A Thrift Store Tour of Lincoln Park & Lakeview
Or: How to Thrift Your Entire Life in Just One Afternoon
You may be buying secondhand, but you deserve first rate stuff! That’s why Lincoln Park and Lakeview East are great neighborhoods for thrift shopping. You know all of those beautiful multi-story single family homes around Burling Street and Orchard Street that receive weekly rose garden maintenance from hired landscapers and give out full-size candy bars on Halloween? Yeah, that’s where your Lincoln Park thrift store haul originated. You’re buying Three-Story Georgian Revival goods at Cheapo Studio Apartment prices!
Here are a few of my favorite Lincoln Park/Lakeview thrift stores, all along one convenient walking route you can cover in a single afternoon. I’ve found all of these places to have clean, well-kept, and well-curated collections. Each one of them is good for buying something different, so you can visit all five to live large and low-cost in all realms of life — in a single shopping spree along this route, I’ve purchased enough picture frames to turn my apartment into an art museum, platters I’d proudly serve my mother on, outfits I can only wear on dance floors in Boystown, and fancy-schmancy business blazers I can wear to work the next day to make me look like I didn’t go dancing in Boystown on a work night. Stick around until the end, and I’ll even tell you where to stop for lunch along the way!
Stop 1: The Xchange
2907 N. Broadway
Hours: 10 AM - 8 PM
This secondhand clothing store near Diversey & Broadway is small, but don’t be fooled — the narrow aisles are bursting with a huge and phenomenal selection! If it tells you anything about how much I love this place, I’m on first-name basis with the staff. It’s a good mix of gently-used designer brands and more obscure labels that deal in reliable, long-lasting clothes. I love The Xchange because the clothes there are all vetted upon purchase, and never look damaged, stained, or worn down. I mainly come to buy dressy, pretty pieces that make me look put-together on the clock and on the town, but there’s a little bit of everything in the mix. If I’m on the hunt for any kind of clothing, from sparkly party clothes to athleisure, I stop at The Xchange to look for it before I go anywhere else.
Good For: Business clothes, semi-formal clothes, nice winter coats, things you can wear to brunch when you want to feel a little bit fancy but still young and cute
Price range: $5 - $20. The $5 sale section is quite prolific, while most non-sale items fall within the $10-$15 range.
Emma’s Finds:
This ensemble - $17 total
My Pretty Princess Dress - $16
Stop 2: Mt. Sinai Resale Shop
2902 N. Clark St.
Hours:
M-F: 10 AM - 7 PM
Sat: 10 AM - 6 PM
Sun: 11 AM - 5 PM
Moses came back from Mt. Sinai with a prolific #haul, and you will too! Mt. Sinai (the resale store) carries a little bit (or a lot a bit) of everything, but housewares and home furnishings are where this shop really shines. I shopped here a lot when I moved into my first apartment after college — I was furnishing and decorating it from scratch while trying to kickstart my savings. At Mt. Sinai, I could afford to buy nice things like serving dishes, picture frames, kitschy mugs, and elegant plate sets. As cheesy as it sounds, the decor I bought here was what first made my apartment feel like mine. A home where I could start to build my own life and host some classy-ass dinner parties.
The shop also carries a great selection of reasonably priced secondhand furniture, books, and clothes. The clothes are a smaller selection than The Xchange, but similar in price range and vibe. If you’re feeling particularly fancy and have some cash to blow, check out the designer clothing section and the glass cases of vintage decor.
Good For: Housewares, kitchen gadgets, dishware & glassware, furniture, shoes, vintage decor
Price range:
Housewares: $1- $10
Books: $1 - $10
Clothes: $5-$30 in the general section, with a designated designer section in the $100 range.
Furniture & decor: variable, with some smaller pieces under $50 and bigger pieces (couches, dining room tables, etc.) in the $200-$300 range. You may find a few expensive antiques and art pieces while you’re spelunking around, but in general this is a great place to buy furniture on a budget.
Emma’s Finds:
Serving Platter - $3
Quaint lil farmhouse plate - $2
Nordic Ware Mini Bundt Pan - $12
Stop 3: Brown Elephant Lakeview
812 W. Belmont Av.
Hours: 11AM - 6PM
The Brown Elephant is run by Howard Brown Health, a fantastic organization which helps make LGBTQ+ healthcare accessible for people who are uninsured or under-insured. It has three locations, including a super huge one in Andersonville. The Lakeview location recently moved from Lincoln Avenue to Belmont, and I’ve since made some of the best finds of my thrifting career there (see below). I like to go here for kitchen gadgets and business clothes - I’ve seen more vegetable spiralizers in one day at The Brown Elephant than I have in all my years of life, and the blazers I’ve found here are both funky and sleek - so much so that everyone at work is too distracted by how good I look to notice I’ve been wearing the same 4 on rotation for my entire career. But if I keep shopping at The Brown Elephant, I won’t be an outfit repeater for long!
I’ve also seen things like brand new record players for $25, books and furniture, and some pretty sets of decorative plates. It’s a smaller selection, but it rotates often and the curators always have interesting things in good condition on the shelves.
Good for: Business clothes, everyday upscale-casual clothes, & kitchen gadgets.
Price Range: $1-10 for housewares, $5-$25 for clothes
Emma’s Finds:
Stop 4: Belmont Army Vintage
925 W. Belmont Av.
Hours: 11 AM - 8 PM
Go to Belmont Army Vintage when you get invited to a theme party. Any theme. Beach party? BAV’s got aloha shirts in every color. Cowgirl? They got yer’ boots n’ belt buckles. Studio 54? Darling, everything here is a statement piece. Wedding dresses, frilly 80s prom dresses, scouting uniforms — need I go on? Every decade between 1930 and 2010 is well-represented, and the walls are lined with costume accessories in case you need a wig, a hat, or a lightsaber to complete your ensemble.
Belmont Army Vintage is filled to the brim with bold colors, unconventional fabrics, and styles from every era, but the magic is that most of these clothes are classy enough to be worn in everyday life as well. If you’re gay you’ve got a colorful sense of style, you’ll find a treasure trove of outfits that feel special and fun to wear, but are still appropriate for work, a Target run, or a refined dinner party. I truly believe that an outfit can singlehandedly set the tone for an entire day, and I wear clothes from Belmont Army Vintage when I want to make any random Tuesday feel like a big event.
Good for: Vintage clothes, fun work clothes (blazers for the personality hire), statement pieces, costume accessories, theme party clothes
Price Range: $10-$30, with a few particularly swanky vintage dresses falling between $30 - $50
Emma’s Finds: Holiday cardigan - $22
Stop 5: Studio 32
3056 N. Racine Ave
Hours:
Closed Mondays
Tues - Fri: 2 PM - 7 PM
Sat/Sun: 11 AM - 6 PM
I saved the best for last! Studio 32 is the smallest shop on this list by square footage, but it’s my personal favorite and by far the biggest in heart. Built out of an old house, Studio 32 is home to an everchanging collection hand-curated by the owner, Gaby Kuhn. It’s a powerhouse for accessories in particular — the drawers are filled with hats, ties, chic jewelry, and hand-knit winter gear — but Gaby has an eye for everything from housewares to clothing to craft supplies to toys.
The store is impeccably clean, and every single item looks like it was carefully evaluated and intentionally picked to sell. Because it was! My favorite thing about Studio 32 is that it genuinely feels like a store made to serve its neighborhood. Gaby talks to individual shoppers to find out what they’re looking for, and brings in items personalized to her clientele. The shop is also just a genuinely friendly space. The ladies who work there always have a plate of cookies on the counter and a fresh pot of coffee brewing to share with customers.
I hate it when people call things hidden gems (it can’t be that hidden if it’s on Google Maps), but Studio 32 is the textbook definition of a hidden gem in Lakeview. No matter what you’re looking for, it’s worth a visit. If you want to keep track of their collection from afar, the shop is active on Instagram at @studio32chi.
Good for: Everything! If they don’t already have it, they’ll find it for you.
Price Range: $5-$30, with most items falling under $20 and a select few vintage items around $100.
Emma’s Finds:
Picture frames for my gallery wall - $3 - $5
Sunglasses that make me feel like a Blues Brother - $10
The fluffy shark bag that houses my tiny scarf collection - $1
Stop ???: Sustenance
If you’re as hungry for food as you are for bargains, you’re in luck! There are plenty of great places to eat along this route. I’d recommend stopping somewhere after Mt. Sinai and before Studio 32 — Studio 32 opens later in the afternoon on weekdays, so lunch is a good way to kill some time before it opens if you started your pilgrimage early in the day.
My favorite lunch stop is Panes Bread Cafe (3002 N. Sheffield Ave.), a cute and rustic spot with a huge menu of artisan sandwiches, pastas, flatbreads, and more. If you need something sweet — which you do — drop by Bittersweet Pastry Shop & Cafe (1114 W. Belmont Ave.) for coffee and a croissant or some mid-afternoon cake. If you just want coffee and a nice temperature-controlled place to rest, I love Pedestrian Coffee right under the Belmont brown line stop (so much so that I’m writing this post from there. Hi!!!!)
If you’re in the mood for something else, stroll down Belmont between Halsted & Racine and you’ll probably find what you’re looking for. Be it Mexican, Korean, Swedish, or a good ol’ Chicago Style Hotdog (capitalized out of respect), this strip of Belmont is a hotbed of sit-down and fast-casual restaurants.
