A Public Service Announcement

Editor's Note: This post is dedicated to one of our favorite Chicago customers, Megan Townsend. Megan has been teasing me about being a blogging slacker of late. I've fallen from my heady rate of three posts per week pre-Thanksgiving to approximately .75 posts per week post-Thanksgiving. However, instead of pleading post-holiday-fatigue syndrome again, I actually took my camera along Monday so I'd have no excuse for not doing my second post! Megan, this one's for you! (:

This is just a friendly reminder from your pals at rhubarb reign to shop your favorite indie retailers this holiday season. I've written all year about a number of our customers who fall into this category (you can check some of them out on our blog roll), but wanted to show you just two of my hometown favorites:

City News and Books (which should really be called Small Town News and Books, but I guess that's not as catchy), and

Karma Records. I love both of these stores: the clerks are always friendly, helpful and actually know my name. If they don't have what I want, they can order it, giving me an excuse to go right back and shop some more. I always leave feeling happy. What more can you ask for?

I like indie shops because the personality of the owner comes through -- you get the feeling they've looked all over for the best stuff and have set it up just for you to come and see. Done right, an indie shop is truly a creative exercise, requiring both vision and editing. Why would you want to spend those holiday dollars anywhere else when these folks have done a lot of the leg work for you?