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Downtown Highland Park

What's New in Downtown Highland Park?

What’s New in Downtown Highland Park

Learn from locals about favorite places to eat or shop, get to know the merchants of Downtown Highland Park, or post your own Downtown Highland Park experience. Click HERE to submit your blog post to “What’s New in Downtown Highland Park.”

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Bett's: A special feature written by Peggy Laemle

January 18th, 2010 in Shopping

Bett Barnett of Bett's and B2 Contemporary has the artist’s eye of a clothing designer. In her first Highland Park store, opened in 1976 and which she called Bett's Leathers, she sold primarily clothing she designed herself.  By the time she moved to her third and current location on the corner of Green Bay Road and Central Avenue, her store was named Bett's and she was shopping at designer trade shows nationally and internationally for clothing in the latest styles and easy travel fabrics that would most suit her customer base.

She has been a U.S. Delegate to the Southeast Asia Fashion Week in Singapore and to Montreal's Fashion Week. Her interest in championing young designers has led her to attend and judge fashion shows at Chicago's School of the Art Institute and Columbia College.

Two years ago she opened B2 Contemporary next door to Bett’s.  She refers to this as her “younger trendy boutique [whose] mission is to pair fashion and philanthropy.” By hosting evening shopping events benefiting the charitable interests of her clients, she brings awareness, and donates a percentage of the profits, to these causes.  Her shopping evenings have benefited Breast Cancer Research; Friends for Steven: Pediatric Cancer; CURED – Campaign Urging Research for Eosinophilic disease; Gene Therapy research; the Oak Terrace School’s Computer Center; the Apple Tree Theater; and Highland Park’s Volunteer Pool.

Bett’s customers come from the greater Chicago metropolitan area as well as the surrounding states for fashion - forward or classic attire. Bett has scoured the markets for the best looks to offer the customers great value in response to the economic climate. The bargain conscious mark their calendars for her once-yearly 6 a.m. sale in January and for Highland Park’s end of July Sidewalk Sale.

Though Bett moved from Highland Park seven years ago, she remains passionate about her shop’s location and clientele. She was instrumental in starting Highland Park’s own Fashion Week four years ago, enjoys her membership in the Chamber of Commerce, and is active in the Chamber's Women’s Networking Group.

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The Bar Method Celebrates One Year Anniversary in Downtown Highland Park

October 1st, 2009 in General Interest

Catherine Wendel, Co-owner, The Bar Method Highland Park

On October 2nd we will celebrate our one year anniversary in Highland Park  by rewarding our most loyal clients with a free unlimited 30-day package.  As always, we offer new clients the chance to try The Bar Method for 30 days unlimited for only $100.   If you come 3-5 times a week you will see a dramatic change in your body.

We chose Highland Park for our second location in the Chicago area because we wanted to be in the North Shore and Highland Park was the prime demographic and size.   The women and men in this area are active and passionate about the latest effective body sculpting techniques.  The Bar Method thrives in this type of area because clients are both health conscious and body aware.

As we celebrate our one year anniversary in Highland Park, we are pleased to hear our clients say that they’ve never seen such body changes (and they have tried everything else).  The truth about The Bar Method is that it works!

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Eco-Friendly Style on the North Shore

September 18th, 2009 in Shopping

Becky Barnes Jackson, Store Manager/Buyer, Notice: Accessories for Living

Notice: Accessories for Living has been a Downtown Highland Park shopping destination for over two years. We carry everything from jewelry to home décor items and we focus especially on eco-friendly products. Buying green is very important to us, but being fashionable is equally so. We do not compromise style or quality to be green. There are a lot of poorly made products out there claiming to be green but we comb through them and only carry what we feel is best. We also strive to sell products that you can’t find anywhere else on the North Shore. We want to be really different, to set ourselves apart and I think our customers appreciate that. In addition to eco-friendly items, we are particularly drawn to small family-run companies and women-owned businesses.

One really unique product line that we carry and are very excited about is Cardboard Design. They are a fairly new company, based out of New York and they produce a line of furniture and home décor accessories that is constructed of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable cardboard. We will be featuring their products in a trunk show as part of the ‘Shop Home for the Holidays’ events weekend in October. The trunk show open house will be held Oct. 15-17 and will include refreshments and a gift with purchase.

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A New Vibe in Downtown Highland Park

August 21st, 2009 in Restaurants

Lisa Norcia, Owner, Vibe at 1935

Vibe at 1935 has been open a month in Downtown Highland Park and already the local response has been great. When I began scouting restaurant locations, I was deciding between Highland Park and another community but it soon became clear that Downtown Highland Park was the place to be. The City of Highland Park is very accommodating to new businesses and, in general, businesses seem to do better here than in many of the neighboring communities. The people are wonderful, too. We already have regulars! They love the food and the atmosphere. Locals are thrilled to have a place in Downtown Highland Park because we bring a big city feel to the suburbs. When I was developing the concept for Vibe, I knew exactly how I wanted it to be: a place where people can stop in for drinks after work, grab dinner before a movie, or enjoy dessert and cocktails on a night out. We are all about the small plates. You can come in for a quick bite or make a full meal of it. And in addition to our fantastic wine list, we have a full-service bar with an excellent cocktail menu. We will be open on Sundays for football season, so you can sit and watch the game with friends while enjoying a good beer and homemade potato chips. We are planning a number of events for the next year, including a tailgating party for the first Sunday of football and a crawfish boil in the spring. We would love to also do an Oktoberfest celebration this fall.

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Personal Service at Posh Essentials

August 6th, 2009 in Shopping

 Susan Carlson, Principal/Buyer, Posh Essentials

When we decided to open Posh Essentials we chose Downtown Highland Park because it is such an incredible retail area. Since opening in April 2009 the response has been overwhelming. We find that besides our loyal local consumers we are really pulling people from all over the North Shore. People come to Downtown Highland Park as a destination and once they discover us, they keep coming back. Everyone has been very welcoming and when you show that you have something they like, they become loyal customers. And we really appreciate it when the locals shop here. It is vital for any community to have the people that live there support the local businesses. That is what keeps the community thriving. We consider ourselves not just a lingerie store, but a gift store where women can find something for any occasion within their budget. We appeal to women of all ages for any gift need they have, whether it be a graduation, birthday or hostess gift. At Posh Essentials you can find things for $10 or $100. And for women shopping for themselves, we carry fine lingerie at a mid-range price point. We carry the luxurious necessities for every day. One unique offering at Posh that sets us apart from similar stores is our concierge and personal shopping. A customer can tell us who they are shopping for and how much they want to spend, give us a credit card number and we'll take care of the rest. We will choose the perfect gift, wrap and mail it. And this fall we are launching our web store, where customers will be able to shop from directly from our website.

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