December 14, 2005
Christmas at Fountain Court
Christmas has hit our favorite Westfield mall (though my wish with Santa would be for Westfield to knock off the little ego trip about their name -- it's stupid). Amy and I like to take photos to capture the decorations (see what we found last year).
A tradition at Old Orchard is to drain the large fountain located in Fountain Court (yeah, that's how it got its name) and put a large Christmas tree on that location, complete with little enclosed windows containing animated stuffed animals. It's not as cool as going downtown to see the State Street Christmas windows, but it's something.
The windows at the base of the tree feature animated teddy bears doing stuff with musical instruments. It's supposed to come off as cute, but frankly the display is rather cold and lifeless. Probably because their is no storyline, music, or purpose... and sometimes the mechanics are broken. But other than that, it's not too bad! :)
Then again, I think I'd rather tolerate this weak display than have to put up with Marshall Field's becoming crapola-Macy's.
Posted by Tannerman at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
Now Open: Oil & Vinegar
As previously mentioned, Oil & Vinegar has opened at Old Orchard in the old Crabtree & Evelyn space in the Fountain Court. We talked to the guy at the store. Store has only been open a few weeks. They are pretty new in the U.S., but have been in Europe for about 5 years. Bascially, it's kinda like a bulk candy store, where you pay to fill up glass bottles with the type of oils you want. Of course you can taste them before hand. Some are pretty pricey. But it's an interesting concept if you are into such things. I can see us going back to check it out.
Posted by Tannerman at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
Coming Soon: Oil & Vinegar
Looks like we are getting an Oil & Vinegar store at Old Orchard soon, located in the previous Crabtree & Evelyn space over in the Fountain Court (Crabtree moved to a new location in The Park). What is Oil & Vinegar? According to their website, they are "tasteful gift shops where you will find all sorts of splendid culinary gifts from all four corners of the world. Different types of olive oils and vinegar, together with a whole host of articles associated with gourmet eating and attractive tables." Yeah, sounds just like the perfect, over-priced, yuppie store that would do well at Old Orchard! Expected opening: November 16.
Posted by Tannerman at 08:39 AM
September 29, 2005
Outside the Orchard - 09.29.05
We know you've been missing it (and have got to be saddened by all the Marshall Field's-Macy's news), so once again the Old Orchard Observer presents Outside the Orchard, a brief look at what the online world is saying about Skokie's mall.
Over on Jeni's Musings, a simple observation is made regarding the outdoor beauty of Old Orchard (even if it was posted way back in May) [Saturday, May 28]:
Saturdays are made for shopping
went with tita gina to old orchard mall (out door mall) in skokie - it is so beautiful. should have taken a picture. but too busy shopping
Jasmine writes about the recently-added Sephora store via News From The Flip Front [Monday, July 11]:
Stef and I shop for makeup at the Sephora store in Old Orchard Mall. This is where I find the Paul & Joe mascara which, when applied, makes me look like I could be an extra in a Bollywood musical.
Trey took a trip to Chicago back in June, and stayed at a hotel near the mall. Here are his thoughts posted via his blog, uniquely titled Trey's Blog [Thursday, June 30]:
To snap us back to reality, we trekked back across downtown to where we had parked. We drove back to Old Orchard, where our motel is located and visited the mall there, Westfield at Old Orchard. This mall is very cool because it has a indoor mall layout, but maintains an outdoor architecture. In other words, the stores are side-by-side, the walkways are close, and the roof only exists on top of the stores. A nice cool breeze blew through the entire time. This would be very nice to have in Houston, but the heat could make it a miserable experience. The girls ate a couple of New York style (thin crust) pizza slices. Cheri and I split a gyro and a Vienna Beef hot dog. They were decent, but still considered mall food. We finished out the day sharing a waffle cone of Fat Free Dreamsicle Frozen Yogurt. YUMM.
Andrew writes via md-2-b about leaving his church in Chicago to head to New York and med school! Apparently, he was suprised about what happened after that final Sunday service [Monday, July 25]:
So I figure something is up, but I'm not really sure what. At 6, Tai and I arrive at J&J's place. We're supposed to go to Maggiano's at Old Orchard, but Jeannie has to drop off a book at Tuscany's for a med school friend. I don't think anything of it... but when we get to Tuscany's, John suggests that we *all* go inside so that "we can see what it looks like." Hmm. So I follow, a little warily. Then the hostess greets us and asks, "Won, party of 20?" Haha... so the surprise was up.
I really didn't mean to find out about the dinner, and I really am sorry that it wasn't a surprise. It was very thoughtful and well planned out =c)
Did you know that Old Orchard has 12 movie screens? After that big rennovation a few years back, they doubled the capacity for movies. And bum writes on The Bum Log about seeing one of the summer's better films at the "Double O" (um, that's Old Orchard in can you couldn't figure it out) [Saturday, June 18]:
Just got back from seeing "Batman Begins" at Old Orchard. It was a good movie, commendable acting by Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine et al, but my favorite part? The fantastic job they did turning Chicago into Gotham City!!!
On the other hand, many bad films have been viewed at the mall as well, as Swain describes on The House of Swain [Saturday, June 18]:
I can recall sneaking into Cruel Intentions at Old Orchard in Skokie, Illinois... and many others so forgettable, that they're already out of my head for good. Having said that, I can tell you that I DID catch a free showing of Battlefield: Earth, and I STILL wanted my money back afterward.
The addition of extra theatres does make things rather confusing, however, because the screen locations are split 6 and 6. Screens 1-6 are located near Potbelly's while Screens 7-12 are near Maggiano's. The author of Modern Day Spinster shares in the confusion [Wednesday, August 10]:
In an interesting turn of events I went to the movies with BJ and saw March of Penguins at Old Orchard. I didn't park on the Maggiano's side because I inverted the theater numbers in my head.
The Beyond Retail blog "features opinion on retail, community and local projects and issues in the towns of Framingham and Natick, located in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts." And apparently, the author isn't happy that there aren't more Apple Stores in the area... using the example of Northbook Court and Old Orchard here in the Midwest [Wednesday, July 13]:
Old Orchard, an upscale shopping mall in Skokie, IL, is a mere 8.4 miles and 13 minutes from Northbrook. And not to diss Chicagoland, but I personally think that there are a lot more Apple users in MetroWest and Boston then in Chicago's North Shore and even the city of Chicago, seeing all of the universities and colleges in the area, not to mention the iPod craze that has been huge in this area.
Of course, Anabel (of Anabel Lee After Dark) likes the fact that Old Orchard has an Apple Store because, well, you can buy stuff there [Friday, August 5]:
Oh, I guess I should mention that tomorrow morning I'm going to Old Orchard to buy my ibook. I know, I know, I have no use for it. But to be honest, I really want it. Plus I have the money for it. Or well, I will in a week. I'll probably stop using my desktop as much. Perhaps only to play the sims. In any case, I'm excited.
Congress approved a transportation bill back in July. The Chicago Tribune had this interesting tidbit [Sunday, July 31]:
In addition to authorizing the CTA's proposed Circle Line, the legislation approves extending the Orange Line from Midway Airport to the Ford City shopping center, extending the Red Line from 95th Street to 130th Street and continuing the Yellow Line from Dempster Street in Skokie to the Old Orchard shopping center.
The Jade, who authors Jaded in Chicago apparently is divorced and has a kid... but has time to shop [Sunday, July 31]:
I got a pretty sweet divorce deal wherein The Ex paid my mortgage and all my bills and childcare costs for a year and a half. So, I just went to school, didn't work, and curbed my shopping tendencies. The limiting my shopping was hard considering that until that point I was like a homing pigeon trained to return to the shoe department at Nordstrom in Old Orchard on a regular basis. But I managed.
On More Nonsense, Nick writes about the worst year of his life, 1997 [Wednesday, July 27]:
The other thing that happened in 97 was that I had quit working at IRI and was now consulting. Consulting meant that I would not get a vacation all year. I worked a forty to fifty hour week every week with out any break. Holidays came and I didn’t even get paid for them. Plus I was no longer working downtown so I had to drive to work every day, which I hated. I missed being in the loop and being able to go to lunch in the big city. Instead I was relegated to going to Old Orchard mall and grabbing some fast food.
Rita describes herself as "a student at the University of Chicago. I'm unfriendly. And I don't like squirrels." I believe she's also Jewish if you take the posts of her Nobody Sasses A Girl In Glasses blog into context. As since Old Orchard is located on Chicago's North Shore, a heavily Jewish area, you are bound to get some overlap in blog postings [Thursday, August 4]:
But there's nothing in itself wrong with recording all the minutia that made up the geography of life for Chicago Jews, and a lot of which makes up my own geography a few generations later--West Roger's Park, Lincolnwood, Hyde Park, Devon Ave., Boone School, Old Orchard Mall, The Bagel, even Jimmy's gets a nod. There's always something personal at stake when your own geography is opened to the public via a book or a movie. You become the kid who sees himself in a family movie and recognizes himself for the first time: "That's me! That's my house!" And you wonder how everyone else watching perceives you and your house. Do they see the same things you see?
The folks at Steve's News Annex plagiarize the Chicago Tribune with info about the previously-discussed (here, here, here, and here) Forth & Towne concept store at Old Orchard. Here are some excerpts from the excerpts [Monday, August 8]:
As for Old Orchard, "it's a mall, but it's an outside mall" with a good tenant mix, Muto said. "It's an affluent area and it's close enough to the city that it draws city residents. We're trying a two-level store there."
Apparently, you will soon be able to get some facial work done at Old Orchard, per the Chicago Tribune [Tuesday, September 13]:
Consumers shopping for shoes at Westfield Old Orchard will soon be able to pick up a shot of Botox, too. Pure Laser, which performs its hair removal, acne treatments and facelifts-in-a-bottle from the sixth floor of a professional building at the Skokie mall, is expected to begin construction soon on a location that will make it neighbors to other tenants Marshall Field's, Lenscrafters, Big Toy Express and Champps Americana. "My guess is it will offer more exposure to customers in the mall and walk-in traffic," said Shannon Ridgeway, Westfield Old Orchard marketing director. The higher-profile site is expected to open before the end of the year. Pure is at the forefront of what could be an explosion of personal-care services popping up in shopping centers as Baby Boomers want to try to turn back the clock, one retail consultant said.
Finally, we have some photos of good old Old Orchard, hosted via that nifty Flickr service (which Yahoo! recently acquired, so you know it's going to turn bad soon... anyone remember Hotmail pre-Microsoft?). Mac(3) shares a photo of the fountain located in the Fountain Court (go figure). Also shot by this photographer was two photos of the lion statue (1 and 2), also found in Fountain Court. And last but not least, two odd photos of a parking sign (1 and 2).
And that pretty much wraps up this edition of Outside the Orchard. Hope you found the postings completely pointless!
Posted by Tannerman at 04:24 PM
July 12, 2005
Outside the Orchard - 07.12.05
The Old Orchard Observer presents once again... Outside the Orchard, a brief look at what the online world is saying about Skokie's mall.
Flickr user lay-c dot com posts this photo and this photo, highlighting the fountain located in the Fountain Court section of Old Orchard.
On the Dianatics blog, an interesting analysis is made regarding "Mall Mice", using Old Orchard as an example: [Saturday, June 11]:
My guess is we're switch hitters in our membership at the mall. We've been the field trip leaders who planned to go there for something new for the wedding, shirts for work or Aunt Zelda's birthday present next month. Most likely we've also been the tag-alongs — by volunteerism or having been cajoled into the trip, perhaps with the mythical promise that it'll be fun.
Observed on a recent Saturday at Old Orchard was a classic study in a mall goer and go-along.
He: Are you looking for nice shoes or casual shoes? These are good. He holds up a pair red flats.
She: I'm just looking for shoes.
He: Moving to a chair where he can see her through the racks of shoes... What size do you wear?
She: 7 to 7 1/2.
He: Noticing she's in the size 6 to 6 1/2 section... You're looking at the wrong shoes. These are the wrong shoes.
She: More annoyed... They're all mixed up. You just have to look.
Carolyn Moncel chimes in all the way from Paris, France, where she is adjusting to living. She writes in in Tales from the Seine [Monday, June 27]:
Now, here's what I don't get and no one yet has been able to give me a straight answer. Why are there only store sales roughly four times per year? ...In the US, if a store decides to put their inventory on sale, they just do it. They don't need what appears to be the government's approval to do it.
Chuck Berry sings "I'm so glad I'm living in the USA," and when it comes to shopping, it has become my anthem. That's because it's true when he says "Anything you want we got it right here in the US of A." When I get back home for vacation, I'm going shopping at Old Orchard, River Oaks, Orland Square, the Mag Mile or someplace. What's more, I just might kiss the ground in the process!
Over on The Savvy Traveler, it seems like biking has become hazardous for the author [Friday, July 1]:
...yesterday I went on this long bike ride to Glenview to get immunizations shots for typhoid and craziness, but i ended up on this highway, where there was no bike path. ...alas! about 3/4 of the way back my bike got stuck on a tree branch (a la nature reserve) and it broke, just like that. haha. now this seems funny but at the time i was wicked pissah. so i walked a bit, and got a cab ride from old orchard. ah well, i think i'm gonna have to go to the evanston hospital for the immunizations and malaria medication.
Reading Putting Power In Their Hands, it's argued that Dad's aren't too bright when it comes to shopping at Crate & Barrel [Wednesday, July 6]:
...we took our shopping skills to the suburbs as we tore through Old Orchard Mall. Mom and I got all sneaky on Brian and bought him new glassware that was on sale at Crate and Barrel before he had a chance. It was Mom's idea I swear. We tried to get Dad in on the plot to occupy Brian while we stood in line but Dad's not always bright in that area. He just kind of looked at us and smiled as Brian walked right up behind him. We made the two of them leave together and after our purchase, found them sitting and chatting in front of a flowerbed.
The folks over at life (over IP) are one of the few to write the full official name of Old Orchard in a blog post [Wednesday, July 6]:
I also decided to walk back from work tonight, a nice 20-minute walk. Every little bit helps. The Westfield Shoppingtown Old Orchard is right near the hotel, so I stopped in at the Apple Store, and grabbed a bite at the Cheesecake Factory. It's amazing that a open-air mall like this could exist in a cold-weather area like Chicago.
In this blog (Caution: NSFW) blog, author poiesia shares "100 factoids about me," including [Monday, June 27]:
74. I no longer like Old Orchard.
Evan writes in draykopf about being Jewish and shopping in the 'burbs [Thursday, July 7]:
Today I was shopping at Lowes in Lincolnwood. For those of you unfamiliar with this Chicago suburb, it is roughly in between two HUGE Jewish neighborhoods. At the blinds section, I found myself standing in line behind a nice woman and her two children - both wearing shorts and ratty t-shirts with dirty kippot and tzit tzit dangling. 20 minutes later, as I walk out of the paint aisle, I nearly run into a man pushing a cart and talking on his cell phone (don't you need an ear piece for this?) - he is wearing black pants, a white dress shirt a long beard and a kippah.
After that, I end up at Old Orchard in Skokie where after lunch at a place called "The Bagel" I found myself sitting in a sunny spot while waiting for my wife, and reading the July edition of the World Jewish Digest, which, by the way, has a couple of great articles about Jewish blogging.
Finally, Crain's Chicago Business featured an article about the Midwest losing jobs in the month of June, specifically [Wednesday, July 6]:
Illinois ranked second in the number of jobs lost in the Midwest in June, while employment cuts on the national level reached a 17-month high at a time of year when downsizing activity is typically slow, according to a report released today.
...In the retail sector, home decorating store The Great Indoors made significant cuts as did local branches of department store operator Saks Inc.... Both announced store closures in suburban Chicago, with the home decorator closing its Deerfield branch and Saks saying it would shut its high-end Saks Fifth Avenue store and its connected discount outlet at Skokie's Old Orchard mall.
Posted by Tannerman at 01:18 PM
June 29, 2005
Now Open: Sephora
Hey, just in case you have a need to go out and buy a bunch of cosmetics, the Sephora store located in the Fountain Court area of Old Orchard is now open. I must say, I'm impressed by the amount of glass used in the storefront and how nice the lighting is. You never would have guessed it would look this way when the construction walls were up. It seems very welcoming and warm. Almost like it could be a central focus in Fountain Court. So far, so good.
Posted by Tannerman at 06:24 PM
Sara Lee closes all 11 Inner Self stores
I bet you didn't know that Sara Lee owned a retail store concept designed to take on Victoria's Secret. It's true, and was called Inner Self, "a special intimate apparel/loungewear retail environment and experience that pampers, relaxes and soothes." Not that it matters, as Sara Lee has closed all 11 of these concept stores. They want to focus on the other brands they own (such as Playtex, Wonderbra, Hanes, and Champion -- nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!)
Frankly, they had to be a little crazy to think they could battle Victoria's Secret in this space. Sure, they tried to modify their target audience, going after a niche in the women 25-55 category, average dress size of 12. At the time, Sara Lee attempted to "provide an alternative to the often-unattainable, sexy ideal promoted by Victoria's Secret, and declining service at department stores."
Nevertheless, the chain is dead, and now there is a vacancy in the Fountain Court section of Old Orchard. We never saw people actually in that store, which only seemed to be around for a little longer than a year. In fact, when it first opened, it had to close for a few days due to a water leak. Telling signs of what was to come.
Posted by Tannerman at 05:43 PM
Crabtree & Evelyn is moving
It looks like Crabtree & Evelyn may be positioning for a higher traffic spot in Old Orchard, as they've announced that their moving from Fountain Court to The Park. This is near a primary entrance to the mall as well as the theaters, so I would imagine that you'll see more folks around this area when compared to their previous location. In the meantime, their old location has closed and they have a temporary spot in Vacancy Alley, my nickname for The Promenade. No official word has been given regarding when their new space will open.
Posted by Tannerman at 04:31 PM
Now Open: Landau
It's time for an update on the fake jewelry folks at Landau. Their new store is now open on the corner of Pear Lane and Fountain Court, located right next to Clarks, a shoe retailer. The store seems, well, out of place if you ask me. I also think they aren't taking advantage of their window space very well. Perhaps that will change as they get operations going. We'll see. With Clarks and Landau open, there is only one more store on this corner that needs to shed the construction walls: H2O Plus.
Posted by Tannerman at 04:07 PM
June 08, 2005
Sunset at Old Orchard
Sometimes, a pre-summer night visit to Old Orchard reveals unexpected beauty...
Posted by Tannerman at 11:06 PM
April 26, 2005
Self-serve cosmetics: Sephora in Spring 2005
A lot of you may be wondering why all the recent store openings at Old Orchard? Is the mall not doing well or something? Actually, that's not the case all. It helps to know a little history. Mainly, that Old Orchard underwent a massive renovation in 1995. My dad actually worked as a carpenter on a few projects at Marshall Field's during this time of rehab. Anyway, it's 2005 now and many of those 10-year leases are expiring, thus the influx of new stores.
And it looks like a Sephora is being added. Being a guy, I'm like, "who cares?" But, for those interested, you may be curious in regards to a more official description of the retail chain: Shopping for cosmetics at Sephora is meant to be a hands-on sensual experience. Sephora's self-service approach to buying makeup arrived from France in 1998 with the opening of the first Sephora USA stores in New York and Miami. Now with about 95 stores nationwide, Sephora stocks more than 250 brands of prestige products, including its own collections of cosmetics, skin care, and bath and body products, all of which customers are encouraged to sample.
Sephora also sells via catalog and online at Sephora.com. Sephora is one of the largest fragrance and cosmetics retailers in Europe. Formed in 1993 by founder Dominique Mandonnaud, Sephora was acquired by LVMH, the world's leading luxury products group, in 1997.
Posted by Tannerman at 09:08 PM