I know where I'm going...
Chicago is a big and impressive city - there's a lot of stuff here. I have the general impression that people from smaller towns come here and spend weekends shopping (as well as seeing the sights). This makes it somewhat ironic that I do a lot of my purchasing in the suburbs. This includes groceries, haircuts, clothes, tools, ring-resizing, craft-store purchases, housewares, pretty much everything. It's so easy, when my workplace is right near a conflagration of strip malls that have one of most major chain stores, with oversized suburban parking lots that only get half full on the busiest "super-sale weekends"; while the nearest ones to my house are a 20-minute drive or two-train El ride through the city with either a brisk hike or a small over-crowded parking lot on the other end, and a different hike depending on which store I'm after.
Thus, when I got home yesterday and realized that I had meant to - and totally forgot to - stop by JoAnn's after work, to get a few pieces of fabric for a project I'm working on, I was annoyed, since to my knowledge the nearest craft store to home is not exactly convinient. So I did a google search for fabric stores. As it happens, I seem to be about 5 blocks' walk from a huge fabric warehouse that people drive from all over to get to. Holy crap. Dirk and I hoofed it on over there in case they'd still be open at 7pm, but it was after-hours. The signs were impressive though: We have seven rooms that are open to the public; five which are always open and two for which you must be accompanied by a staff member. For access to our top floor, please enquire about our professional accounts. Or something like that. Rooms and rooms of fabrics. In my neighborhood. Yay! It's a shame I only want half a yard of a fairly specific cloth. I bet it'll be fun to look around, though.
Thus, when I got home yesterday and realized that I had meant to - and totally forgot to - stop by JoAnn's after work, to get a few pieces of fabric for a project I'm working on, I was annoyed, since to my knowledge the nearest craft store to home is not exactly convinient. So I did a google search for fabric stores. As it happens, I seem to be about 5 blocks' walk from a huge fabric warehouse that people drive from all over to get to. Holy crap. Dirk and I hoofed it on over there in case they'd still be open at 7pm, but it was after-hours. The signs were impressive though: We have seven rooms that are open to the public; five which are always open and two for which you must be accompanied by a staff member. For access to our top floor, please enquire about our professional accounts. Or something like that. Rooms and rooms of fabrics. In my neighborhood. Yay! It's a shame I only want half a yard of a fairly specific cloth. I bet it'll be fun to look around, though.