Blossom Flowers & Gifts at 7013 N. Sheridan Road ( phone 773-761-5661 ) just opened for those who enjoy horticulture. Blossom Flowers doesn't get the royal treatment other florists get, with fancy Government funded "Window Projects", but hey, it's a flower shop and the plants and flowers are the feature attraction. Plus, not having to maneuver through the Open Air Drug Market/Sidewalk Casino and Gun Shooting Range of Morse Avenue makes shopping less dangerous.
Our Chamber has yet to roll out the "Welcome Wagon" for Blossom Flowers, not even stopping in yet. But I did. Let me take you inside.
Once entering you will find plants, flowers, candles, Nora Bells, Wind chimes, handmade scarfs, winter stockings and much, much more. Edita, the store owner, hopes Rogers Park Neighbors will stop by and pick up a houseplant to warm up that special room this winter. She can make any special table arrangements for all occasions. Edita even decorates her own windows. Blossom's hours are Monday through Saturday, 11am til 7pm. If the neighborhood shows interest, she will think about opening on Sunday's.
8 comments:
Kewl!!!!
Looks like a nice shop, after seeing the above post, I wouldn't go there, I'm going to stop in her shop and look around, thanks... I usually buy my flowers at Domincks. Ann
Ann, buying flowers at Dominicks? Shame on you. Edita could use the customers. She has yet to get a cooler, so she is limited to the ammount of cut flowers she keeps. But this is one of those businesses that needs the communities support ( and a little extra ) or she will not be around long. Like the last couple of tenants in that spot. Charlie, wasn't Roger Bark there?
Buying flowers at Dominicks is different from buying coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts how?
Yes.... "Rogers Bark" was in the same place.
>I usually buy my flowers at Domincks. Ann
Dominck's is a collection of departments under one roof: floral, fruits & vegetables, liquor, hardware, fast food, etc. Dominck's-Safeway is a multi-national corporation with massive buying power. How can one of our neighbors compete? For example, who will open a flower shop on Howard Street around the corner from Dominicks? DevCorp North, part owner of Gateway Mall, is responsible for the lack of locally-owned, small business retail growth in the Howard Street. For them to sponsor a workshop to solicit ideas for retail for Howard Street from us is hypocritical.
DevCorp North, part owner of Gateway Mall, is responsible for the lack of locally-owned, small business retail growth in the Howard Street. For them to sponsor a workshop to solicit ideas for retail for Howard Street from us is hypocritical.
# posted by Anonymous : 10:50 AM
Might you expand on your claim?
Seems to me that DevCorp North in holding just such a forum, is attempting to have an open discussion with the residents of Rogers Park about their vision for the neighborhood. Blaming DevCorp North for the lack of locally owned biz on Howard is an extremely uneducated point of view. The vast majority of those Howard St shops are in fact locally owned. Maybe potential biz owners don't see opening there as a good risk of their resources for a whole host of reasons. To say that DevCorp is some how preventing new stores from opening is simply laughable!
Why not stop in and have a chat with the folks at DevCorp and maybe you will walk away with a more educated and likely different set of truths.
Please inform us just how DevCorp is intentionally keeping "locally owned" commerce from growing on Howard.
I look foreword to your response.
>Please inform us just how DevCorp is intentionally keeping "locally owned" commerce from growing on Howard.
1. DevCorp North, working under contract from the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, acts as a paid consultant to multi-millionaires real estate moguls James DiMatteo and Rudy Mulder in applying and lobbying for Gateway Mall. The project includes using the threat of eminent domain to acquire properties and give them to the developers for free or at ridiculously below-market prices, as well as a massive package of property tax subsidies.
2. In addition to their compensation from the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development as a "technical consultant to business" DevCorp North compensates themselves by charging consulting fees to the developers. And although DevCorp North is nominally a tax-exempt, not-for-profit corporation at grant-writing time, they further compensate themselves by writing themselves into the deal with an equity position in the for-profit shopping mall.
3. In their partnership agreement, DevCorp North and their partners agree that the new mall be specifically reserved for national, brand-name stores, and that locally-owned small businesses are disallowed. DevCorp North razes acres of Rogers Park to create a theme park for name-brand stores, a massive anti-small business incubator, a locally-owned business free zone adjacent to our regional transportation hub.
4. The new mall is anchored by a Dominick's, backed by the buying power of owner multi-national Safeway, and includes departments such as:
Floral
Bakery
Liquor
Hardware
Automotive
Fruits
Vegetables
House wares
Groceries
Cheese
Deli
Fast food
Prepared food
Cards
Magazines
5. Years pass, and leaves DevCorp North scratching their head, wondering, gosh, why aren't more locally-owned businesses thriving on Howard Street around the corner from our shopping mall? DevCorp North applies for a grant to hire scientists to study the problem. On their financial disclosures in support of their grant application, DevCorp North carefully conceals their ownership of the shopping mall, as they do on all their financial disclosures and grant applications.
TIF (Tax Increment Financing)-supported development gives the appearance of economic progress by causing businesses from outside the TIF district to relocate inside the TIF district. Although some progress may occur inside the TIF district, the immediate surrounding area declines more than the inside progresses. For more information, see
TIF districts hinder growth
Study finds that cities without TIFs grow faster
Professor Richard Dye of Lake Forest College and Professor David Merriman of Loyola wrote of how TIFs suppress growth in surrounding areas.
http://www.igpa.uillinois.edu/publications/PolicyForum/PF13-4_tiff.pdf
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