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First it was Burton who planted down on Walton. The snowboarder's mecca opened in the early days of the Gold Coast retail revitalization along with Lululemon on Rush, one block away from the Lululemon in the 900 Shops. There was Columbia on Michigan Avenue and Patagonia followed suit. Then The North Face creepily remodeled. Last year Barbour announced it was opening on Walton after a first location in Lincoln Park. All this, and then we were blindsided by ALDO's move but then found out Marmot was opening in its place, around the corner from Moncler.
What all this movin' and shakin' makes is the perfect climate for shopping clothes from base layers to outerwear—mostly within a two block radius. All these stores run in the same vein of merchandise and from what we're hearing now, will be rounded out nicely with the addition of Icebreaker Touchlab.
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We Google Mapped all these stores.
One of the remaining storefronts yet-to-be-filled is the vacant Einstein Bagels storefront, just a few steps away from Santa's favorite Cupcake ATM. Though an agent involved with the deal can't comment, a source close to the deal says Icebreaker, a Wellington, New Zealand-based merino wool base layering company will soon open in this storefront. A source from within the Icebreaker organization says the store will likely be open in late 2013.
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An Icebreaker advert
Icebreaker is only available now at Fleet Feet, Connect on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park, Erehwon on North Avenue and at Uncle Dan's in Roscoe Village. This will be the first Icebreaker flagship in the Midwest and the seventh in the U.S. behind locations in New York State, California, Portland and Seattle. Since the brand's inception in 1994, the varied apparel system has grown over the past score to include underwear, mid layer garments, outerwear, socks and accessories for men, women and kids.
· Icebreaker [Official Site]
· All Walton Coverage [Racked]