One of the first bloggers I became familiar with online back in 2007 when I first found myself surgically attached to the internet was Pauline, widely known as @OHMommy from the blog Classy Chaos.
(Not at all related to the story is the fact that it took me about eighteen months of interacting with her online to realize that OHMommy wasn’t like, “Oh! Mommy!” but rather “Ohio Mommy”, because she lived in Cleveland at the time. Oops.)
Pauline became a Chicago-area blogger over the summer when she and her hubby and kids moved back here, and she is now working for Dom Itp, her parents’ business. Dom Itp is a chain of stores that sells European housewares/imports (and some from India, but I’ll get to that in a minute), and they are widely known for having some of the most beautiful Christmas ornaments around. Of specific interest to me–even though I don’t celebrate Christmas, even–are their Chicago ornaments. I have gazed at them adoringly for the last few years at the Christkindlmarket at Daley Center in Chicago: Dom Itp has a booth there.
Anyway, Pauline and her family have just opened the newest location of Dom Itp, at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. She invited me to a Blogger Open House last week and I was excited to check it out: I wanted to see those ornaments up close without fighting the Christkindlemarket crowds, and Pauline had been telling me about the scarves they stock, too.
As it turns out, the ornaments (which, as I found out, are actually *designed* by Pauline’s family!) are just the tip of the iceberg. The store is full of beautiful clothing. FULL of it. There is an entire room of the most amazing (and colorful!) wool hats from Poland. In fact, we spent a good thirty minutes trying them on.
Those are just some of the red ones. They came in every color under the rainbow.
The scarves were even more plentiful. AND, might I add, very reasonably priced: most of them cost between $12.99 and $14.99! (Actually, everything in the store was ridiculously reasonable in price!)
I fell in love with this coat. I bet you think it’s pretty cute, too.
The jewelry at Dom Itp was chosen by Pauline, her sister, and her mother on a buying trip to India.
She did a series of blog posts about her trip: the one about how their mad bargaining skills and how she ended up with seven pictures of them riding an elephant for a dollar is one of my favorites. But I digress: the jewelry is fantastic and I did a double-take when I saw the prices. BEYOND affordable.
Pauline gifted us with a goody bag and a gift card so we could do some shopping, and let’s just say “Boy, did I!”. I will definitely be going back to Dom Itp. Anyone want to go with me?
Disclosure: Pauline generously gave us a goody bag and gift card, as I mentioned. There was no posting requirement attached to it. All words and pictures are mine. P.S. I love this place. Seriously.
3 Comments
Grandma W
Love the coat you would look great.
Love
Grandma W
Liz
Oh, sounds like a great day out, love the scarves. Aaaand it took me a while to realize Oh Mommy was Ohio Mommy, you filled me in on that bit of #duh 🙂
TheNextMartha
I want to go.