‘Shop Home for the Holidays’ events weekend in October. The trunk show open house will be held Oct. 15-17 and will include refreshments and a gift with purchase.

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Personal Service at Posh Essentials

August 6th, 2009 in Shopping

 Susan Carlson, Principal/Buyer, Posh Essentials

When we decided to open Posh Essentials we chose Downtown Highland Park because it is such an incredible retail area. Since opening in April 2009 the response has been overwhelming. We find that besides our loyal local consumers we are really pulling people from all over the North Shore. People come to Downtown Highland Park as a destination and once they discover us, they keep coming back. Everyone has been very welcoming and when you show that you have something they like, they become loyal customers. And we really appreciate it when the locals shop here. It is vital for any community to have the people that live there support the local businesses. That is what keeps the community thriving. We consider ourselves not just a lingerie store, but a gift store where women can find something for any occasion within their budget. We appeal to women of all ages for any gift need they have, whether it be a graduation, birthday or hostess gift. At Posh Essentials you can find things for $10 or $100. And for women shopping for themselves, we carry fine lingerie at a mid-range price point. We carry the luxurious necessities for every day. One unique offering at Posh that sets us apart from similar stores is our concierge and personal shopping. A customer can tell us who they are shopping for and how much they want to spend, give us a credit card number and we'll take care of the rest. We will choose the perfect gift, wrap and mail it. And this fall we are launching our web store, where customers will be able to shop from directly from our website.

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Eileen Fisher in Downtown Highland Park

July 16th, 2009 in Shopping

Kim Austad, Store Manager, Eileen Fisher

The Eileen Fisher store in Highland Park opened in February 2009 and the response so far has been great. The local clients are so ready for the brand. We have met a lot of new Fisher fans. The brand has a really cool client who is at a great space in her life and when she comes in here we let her know it's a privilege to work with her. We'll grab some cookies and bottled water and we'll play dress up. It's a whole experience, not just a transaction. It has been life changing for some of these women. One of them even started writing about her experience with our store on a facebook page. I didn't even know about it until someone from our corporate office in New York contacted me and told me they had seen it online. The client had such a great experience in the Highland Park store that she began writing about it on the "Fans of Eileen Fisher" facebook page and it all started to unfold from there. We're pretty traditional and we like to evolve organically so when things like this just start to happen, it's really magical. Some of our  New York employees were elated and now they have even hopped on board the facebook page.

The Highland Park clients have a tremendous amount of loyalty to the city and a commitment to keeping it local. We're already developing a loyal client base. This is only our second store in Illinois and at the time we opened, Eileen Fisher didn't have any suburban representation. The only other store is in Water Tower Place. We even have a regular client from Wisconsin who comes to Highland Park for Eileen Fisher. It's a privilege to be here.

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