WICKER PARK — Vintage Charm, a LaGrange-based boutique that a store manager described as "very similar to a smaller version of Anthropologie," is bringing a variety of mostly new and a few old items to Wicker Park when it expands to Damen Avenue this week.
About one block north of the Milwaukee, Damen and North Avenues intersection, Vintage Charm opened Saturday at 1735 N. Damen Ave., said Carol Neff, a store manager in the shop's LaGrange location.
Vintage Charm, which has a strong social media presence with nearly 5,800 "likes" on its Facebook page, sells mostly new clothing, jewelry, purses and gifts as well as home furnishings.
Neff said that 10 percent of the store's stock is vintage, while other items are vintage inspired.
Neff said Vintage Charm is "very similar to a smaller version of Anthropologie" and stocks popular clothing labels such as Free People and BB Dakota, as well as jewelry from designers Kendra Scott and Freida Rothman.
"Our whole philosophy has always been based on customer service. They are outstanding ladies," Neff said of the three full-time and four part-time workers recently hired to work at the new Damen outpost under the direction of manager Molly Barry.
Neff has been with the Vintage Charm company for nine years and said she met Vintage Charm's founder Nancy Allodi almost 10 years ago at a booth in an antique mall.
Allodi, who has been building anticipation online for Vintage Charm's new shop, will float between the LaGrange and city outpost, Neff said.
The storefront, located in a Damen Avenue shopping district area that is technically Wicker Park but many refer to as Bucktown, has been vacant since Clothes Minded boutique closed in February.
Vintage Charm, 1735 N. Damen Ave. No phone yet or hours posted.
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