Alice and Wonder opens new River North location ahead of holiday season

CHICAGO - A Chicago boutique has expanded with a new location in River North just in time for the holidays.

Alice and Wonder opened its fourth location at 611 N. State St. in late October after nearly 10 years of business.

"I love walking into a store and really feeling that holiday magic," said owner Ali Reff.

Reff opened her first location in Lincoln Park. She has since opened a store in Lake View with a children's boutique, Mini Wonder, on the same street.

"It was super important to me to curate really fun and bright and happy items from glassware to candles. One of my favorite items is one of these, "Greetings from Chicago" glasses. It has all the Chicago icons, but they're holidified," she said.

The store is all about Chicago icons year round. Although that wasn't part of the original vision.

"I went on vacation and I bought a sweatshirt from somewhere that had the big city name on it and I thought, they don't have this for Chicago. We need to create it. So I came home and created our first sweatshirt and it's been that way ever since," Reff said.  

There are Chicago wall hangings and t-shirts and Christmas ornaments and hats. In fact, there's a wall of hats.

"We have become a little bit of a hat bar. And what you do to make your experience super unique, is take a hat, pick a patch and we can press it on for you right here at the location," Reff said.

The patches include Chicago hot dogs, 312, the Bean, and much more.

"It's just a great way to make your hat feel personal, and it's the perfect holiday gift," Reff said.