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Chicago Reader

Best real estate agent

Alley Ballard

Readers' Poll

312-850-2510 atproperties.com/agents/AlleyBallard

Runners-Up

Runners-Up

Lauren Mitrick, Newman Realty
Stephanie Sullivan, Stephanie Sullivan Homes

Related Stories

Best Real Estate Agent

Costa "Gus" Drugas, Betancourt Realty

| Jun 19, 2013

In This Section:

showing 31 to 59 of 59

Best mani/pedi

2x10 Nails and Spa

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

various locations 2x10nails.com Runner-Up
Best massage

Urban Oasis

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

various locations urbanoasismassage.com Runner-Up
Best barbershop

Joe’s Barbershop Chicago

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

2641 W. Fullerton 773-252-3980 joesbarbershopchicago.com Runner-Up
Best hair salon

Art and Science

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

various locations artandsciencesalon.com Runner-Up
Best place to get married

Salvage One

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

1840 W. Hubbard 312-733-0098 salvageone.com Runner-Up
Best hotel

The Peninsula Chicago

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

108 E. Superior 312-337-2888 peninsula.com/chicago Runner-Up
Best apartment finder

Apartment People

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

3121 N. Broadway 773-248-8800 apartmentpeople.com Runner-Up
Best real estate agent

Alley Ballard

on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

312-850-2510 atproperties.com/agents/AlleyBallard Runners-Up
Best Boutique With Odd Hours of Operation

Tusk

by Isa Giallorenzo on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

I'd been meaning to stop by Tusk since last year's Expo Chicago, where at least three really stylish (and artsy) people told me I just had to check it out. But it took me a while to make it, since the shop never seemed to be open.
Best Local Designer Making Something New Out of Something Old

Alma Wieser

by Isa Giallorenzo on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

An avid researcher of fashion and art history, Alma Wieser takes classic ideas and translates them into original contemporary designs for her line, Renovar. She got her start back in junior high, when she altered vintage garments to suit her sophisticated taste, and currently offers a lower-priced line of reworked vintage items, but her latest high-end collection—inspired by legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland—also includes new items.
Best Western-Wear Store on the Planet

Alcala's

by Kevin Warwick on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

When you walk beneath the reared-up fiberglass horse that's attached to Alcala's glitzy sign, it takes no more than a couple seconds for the smell of leather to slap you across the face. The feeble glass doors fronting the 42-year-old western-wear palace just don't stand a chance against the cumulative scent of thousands upon thousands of boots—ranging from alligator to snakeskin to motorcycle.
Best Place to Get Streetwear From the Rapper Who's Taking Drill Into Pop

Exclusive773

by Leor Galil on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

Chicago's got plenty of great boutiques to pick up streetwear—Leaders 1354, Jugrnaut, RSVP Gallery, Saint Alfred, Fat Tiger Workshop—but the best place to get T-shirts from Lil Durk's Only the Family collective-slash-label is at Exclusive773. OK, this south-side shop is the only place in town that sells OTF's wares, which hints at just how deeply embedded this place is in the local hip-hop scene.
Best Vintage for Guys

Knee Deep Vintage

by Tal Rosenberg on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

I can't speak to the women's selections, but for my money Knee Deep Vintage in Pilsen has the best men's vintage clothes anywhere in Chicago. I was hipped to the shop by my brother, who has a really sharp suit he bought there for a paltry $50.
Best Suburban Thrift Shop in a New Location

Hadassah Resale Shop

by Deanna Isaacs on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

For most of the 36 years that the Hadassah House thrift shop occupied a two-story building just west of the Highland Park Metra station, it was a bargain- and treasure-hunter's bonanza—chock-a-block with carefully used furniture and high-end clothing (along with housewares, jewelry, what-have-you) from homes in the North Shore suburbs, all at pennies-on-the-dollar prices that were almost always negotiable. But earlier this year Hadassah House moved to new quarters in a Deerfield strip mall, where it now sits between a California Tan and Deerfield Dialysis.
Best Works of Art for Your Feet

Bucketfeet

by Isa Giallorenzo on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

You know that special item that makes strangers approach you in the street? No, I'm not talking about a baby or a puppy—nothing whose poop you have to clean up.
Best Extraneous Article (and I Don't Mean of Clothing)

Sexy Girls of the Hollywood

by Gwynedd Stuart on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

There are hundreds of stores just like Sexy Girls of the Hollywood all over Chicago. They sell inexpensive, strippery-looking shoes, cheap earrings and necklaces, underwear with the big padded butts, underwear without butt padding, fishnet stockings, a few wigs, and, oddly, some baby clothes and supplies.
Best Bargain Alterations

Oriental Fine Tailor

by Gwynedd Stuart on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

2956 S. Wallace, 773-742-8782 Far be it from me to tell Diane von Furstenberg how to design a dress, but the purple silk number I got for like six bucks at a thrift store a few months ago just didn't work for me. It was open in the front and drapey enough that it covered everything, but a gust of wind was a guaranteed ticket to titty town; inadvertently exposing my breasts in public is a thing I try to avoid.
Best Antismoke Shop

Vape312

by Gwynedd Stuart on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

When I entered Vape312 I had half a pack of cigarettes on my person and zero intention of buying anything. If you're not familiar with "vaping," it's the act of puffing away on a long electronic cigarette that's actually a lot like smoking a hookah.
Best Indie Bookstore in a Chain-Filled Neighborhood

After-Words New and Used Books

by Gwynedd Stuart on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

We have a tendency to romanticize cramped, chaotic used bookstores (for an example, see last year's critics' pick). Organization and cleanliness just seem so—corporate.
Best Affordable Midcentury-Modern Furniture

Humboldt House

by Tal Rosenberg on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

California Avenue between North and Chicago Avenues is blossoming into a must-visit corridor of modest, tasteful shops and restaurants that has the potential to reach a saturation point when Brendan Sodikoff does whatever he plans on doing to the California Clipper. Hopefully it won't drive up the price point at any of the highly affordable furniture shops that've popped up—especially not at Humboldt House, my personal favorite.
Best Jewelry Designer Who's Making Housewares

Leah Ball

by Isa Giallorenzo on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

I must start with a disclosure: Leah Ball is a neighbor and a friend. But it took me a while to realize what a powerhouse she is, because she's about as modest as she is talented.
Best Place to Get African Artifacts

Unan Imports

by Isa Giallorenzo on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

I first entered this store because of its large selection of hats. Little did I know I was entering a treasure trove.
Best Florist for Pleasing a Wife Who Went to the School of the Art Institute

Ixia Flowers

by Tony Adler on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

Youths, take heed! Learn from my hard-won experience!
Best Designer of Sparkly Fetishwear

Gnat Brilmyer

by Gwynedd Stuart on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

The bummer thing about most bondage gear—harnesses, leashes, and the like—is that it's always black. Boring.
Best Use of Embroidery

Approaching Happiness

by Brianna Wellen on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

Last June local artist Tiffany Pruitt scored herself a Brother Entrepreneur 6 (the mother of all embroidery machines) and with the help of fellow artist Mike Simi started Approaching Happiness, "R-rated custom embroidery for the masses." For now they primarily operate through Instagram, where they first caught my eye with a nearly perfect T-shirt featuring an embroidered John Goodman and Roseanne Barr.
Best Reason to Impulsively Spoil Your Dog

Fido to Go

by Aimee Levitt on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

My dog, Abby, lives an orderly life that hews to a regular routine. She gets up at the same time, takes the same walk most days, eats the same kibbles for breakfast and dinner.
Best Place to Get Your First Tattoo

Deluxe Tattoo

by Brianna Wellen on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

1459 W. Irving Park, 773-549-1594, deluxetattoo.com I am, for the most part, a huge wimp.
Best Salon to Bring Together Hair and Art

Strange Beauty Show

by Gwynedd Stuart on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

I don't think anyone could successfully argue that hairstyling isn't an art, especially after seeing "Sportin' Waves," an exhibit of Ghanaian barbershop signs that Strange Beauty Show hosted earlier this year. Besides being artfully done in their sort of folksy, outsider-art way, the works featured amazing late-80s/ early-90s haircuts, like sweet fades with lines shaved in them and braids doing things that don't look possible.
Best Real Estate Agent in a Tough Market

Wayne Beals

by Mara Shalhoup on June 25, 2014 at 3:00PM

947 Garfield, Oak Park, 312-772-3257, waynebeals.com If you're the type of home buyer with buckets of money to put down and the means to bid significantly over the asking price for that perfect West Loop loft or Logan Square two-flat, this is the real estate market for you.

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Goods & Services Best of Chicago 2014 Alley Ballard AtProperties Lauren Mitrick Newman Realty Stephanie Sullivan Stephanie Sullivan Homes Readers' Poll