Storefronts near Broadway and Sheridan Road in Uptown. Photo: Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A boutique on North Magnolia Avenue is turning its tea room into a holiday party for Uptown’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender neighbors. Unique So Chique will host what it calls a Gay-i-Tea on Sunday, Dec. 3, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The premise is a twist on afternoon tea. Guests get scones and other small plates, along with complimentary peppermint schnapps served as a stand-in for tea, and champagne. While people mingle, models will walk through the store wearing pieces from the shop’s racks, giving shoppers a look at what is in stock before the holiday rush.
Shopping as the main event
The store is pitching the evening as a chance to get holiday shopping done among friends, which it describes with the old community shorthand of shopping with family. The tea room and the boutique share the same space, so guests can move between the snack table and the merchandise without leaving the party.
Attendance is limited to adults 21 and over because of the alcohol, and space is capped. The shop asks guests to RSVP by Thursday, Nov. 30.
A store built on events
Unique So Chique, at 4600 N. Magnolia Ave., Suite C, combines a resale and gift boutique with its Tea & Chocolate Room. The owners have leaned on themed nights to draw people off Broadway and onto the quieter residential block where the shop sits. The Gay-i-Tea follows the store’s after-Thanksgiving brunch and shopping promotion and comes a week before its annual Stocking Stuffer Night.
For a small business on a side street, events like these do double duty. They bring in sales on the night, and they introduce the shop to people who may not have known it was there.
The boutique takes reservations at (773) 561-0324.
Joel Sandoval covers arts, music venues and nightlife.
