Chicago Trip Report:
I had a great weekend in Chicago with the lady friend. We flew in late Friday night after my work Xmas party, arriving around 930.
I got lucky with my seat choice
We immediately walked 14-15 blocks to Portillo's for hot dogs. It was so cold, but worth the walk.
Our hotel has an amazing donut shop in it. I ate so many, and I care so little. Absolutely delicious.
Found a cupcake ATM (it's not quite a milkshake, /u/akaghi, but it's the best I could do.
I dragged the girlfriend over to Independence so that we could check out some OSB shoes. The new last looks interesting, but I didn't try anything on. There was visible puckering on almost every shoe/boot I picked up. That being said, the guy working was super nice and the shop was very cool.
We spent the rest of the day walking around shopping/taking in the sites/eating our faces off. I walked through the Church's location off Michigan Ave, and was totally unimpressed. The leather quality and finishing was a joke for $600-800 shoes. No pics because the store was tiny and the gents working were staring. I spent about 30 minutes walking through Haberdash (both sides), and I enjoyed the store atmosphere quite a bit. Lots of Alden, 3sixteen, etc. The only strange part of that store was one of the employees following us around like a hawk the entire time we were there (thus no pictures). This guy was no more than 3-4 feet away from me at all times. I understand that I was picking up and inspecting pretty much every shoe, but his guy was very uncomfortable. It could just be the southerner in me, but he didn't even make an effort to exchange pleasantries while stalking us.
Side note: Every single suede Alden shoe in that store had the "oiled sole seepage" onto the upper. Every. Single. One. I was amazed.
The Hancock building was right next to our hotel
Yesterday morning, on our last day, we took a rainy 20 minute Uber ride up to Notre, who opened at 11. We arrived around 11:10, and as I walked up to the door, one of the employees (MJ) told me that they needed to close temporarily due to a business meeting. We had spent $30 in Uber rides and an hour (collectively) of our time to get up there, so I was pretty damn frustrated. I walked away before I said anything rude, and decided to just go back to our hotel and prepare for departure. As we walked back by the shop, he opened the door and said we were welcome to come in and look around and that he was sorry. I appreciated him opening back up, and I was happy to walk around and check things out. After ogling over all the 'Bergs and talking a little bit of shop about their upcoming collaborations, I tried on an Stark and was really impressed. I'm not sure I need one, but I'm currently trying to justify it in my own head.
...what you all have been waiting for
There was also an entire wall of CP/MIUSA NB/etc shoes that I forgot to snap a pic of. While Notre is out of the way, the shop is VERY cool, and the guys are nice to talk to (albeit a bit shy).
Over all, great trip. Amazing food, amazing drinks, good friends, and good shopping. Despite winning $100 in Mastercard gift cards at the holiday party, I did not buy a single thing while we were there.
Great city. 10/10, would recommend.
