Best Hat store in Chicago?

[chucklehead]

It looks like I'll be in Chicago next month, where should I shop for hats?

 

[Mr. 'H']

Hi I wish you could go to Marshall Field's.... Now it's Macy's I believe....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Field's

It's where my Borsalino was bought - beautiful lid -still my best one!

 

[Harp]

Optimo

Optimo, 102nd Western Avenue, and The Cork & Kerry Pub's
further down the street. Talk to Graham.

 

[Aerol]

This is not a simple question

If you mean a store that carries a number of lines for you to try on, Sid's, on W. Roosevelt Road and Hats-Plus on W. Irving Park Rd. are well known. In addition, Paul Stuart on N. Michigan Avenue is probably the best full-line men's clothing store. (They have three locations: New York, Tokyo, and Chicago.) I'm fond of their Fortenighter hat.

But, if you're in Chicago, and have the time and the transportation, you have to see Optimo. It's just a tiny store, but it has the best hats. Expensive, but worth every penny.

Feel free to PM me for more info.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Mr. 'H', We see some sharp hats, here, But at the moment I can't recall anything finer than your Borsalino. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[chucklehead]

i think i will be renting a car

 

[Aerol]

Mapquest

can give you directions to the three stores, but before you go to Optimo, call to make sure they're open. They are expanding the store and will be closed for a brief period while this is going on.

 

[Tomasso]

Optimo, 102nd Western Avenue

To be within a hundred miles of Optimo and not make a visit would be a travesty to the FL. Optimo is Mecca after all.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Hi I wish you could go to Marshall Field's.... Now it's Macy's I believe....

Just had to add - so many great stores, so many with a better, more varied variety selection of gooods to chose from have been swallowed up by Macy's and now the selection's smaller, the quality cheesier, and the service border-line at best. Bon Marche here in Seattle sold out to Federated years ago, but they were allowed, like most, to run as a separate semi-autonomous unit, make their own purchasing selections and store policies as long as they were reaching certain profitability goals.

But in the two years or so since the Macy's name and policies replaced the Bon's, it's a completely different shopping experience. (Can I use the word CRAPPY here?) I hadn't been in the local store for a couple of months when I ran in recently to pick up a place setting of the newest color of Fiestaware (one of my "retro" areas of interest). Whereas they used to carry a selection in all available colors, albeit in a limited number of pieces in each, I now found they carried about 6 of the available 14 colors currently in production, and and even smaller selection than they used to. The Fiestaware department was about 1/8 of what it was in late winter. All my usual clerk could say, when he saw me walk up to the counter bug-eyed was, "I know - don't say it - it's corporate's decision to ruin the housewares department and they wonder why sales are staggeringly down."

I may be going to Chicago for a convention next June (I've declined the offer of the local board to send me several years because the convention locations have been...less than exciting), and Marshall Field's was somewhere I always wanted to shop...now I'm telling myself to expect the local Macy's in a different building so I don't get my hopes up. So I made a link to this post in the "Chicago" folder in my browser favorites for future reference & updates.

I still head to the original Bon Marche in downtown Seattle a couple times a year because it's one of those great old buildings and they've thankfully not messed with it too much and most of the store still has a nice upscale 40's feel to it (they've only added chrome & glass counters & flourescent & halogen lamps to the cosmetics & cologne section at the front of the first floor of the store). I put on a nifty suit & hat, tuck in my pocket square, have a late lunch and then walk around downtown hitting the Bon and Nordstrom and of course Bernie Utz. We went to the symphony a few weeks ago and were walking over to a nearby bar afterward when I realized I was a Third & Union (they're refacing the building so I didn't recognize it with the scaffolding) and had to be dragged away from window-shopping at Utz. (A window full of newsboy caps & Panamas, both of which I've been thinking I really need...). "Michael...step away from the hat store window!"

But I remember as a kid in Long Beach, CA - we used to go to Broadway for certain things, May Co. for others, Robinson's for others, and now they're all Macy's with the same limited selection of, for the most part, crappy merchandise. (We also had Buffums which David Jones of Australia bought and ran into the ground in record time, and Walkers just closed up shop in the 70's without trying to sell out to anyone else.) And Macy's wonder why their gross sales are way down...hello, clue phone ringin' off the hook here, folks!

 

[barrowjh]

It's business school MBA's, the bubba-zation of our nation. All taste and quality sacrificed for higher 'bottom-line' - which means dumbing down to the wal-mart crowd. Hooray for the little niches here and there where a proprietor still has a passion for quality! There are some corporations that recognize the value of marketing to a 'niche' - but that wisdom comes and goes, and MBA's are infesting everything.

 

[Harp]

Optimo is Mecca after all.

I'll have to tell Graham that.

 

[thefedorastore]

Our location and hours for our Chicagoland store are posted on the website. However, with only so much square footage, we don't have everything in the store that we have on all 3 websites.

 

[mingoslim]

I visited a couple . . .

Our location and hours for our Chicagoland store are posted on the website. However, with only so much square footage, we don't have everything in the store that we have on all 3 websites.

My last time in Chicago (January) I visited Hats-Plus (made a purchase) and the Fedora Store . . . My next trip in September i will have a list of additional stops to make - with plenty of time set aside to visit "Mecca"

The upshot . . . Hats-Plus was prtty ho-hum . . . Lots of modern Stetsons, Borsos, etc. to look at, but none you can't find cheaper on-line. Of course, you can try them on and see what looks good on you . . .

Admitttedly, the selection at the Fedora Store is limited because of the small size of the shop . . . But Dwayne is a great guy, and it was he who turned me on to the FL . . . so my "hat" is off to him! You also will have a chance to look at the quality of the Beaver Brand hats that the Fedora Store carries, and which allows you (within reason) to "design your own" . . . I thought they were pretty nice hats . . . better than the modern Stetson I had bought earlier at Hats-Plus . . .

 

[apipeguy]

Borsalino Pic!

Hey! what model Borsalino is that Mr. H? anyone?
Also I had a great online experience with Hats-Plus!

 

[carter]

Sid's, on W. Roosevelt Road

I believe there are a couple of Soverign-quality hats that Stetson makes exclusively for Sid's.

 

[Thin Man]

I purchased an Optimo at a trunk show held here in Silicon Valley last Christmas (a gift to myself). It's a "California weight" grey snap brim fedora. Since I take a 7&1/2 long oval, I had to have it custom made so it was pricey, but I love it. I wear it to work during the winter months (and one of my panamas during summer), and I get lots of positive, sometimes effusive, comments.

It's strange how people admire hats on other people's heads, but they won't wear one themselves. I hear all kinds of arguments such as messing up their hair (some truth to that) and the price. People will spend hundreds or thousands on their clothes and shoes but will not spring a few hundred for a hat that will last them their life time if taken care of.

 

[Art Fawcett]

So true Thin Man, so true!! Welcome to the Lounge.
As some of you know I am an Optimo fan and consider Graham a friend ( just spoke to him yesterday). Although his prices are higher than most, so is the quality of his hats on average (we ALL blow it occasionally). He is the only hatter I know that literally travels the world for materials that meet his standards, making him unique. He is big enough to give reasonable delivery times yet small enough to also give personal service.
If you are in Chicago, Optimo is a MUST see.

 

[Thin Man]

Thank you for the welcome, Art. The wife and I do plan to visit Chicago and look up Optimo. The Windy City is one of few great American cities that we have not visited. We'll have to do all the usual touristy stuff, of course, but the wife has already been forwarnd that a visit to Optimo is on the agenda. I see a new fedora, brown this time, or maybe even a grey Homburg in my future.

Another story if I'm allowed: Just last Saturday the wife and I were in San Francisco to do some shopping and to take in a museum. We had lunch at one of the many cafes around Union Square and I think I was the only man dressed in a suite and tie in the place, and I was definitely the only one to wear a fedora on the way in. As we were leaving the maitre d' gave me a broad grin and told me I looked as if I had stepped out the 1930's. I thanked him profusely for what was definitely the best compliment I've received in quite a while.

 

[besdor]

Thin Man , thats the problem with hats. Many people feel that by wearing one, you will date your look to the 1930's. For some thats a good thing , while for others thats not the look they want. I personaly love when I see people dresss up with a suit and tie (and hat of course) for regular everyday wear.



Steven

 

[Thin Man]

Steven, I couldn't agree with you more. As a technical sales support engineer in the semiconductor business, suit and tie are a bit over the top to some, and my hats I know make me eccentric to most, but I'm having fun with it. I added braces to the mix early this year. For some reason the ladies really seem to like them. The men think I'm crazy. I'm learning the hard way the facts of life when it comes to braces etiquette, when and when not to wear them without a coat, what to do in the gent's room, etc. This might warrant another string, come to think of it.

A few weeks ago the boss' boss told my boss to ask me who my tailor was. I was dressing better than all the sales people. That made my day. I've also noticed that many of the engineers are adding ties to their normal wear. Not all, but it's a start and I'm glad I could have a positive influence. Now if I could only get a few of them to wear hats.

TM (aka Stephen)