Chicago: Glossier Pop-Up

 What started out as a week's visit to my second-born in Columbus, Ohio, 

somehow turned into a road trip to Chicago. 

Not only did we squeeze an amazing amount of sightseeing into forty-eight hours, 

but we stayed a mere block away from my former office and retraced 

the streets and sights of my life in Chicago 

all those many years ago. 

* * * * *

So it's Friday night, and we are sitting in our hotel room, full of German food and feeling immensely satisfied with our quick trip to Chicago. We are scheduled to leave in the morning, but manage to squeeze in a last-minute visit with my niece, my daughter's cousin, who has dropped by from her home in a Chicago neighborhood not far from the Loop.

As the three of us are chatting, my daughter is also messaging with my third-born, my daughter's younger sister, who lives in Seoul, South Korea.

"Oh my gosh!!" my second-born suddenly explodes. "I'm so annoyed!" 

My niece and I stare at her, utterly perplexed.

"The Glossier pop-up!" my daughter carried on. "There was a Glossier pop-up store in Chicago all summer and I really wanted to go but I thought it was already closed. But Jane just told me it's still open and if I had known, it would have been my top priority to go there. But now we have to leave in the morning so it's too late. We can't go!"

Ha. These are the moments I absolutely live for. Plans and schedules are great but in my world, they are made to be broken. I love nothing more than a spontaneous change of plans. 

A bit of Googling later, we find the address of the store and my niece confirms that it is a mere fifteen-minute drive from our hotel. Quite close to her apartment too, so she decides to join us on our adventure.

* * * * *

[Glossier, if you don't know, is a skin care and beauty brand that focuses on casual, uncomplicated products for effortless beauty and glowing skin.

Though Glossier started as a online brand, they now hold down permanent stores in New York and LA, and experiment with pop-up stores around the US and Canada. ]

* * * * *

And so, on our last morning in Chicago, my daughter and I check out of our hotel, grab a quick breakfast, and head off to the Glossier pop-up store. After sorting out a major GPS snafu and dealing with a dearth of parking places, this is what we found. 

^ The Glossier pop-up is beautiful eye candy and Insta-worthy gorgeousness in every direction. The architectural details make me swoon and I feel as if I have stepped into a cosmetics fairyland. Which is exactly what a good pop-up is intended to do. 

^ The merchandising is similarly on trend. Products are styled to great effect, and only one of each item is out on the floor. When shoppers are ready to buy, we track down a sales associate with an iPad who takes our order and manages our payment while another employee in back pulls our products and presents them to us in a trademark pink bubble wrap pouch. Glossier employs Apple's retail model to great effect, with a generous dose of their own whimsy and style.

^Speaking of whimsy and style, every inch of the store bursts with personality. I quickly pick out a few products to purchase and then spend my time admiring every precious detail of this space while my daughter and niece shop on. 

^ I make my selections from the skin care side of the business - Milky Jelly Cleanser and Body Hero Daily Perfecting Cream. But the tiny tubs and tubes of skin, cheek, and lip color fascinate me and I find myself picking up each one, turning it over in my hands, and then sliding it back into its perfect little white display space.

^ Empty frames painted white. 

Murals of soft pink foamy bubbles.

Random black and white photographs.

Every corner holds another surprise. 

^ As it turns out, we are visiting on the very last day of the pop-up's run. The crowds are insane; even after waiting in line outside the store for a half-hour, the room is packed and the energy is buzzing. 

* * * * *

We spend at least an hour wandering around this beautiful space. Our original plan to leave Chicago by noon and get to a family birthday party in Cleveland later that day goes flying out the window. But everything works out in the end, and our visit to the Glossier pop-up is a perfect capper to our impromptu trip to Chicago.

* * * * *

Read more stories about my long overdue reunion with the city with big shoulders:

The Bean

The Gorilla And The Flamingo

Italian Village
Doughnut Vault
Wells Street Bridge
The Rookery
Flamingo Again

Wabash Arts Corridor
The Berghoff
Glossier Pop-Up

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Want to read about all my Glossier adventures 

and see more pics of their adorable stores? Try these:

Beauty's Where You Find It

Skin Is In

Birthday Adventures

Chicago: Glossier Pop-Up