A Windblown Ted Baker Flagship Opens on the Viagra Triangle

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Our man about town Jared Hatch visits the just-opened Ted Baker flagship in the Gold Coast where he cavorts with sexy penguins and flying geese.

Ted Baker has been looking for the prefect space in the gold coast for five years. Finally, with all of the real estate musical chairs, he's found his space between Jilly's Piano Bar and the debaucherous The Whiskey at the south east corner of the Viagra Triangle park.

This past Saturday, Ted Baker opened his Midwestern flagship doors at 10 a.m. to a small line of really enthusiastic fans. Throughout the beginning of the day there was a steady flow of customers. The store has been teasing us for weeks about the opening date when we can finally go in to brush the fine wool blazers up against our cheeks. The store is designed by Baker's in-house team as an abstract vision of Chicago. The ceiling is made of spaced wood slats representing undulating currents of wind that scatter and change the shapes of the relief tiles hanging on the wall as they move toward the back of the store. The dressing rooms are tall deep blue velvet curtains look particularly London-esque and other items in the store are so obviously Brit inspired, too—for example, the deconstructed English manor paneling and props like tea sets, scotch sets, and delicious looking silicone bakery items. The Battenburg cake looked the most authentic.

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Opening day swag included branded pens with little flying geese inside, and holiday cooking aprons with an printed image of a sexy Missus Claus body on it that matches their kinetic window display. (Outside the shop, we found a sexy penguin to model the sexy apron. He was headed to a penguin convention bar crawl at Jilly's Piano Bar.) Ted Baker also had a digital / film photo booth which contained a shopping bag of costumes to dress up in. You could later go online and see your photos and post them to your Twitter or Facebook. Before we left, the one last thing we had to do was register for the Ted Baker $500 shopping spree which will be drawn later this month.

Welcome to the Gold Coast, Ted. We're sure you'll do well here, but keep an eye on all those stunning silicone baked goods lying around the store. They look delicious and surely its only a matter of time before someone tries to eat them.
· Ted Baker [Official Site]