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unnamed-2This past weekend the Styleshack team took on Chicago, one of our favorite cities to visit and it is conveniently in driving distance from Detroit. Our reason for our getaway? Styleshack Founder Rachel Schostak was invited by Techweek Chicago to be apart of the Fashion Tech Panel that took place Friday Afternoon at the conference. This is our photo diary that documented the weekend from start to finish.  We appreciate the Midwest Verizon team letting us borrow the Samsung Galaxy 5 to document our awesome journey!

 For the weekend we stayed in the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza Hotel that is in the Merchandise Mart of Chicago. This made it very easy for us to access Techweek unnamed-3Events since the conference was being held in the Merchandise Mart. Early Friday morning Rachel and Stephanie went to Blowtique Salon's Flagship Store on E. Huron Street their hair blown-out before the busy weekend started. The salon was gorgeous with clean, polished interior. The stylist's did wonders on our hair, making us feel beautiful and ready to take on our weekend.  

 unnamed-1Before Techweek Friday, we stopped by ikram Chicago, that is right near Blowtiques salon on E. Huron Steet. The stores exterior, interior and visual merchandising sell itself. ikram is more than a store, it's a museum. We loved stopping in and checking out all of the unique displays and beautiful merchandise.Below are pictures at Techweek Chicago during our day on Friday. 

Rachel sat on the Fashion Tech Panel at the SingleHop Stage along side Danielle Drabkin from Pretty Quick, Kara Kaplan from Giftbar, Rida Khan from Style TV and Nicole Staple from Brideside. Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz from The Chicago Tribune mediated the panel and asked insightful questions that engaged that audience. 

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The panel discussion lasted about 40 minutes.  We discussed the issues we see from our mom and pop type clients, their needs and how we fill them.  What it means to give Boutiques a presence online and how important mobile will play with our Businesses.  It was great dialogue, Alexia, from the Chicago Tribune did an awesome job moderating and truly, it was an honor to sit beside such impressive female founders.

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unnamed-1Saturday started our day of visiting stores, with a large list of addresses and gifts to hand out, with Starbucks in our hand, we were ready to pitch!  We visitedScreen Shot 2014-07-09 at 12.14.42 AM about 30 different stores meeting a variety of owners, managers and sales associates. Some of our favorite stores we stopped in included: Marine Layer (Saturday was their Chicago location's opening day), Anastasia, The Green Goddess Boutique and of course one of our very own Styleshack Boutique's on the network, Sofia Live Lovelyunnamedunnamed 

We came across a very classic yet on trend store in the Wicker Park area, called, Helen Yi, this long standing store has boho yet timeless pieces and we adore their sales team!  We think, the shopping experience is always enhanced when the sales team makes you feel at home and super comfortable. Helen Yi does a great job.HELENYI-filtered

Another one of our most favorite stores we pitched, is a great find called, Beyond Boutique!  The owner, Katherine is such a lovely gal. The products are quite trendy yet affordable.  The dressing rooms and whole interior decor are tres chic!  We are thrilled to say, Beyond Boutique is one of our newest stores on the Styleshack network.  Next time you are visiting Chicago, make sure to stop by and check out, Beyond Boutique, located in Buck Town (right outside of Wicker Park).

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unnamed-1All in all, our weekend in Chicago was productive and very much work filled.  We enjoyed being a part of the Fashion Tech Panel for Techweek Chicago and took advantage of the opportunity to get new, shop worthy Boutiques signed up for Styleshack.com!

We feel so fortunate to be living our dream, making it easier, to shop local and unique Boutiques from all over the world!