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Article: THE ALLEY GOES MAIN ST.
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- October 22, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1992 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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As boutiques go, The Alley isn't what you'd call mainstream: Ads
for its best-selling leather motorcycle jacket feature a crudely
drawn skeleton sitting on a Harley, outfitted in the store's garb.
But after years of striving to be different, entrepreneur Mark
Thomas now says he'll compromise in order to bring his North Side
version of "alternative shopping" to suburban malls and strip
centers.
And if he's successful, teens will have an easier time becoming
their parents' worst nightmares.
Take a peek at the shopping complex Thomas started at Belmont
and Clark in 1987, after his head shop closed. The centerpiece of
the six-store building is The Alley, a 10,000-square-foot sea of
black ...