When it comes to fashionable boutiques, Chicago’s really been struggling as of late.
Wicker Park’s beloved Hejfina closed at the end of September. The store, which was my favorite retailer in Chicago, carried brands like Acne, Rag & Bone and Preen, which are not as easy to find there as in New York.
Then, it was Maria Pinto. The Michelle Obama favorite opened up her stand-alone boutique in the summer of 2008, only to close it permanently this month. She also shuttered her wholesale operations.
And just this week, the long-plagued Jake finally announced it would close.
Each of these retailers has a different story to tell. Heiji Choy Black, the owner of Hejfina, said that she wanted to spend more time with her family. She also told TimeOut Chicago that “the way people shop has forever changed in this difficult economy.”
Pinto, who’s been in the industry for quite some time, might have relied too much on her celebrity endorsements. While Oprah, and of course Obama, are fans, her audience is quite local and quite niche. Pouring money into a store during one of the worst recessions in history mightn’t have been a smart idea.
Jake, as you may know, has had some difficulties when it comes to paying designers and manufacturers. So there’s no doubt why they’re closing.
But it does seem strange to me that three highly-influential Chicago boutiques would close over the course of one year. Sure, New York has lost several shops, but we have many, many more than Chicago does. There’s no doubt that it’s a design-centric city, but it’s much smaller, which means that it just doesn’t have the population to host the same number of amazing retailers.
When I chatted with Heiji Choy Black years ago about her store, she told me that Chicago shoppers are different than New Yorkers. They tend to do two big shopping trips a year and that’s it. With New Yorkers, it’s a weekend sport where we pick up items here and there.
Maybe this difference in shopping strategies has to do with the string of closings, but I’ve never lived in Chicago, so I haven’t had the chance to observe shopping habits over a long period of time. What do you think? Why are Chicago’s most fashionable retailers disappearing?
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Oh, Hejfina. Sad times. Pretty surprised that Jake stayed open as long as it did (see: NYT article)… Eskell better not follow or it's the end of days. I lived in Chicago for several years and it seems like perhaps the location of these stores (not in the ritzy Gold Coast, but in the Lakeview and Wicker Park neighborhoods) may have had something to do with it. Of course, la recession, too. And now a pop-up shop for Jake on Michigan Ave.? That's… interesting.
As a native Chicagoan, I think one of the main problems is that it's just not a fashionable city, on the whole. It may seem New Age-y, but I think the weather plays a huge part. I would say that most of any given year, what's fashionable isn't practical enough for me to wear. Sometimes I buy it anyway (especially shoes), but I can't see shelling out for designer anything only to have it ruined by snow, rain, or oppressive heat; or stay hidden under a million layers of outerwear for most of the day. That said, I think Heiji Choy Black is right, Chicagoans spend big money on clothing twice a year: buying nice coats for winter and buying summer clothes.
Like in a lot of cities that aren't NY/LON/PAR/TYO/ETC, Chicago just doesn't have enough people who A) like and B) can afford lines like Acne, Preen, etc… I grew up in Chicago and visit quite a few times to get street-style photos (its hard….). Hejfina was my favorite store there, partly because I'd be able to get really fun things at 50% off because they'd last til the sale — I guess that wasn't a good sign. Always wondered who in Chicago was paying full price for Tsumori Chisato and Preen…But on the flipside, Barneys did move to a bigger shinier new location in 2009…
I live in Chicago. Barney's opened a fabulous new store last year. It's phenomenal and so easy to shop. Neimans in Chicago is fantastic. Jake was never that great, in my opinion. Very hit or miss, very limited selection. Don't forget Ikram – one of a kind. So that's where people go for the high end and for the lower end there's H&M, Marc by Marc, and lots of smaller local boutiques. Maybe (like everywhere else) the middle is disappearing.
definitely…the weather. i assume most city dwellers versed in fashion would greatly enjoy strolling around main streets and boutique-hopping…but in 10-degree weather, it's bound to be an unpleasant experience no matter how alluring the clothing. besides, i'd feel quite out-of-place and a bit guilty dirtying up nice boutiques with slush-covered boots and a snow-covered self.
My guess would be the weather as well. It's hard to be fashionable in wind….
Blake and Ikram dominate shopping on the high-end, and Chicago has all of the major department stores. The mid-range boutiques don't seem to offer anything different than Barney's, Scoop, etc. As is the trend lately, people buy on the high end or the low end, but not the middle.
I live in Chicago and I do believe it's because we shop about twice a year for the weather (summer and winter). We have pretty extreme weather so it's really difficult to be fashionable in the winter when you have 30 mph, -15 degree gusts and ice and snow on the sidewalks make it hard to wear high heels. During the summer it's also hard to wear a cute dress because the chances of the dress blowing up are really high because of the wind (again). Many girls I know wear skin-tight aerobic shorts under their dresses just in case. I also know many people who are frugal and have a hard time justifying spending $300 on a day dress, so that may be another reason why many Chicagoans don't shop at high-end stores.This is at least true in my experience, so I'm in no way claiming this is true for everyone. People who live in the north Loop/Gold Coast area are the biggest buyers at boutiques and high end fashion because they're the only ones who can really afford it.
I got my first Dries and Margiela pieces at Blake
Something that I've heard (quietly) from more than one retailer, concerns Ikram's dominance over “new” designers. Essentially, her power seems to enable her to keep newer lines out of other boutiques, and maybe even out of our new and improved Barneys. For those of us who haven't been treated that well at Ikram, we're left shopping online for these designers. Or, for Maria Pinto, Michelle O simply stops wearing your clothes, perhaps because Ikram is her gatekeeper.Chicago also has the relatively recent influx of Scoop and Intermix, which provide access to brands that were previously limited to these local boutiques. These chains, of course, are better suited to withstanding the recession. Plus, the expanded Barneys has stocked Isabel Marant and Vanessa Bruno, which I previously could only find at Hejfina. I miss Hefijna and Jake greatly. But Helen Yi, P45 and Blake seem to be doing well, and hopefully Chicago customers will continue to support these local stores.
The grammar in this post sucks.”…three highly-influential Chicago boutiques would clothes”"Chicago shoppers are different than…”Yuck.
I think the major department stores are really taking away business from many of the smaller boutiques. Aside from Hejfina, I cant really say that I shopped at many smaller boutiques. I would stop by the Jake shop once in a while but nothing really motivated me to pull out my credit card. It's so sad that so many smaller boutiques are closing down. I do miss Hejfina greatly and hopefully under better economic situations it can return to Wicker Park because there's just a huge void left behind since it closed down. As far as for people only shopping twice a year being the answer? I don't think thats quite true. Chicago is a summer/winter kind of city but people really try to embrace that fashions I think. Overall I think the major stores like Barney's, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom which cover most covetable designers I think are really the reason many of these shops are closing down.
very good!
Megan, I absolutely disagree with you..Chicago has an incredible amount of new and upcoming designers evolving into a new mold. The problem is that the retail industry has to change. If you look around at the newer designers based here in chicago like Lara Miller, Horacio Nieto and Anna Fong, you see that they are pushing for strong online retail and wholesale. These are incredibly influential and creative fashion icons. Yea, we may have shitty weather, but so does NYC…Yet, they are fashion forward. Chicago may not be right there with them as of late, BUT it is rising in the fashion spotlight. With events like Chicago Fashion Focus and the Chicago Latino Fashion Week, I would have to say that Chicago is in the mold with influential taste making cities. I myself am a product of some of the best fashion schools in the Nation as well. NY, LA and yes CHICAGO has some of the best programs within the fashion education industry. Colleges like Columbia College Chicago, The School of the Art Institute, IADT and The Illinois Institute of Art offer incredible fashion programs. So, like I said, I'd have to disagree WHOLLY with you on your claims that “Chicago is not a fashionable city on the whole”. Some good links for you to try on for sizehttp://www.examiner.com/x-2741-Chicago-Fashion-Trends-...http://www.chicagofashiondesigners.com/main.htmlhttp://www.themidwasteland.com
While Chicago is a big city, it's still a conservative town and the style seemed to drift toward the homogenous. The girls I lived and hung out with (and their friends were similar) worked downtown, lived in Lincoln Park, went out after work/weekend, and they all dressed alike – black pants/skirt/dress and cute top from the big dept or chain stores. They didn't have to wear high fashion to go out or fit in, unlike other cities like NYC or LA. I'm not surprised that indie designers are having trouble gaining traction, especially if we were the market they were catering to.
Chicago is tremendously lacking a fabulous fashion scene. I usually stick to doing online shopping or the new Barneys, Bloomingdales or Nordstrom. The safe bets! Helen Yi and Roslyn offer some pretty rare things too. Ikram is great if you can afford it! I'm not surprised about Jake, and as one commentator stated, it was very hit or miss. Everybody in Chicago wears Northface and look strangely at you if you are dressed well. I've experienced this far too many times, though it never stops me! The city never dresses up; it is very casual.A lot of the independent designers attempting to emerge from there are eco-friendly. I fully understand and respect it, but it is not for the mass market (and particularly Chicagoans) because of it's higher price tag. I almost find it like a paradox because most of the clothes these designers are producing are light, airy, etheral pieces that can barely be worn for a handful of weeks in summer ortherwise they are stuffed underneath layers of winter clothes. I wish they had more representation and sales on the West Coast bc they could wear the stuff more!I feel like to be a succesful Chicago designer you have truly design around a Chicago lifestyle, which would include things like cashmere long underwear, thick knit sweaters, amazingly warm coats and boots and then a few flowy things for the summer. Because that is really all the Chicagoans want!
It seems like the smaller designers featured in those boutiques aren't designing for a Chicago audience, including the weather (as others have noted well). But there's also lifestyle–it seems like the women in Chicago who spend money on clothes are working women, and maybe in NY and LA, women who spend money on clothes are more socialite types. In my field (law), there's no way I can wear the stuff that was in Jake to work–it was either cocktail or upscale casual. Intermix and Scoop have the same problem, though, and they're doing okay.Jake also had terrible customer service, especially as they neared the end. At P45, I walked in looking like a schlub, and I look like I'm too young to afford any of their clothes–they were still attentive and kind (as in “show us everything you try on, even if you don't like it, so we can evaluate fit and find something you do like”). Maybe Chicagoans demand more friendly customer service rather than the snooty-gorgeous-salesperson model that many boutiques use.
P.S. Michigan folk also move to Chicago in droves (no jobs in MI), and I think that huge rural Michigan population brings the casual Northface homogenous attitude with it. I've had a person from Michigan literally gasp when they saw me because I had cuffed my jeans, which she found to be totally shocking and weird.
As native of Chicago, it is truly sad to see so many stores closing! Most of Neiman's couture shoppers don't go to Bucktown. Also many people just shop New York, L.A. or Europe. It is a two way street, as a designer, I have had better luck cold call emailing Ken Downing then I have with Chicago buyers. Everybody here wants there fashion christened by N.Y.
Soooo, Nobody here has ever been to GAMMA PLAYER? Because they kick serious ass. imho Chicago style (tory burch flats with a north face fleece and bootcut jeans) and the weather make it hard to introduce more avant garde labels into the mix. Then there are places like Penelope's that are too cutesy 'hip' for the Margiela wearing set. High-end style there is still very conservative, more Anne Taylor than Anne-Sophie Back. But really, stores everywhere are closing, It just so happens that Chicago is a much smaller 'fishbowl' than places like NYC and LA, so it's a bigger aftershock when another snobby boutique selling mid-range “emerging” labels like Vanessa Bruno and Alexander Wang shutters.
Chicago is a different animal, but that doesn't mean that fashion isn't happening here; quite the contrary. First off: Heiji does deserve all of the praise. Hejfina is transcendent.Jake is out because the owners are terrible business men. Good riddance. Louboutin is moving in.Sofia is moving in on Oak – with head buyer Lindsey Madigan of LA stock bringing all kinds of great stuff to the street for both men and women.Robin Richman rocks.Helen Yi, amazing.Have you heard of SHE? Or the owner's line, N PRPA designed by McQueen alum Samantha Sleeper and represented by People's Revolution (is that enough name-dropping to get some attention)?What about chalk in Evanston? It's like a little Blake. Fab.We have Nena Ivon, Saks' most-storied and longest employee, taking over an AMAZING vintage marketplace.And like another commenter said, the new Barneys here is GREAT and a huge new Hermes is going in across the street.SARCA just opened and it is AMAZING. You'd love it.You can get all of the info on fashion in Chicago if you read http://thehautecloset.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thehauteclosetDon't look at Chicago like it's not happening – everything is global – we can all appreciate what's going on everywhere.
PS: Here's the lowdown on Chicago shopping: http://www.thehautecloset.com/chicago-shopping/
Gamma Player is great. And Penelope's isn't always my style, but love that they carry APC!
I live and shop in Chicago. Just a heads up to those of you who do also… I was in Helen Yi and tried on a dress I liked, priced about $575. I wandered around thinking about it and popped into Akira where I found the same dress for $30-ish. Sure enough, when I went back and more closely looked at the dress, a tag had been sewn in. I won't shop there anymore, I don't trust where the clothes are coming from. Buying private label crap and sewing in labels while jacking the price is NOT okay with me.
Akira is kindof nuts though. The music is super loud, and the shopgirls are all 17. It's like an upmarket version of Forever 21.
It's been many years since I went to school in Chicago, but the fashion scene was lightyears different from New York. People were less trendy and more value conscious, but that's not to say they didn't care about fashion. But then I remember coming home and being shocked at what NYers were wearing.
Tangerine boutique is a great hidden gem in bucktown as well