Do you offer gift wrapping services?
Coming soon.
What's a "Mom's Picks"?
MOM is short for Masters of Merchandise—Urban General Store's fearless army of testers of items and Customer Service savants. If you have a problem or a question or need help... just contact MOM (mom@urbangeneralstore.com). The idea sprang from Urban General Store's founders' mothers: Karen and Susan. Karen has over 20 years in retail. She has likely touched, tasted, handled and used almost every item on the site. She is owner of two gift shops on the East Coast--Prelude in Needham, Mass. (till 2005) and Periwinkles Gifts in Cataumet, Mass and Latitude 41 Store on Cape Cod.
Susan has over 30 years of experience ordering from catalogs, exclusive TV offers and the internet. She placed her first mail order in 1978 from the Montgomery Ward catalog. Both of her grandfathers owned and operated general stores in the early 1900's in St. Louis. She can regularly be heard calling in to offer her comments on QVC's Open Line Thursdays.
And Urban General Store's honorary MOM is actually a DAD. Tom has over 22 years of retail experience. Like Rebecca, he began working at his mother's jewelry store when he was tall enough to see over the counter (on his tippy-toes). He can be found behind the counter at Periwinkles on Cape Cod from Flag Day to Columbus Day and fixing things, building shelves and changing light bulbs at our retail store ENJOY, AN URBAN GENERAL STORE in Chicago the rest of the year. If the MOM's are the lifeblood of Urban General Store, then Tom is the life-force.
What's with all the puns in the product descriptions?
If you don't like them... Mea culpa. But we were trying to look for fun, funny and different ways to describe the items we sell. This website is run by people not robots. We know these products. And, frankly, we really, really like them. Our retail store, ENJOY, AN URBAN GENERAL STORE, has a personality—when you walk in you sense the whimsy, joy and humor. People laugh out loud at our cards. They are inspired by our canvases. They blush at our "poo" stuff. We wanted our online store to have that same kind of strong personality so we thought some puns might be the way to go.
If you do like them...
Great! We've been looking for customers like you. You probably share our quirky sense of humor and tongue-in-cheek sensibilities. You are obviously exceedingly intelligent with keen powers of observation, a vast knowledge of pop culture and a Shakespearean sense of irony.
If you don't get them...
That's ok. They weren't very funny anyway. Please just look at the pictures and order the products. We'll send them to you quickly in a nice box or cute gift wrap (if requested). Just know that someone who really enjoys these items decided to put them on a website where you could order them and we could pack and ship them to you (or a friend).
Why do you feature Chicago Natives?
Chicago, Chicago, that toddling... wait, sorry. Just can't help ourselves. Chicago is the home of Urban General Store. And Urban General Store is the online counterpart to ENJOY, AN URBAN GENERAL STORE in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood.
Rebecca Wood opened her store at 4727 N. Lincoln Avenue (next to the beloved Cafe Selmarie) in July 2005. Immediately, the people of Chicago, and, more specifically, the people in Lincoln Square embraced Becca and her idea of a modern-day general store that featured gift items for a wide variety of shoppers catering to their busy urban lives by helping them accomplish all of their gift-giving in one place.
The "Chicago Natives" items are consistently among our best sellers. Native (and recent transplants and visitors) seem to embrace the lovable essence of Chicago—a big city with a Midwestern attitude. We've chosen to feature what we know, from where we live.