Saturday is the fourth annual Stationery Store Day, a big day for shoppers and an even bigger day for mom-and-pop stationers.

Analog communication is having a moment, ironically thanks to digital platforms where people share product info and connect over their shared love of stationery.

Holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.8%, outpacing the 3.1% increase from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards.

If you’re walking down 18th Street, it’s hard to pass the El Anticuario storefront without wondering what’s inside. It’s just about everything.

The large-format store, clocking in at 150,000 square feet and located in Edens Plaza in Wilmette, Illinois, will open to shoppers on May 23. It will also feature an onsite restaurant called “The Porch,” the company said, taking a page out of Ikea’s store setup.

Barnes & Noble plans to open two stores in the city this year, in addition to other locations in suburban Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

If you’ve still got a few names to cross off your holiday gift list, you’re not alone. There’s still plenty of time to find handmade gifts that do good for artists and artisans not only in Chicago but also in countries all over the world.

Resale is a multi-billion dollar industry and shopping secondhand is growing in popularity as an affordable and eco-friendly way for young fashionistas to carve out a style niche for themselves. Two shops in Logan Square are hoping they can capitalize on that trend.

Multiple in-store thefts have been reported recently on the Magnificent Mile amounting to millions of dollars in stolen merchandise. But retailers say it’s not just about lost revenue — it’s about safety — and they’re calling for city officials to put more protections in place for businesses.

The Mestiza Shop on 18th Street offers wares made by local artists as well as imported goods. The items range from the traditional to the quirky – but all with a distinctively Latina accent.

Consumers are expected to spend between $10.2 billion and $11.3 billion on Monday, making it once again the biggest online shopping day of the year, according to Adobe Digital Economy Index.

Target will no longer open its stores on Thanksgiving Day, making permanent a shift to the unofficial start of the holiday season that was suspended during the pandemic.

Illinois tax revenues plummeted when COVID-19 hit, but according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, they’re rising again.

Small-business owners in Illinois are experiencing an unprecedented demand in supplies and goods, but inventory is limited at stores due to supply chain issues nationwide.

As the holiday shopping season approaches, several economists are warning consumers about higher prices and delays for shipments due to a shortage in everything from microchips to coffee to the supply containers for transporting goods.

Come fall, Sears will shut the doors on its last department store in Illinois, the state in which its first retail store opened in 1925. The Sears department store in the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg will close on Nov. 14.