O-M-Gee!
I ran into the bubbly Lynne McDaniel at the Chairs for Charity event a couple of weeks ago, and she gave me a heads-up about the Black Friday sale she’s having at her Chicago Lawn vintage furniture store, An Orange Moon. (Next week Domestica will be coming to you on the day after Thanksgiving, so I thought you’d appreciate the advance notice.) Lynne is discounting every-dang-thing in the store by 25 percent, through Sunday, November 28 and, as she’s wont to do, serving complimentary featured beverages (Hennessey VSOP Cognac and Coronas this go-around) and playing themed music (hip-hop Christmas, natch). The mid-century-centric shop is located at 2436 West 59th Street, and the sale is daily from 11–5.
Vintage Advantage
Keep the Black Friday buzz going at a preview party for Katherine and Libby’s latest incarnation of their wildly popular Vintage Bazaar, this time popping up in a 1,300-square-foot Logan Square corner storefront at 2955 West Lyndale Street. In addition to the reasonably priced, artfully edited furniture, clothing, and hipster tchotchkes, there will be DJs and giveaways. Because this is a smaller venue than the gals’ usual auditorium spaces, you need to get your tickets in advance, for a sawbuck, here. Party goes down Friday 11/26 from 5–9; sale continues Saturday and Sunday.
Student Council
Get your gift-shopping going this weekend and help a few undergrads out at the same time, at the School of the Art Institute’s 22nd annual Holiday Art Sale. There’s always a youthful-dewy-fresh energy to this market that contrasts nicely with the grandness of its beaux arts setting (the school’s MacLean Ballroom, at 112 South Michigan Avenue), and with more than 120 SAIC students selling ceramics, prints, paintings, jewelry, paper goods, and fashion accessories, and prices starting at a buck, it’ll be a breeze ticking off gift options for everyone from significant others to not-such-significant Secret Santas. The kids collect 85 percent of their sales, admission is free and open to the public, and hours are Friday 11–7 and Saturday 10–5. If you want a first-run viewing of the one-off loot, there is a preview party tonight from 5–8, which will set you back $35 or $60 for two people.
Holiday Marketing
The SAIC sale isn’t the only seasonal shopping event being served up in next few weeks. As we segue into December, mall-ternative holiday sales and events are coursing through Chicago. More than 70 vendors of vintage and modern home goods, accessories, and fashion will be at Randolph Street’s Holiday Market this Saturday and Sunday, 10–5 p.m. at the West Loop’s Plumbers Hall, located at 1340 W. Washington Street. As an added attraction for this fourth annual event, this year the market has teamed up with the South Suburban Humane Society to host a dog adoption event on-site both days. Woof! The $10 admission includes a voucher for $10 off any purchase over $50, and they’re throwing free parking and free gift-wrapping in the mix. The Golden Triangle’s popular holiday market launches this Saturday with a party from 11–3, and runs through the year. Indulge your Asian orientation with small-scale, affordable items brought in especially for the season. You can park for free in the adjacent lot for an hour—run over and see the Rug Company’s swell new digs next door, while you’re at it.
Friends, Family, Fixture
Shhh…the arty Roscoe Village gift shop Fixture is having a private friends and family day today, November 18, from 4–9 p.m., with discounts of 10 to 25 percent off everything in the store. Fixture has a nice selection of host/ess giftables, in addition to locally created accessories, jewelry, and art. No need for cheese to stand lonely when you have options like this shifty cutting board in the shape of a wedge of Swiss. It swivels open to reveal three serving tools, and the retail price is $42. Fixture vends versions in the shape of guitars and wine bottles if this is just too, well, obvious.
Thybony and Irony
Earlier this year rumors were rumbling about the independent, family-run paint and decorating company, Thybony, shutting down its 16,000-square-foot Andersonville location at 5440 North Clark Street. The rumors are true, and the company is presently having a moving sale (it’s just rolling a few storefronts south and reopening mid-December in a space that formerly housed a launderette, a curiously fruit-less fruit market, and, most recently, a Quizno’s; Thybony’s 3445 North Kimball Avenue location will remain open), with discounts on paint samples, mistinted paints, primers, and other painterly supplies. I’m disappointed to see this neighborhood institution, in business since 1886, downscaling, but doubly so when I learned that a Walgreens pharmacy will be taking over the sprawling space. Really? There’s already a pharmacy across the street, a Jewel-Osco a block north, and a CVS, a Dominick’s, and a couple of different Walgreens in the nearby environs. I’d have used one of my three genie wishes on a Trader Joe’s, but no, instead we’ll have yet another place to get flu shots and shop for toothpaste.