UPTOWN — A family-owned shop selling clothes, accessories and home decor opened Monday on a rapidly changing commercial corridor in Uptown that is supported by Andersonville business groups.
Notice: Accessories for Living has locations in Evanston and Barrington, and picked 5028 N. Clark St. for its third store, a few blocks south of the main commercial strip that spans North Clark Street from Foster to Bryn Mawr avenues.
Owner Mari Barnes runs the new location with her two daughters, Becky Jackson and Hannah Hannick.
Barnes said, “We find it a little bit similar to where we are at on Central Street in Evanston,” where an array of small businesses occupy storefronts in a residential area noted for its small-town charm.
Barnes, of Highland Park, said Hannick lives near the new store and “knows and loves the area.”
“We looked all over the city and then came back to Andersonville and said this is really terrific and feels right,” Barnes said before acknowledging that the spot is technically in Uptown but more so associated with the other neighborhood.
She believes that Andersonville is growing and headed south — deeper into Uptown.
“The only way it can continue to go is south,” she said, adding that organizations in Andersonville that help small business owners consider Notice as part of their community.
Andersonville Development Corp. Managing Director Colleen O’Toole said her group and the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce pay attention to businesses on Clark south of Foster.
“That’s what the city of Chicago considers Andersonville, and that’s what we try to work with,” O’Toole said.
She said she is happy to see “a lot of the vacant spaces south of Foster filling up,” and mentioned Ne:Wa and Pie Hole Pizza Joint, two restaurants scheduled to open across the street from Notice this year.
“I feel like it’s a really positive turnaround for that part of the community,” O’Toole said.
