Shopping in Algonquin

Just around the corner from historic Woodstock Square, the wall-hanging haven of Fox Frame Shop houses a team of edging experts who help clients to navigate more than 1,500 styles of frames and shadowboxes. The professionals outfit diplomas and artwork with conservation-quality materials such as acid-free foam board, UV-blocking glass, and 100% cotton rag mats, ensuring that future generations can appreciate the college degrees and cable bills of their ancestors. The framers can also turn jerseys and needlepoint into hangable art, edge mirrors, and even outline flat-screen televisions with modern or baroque frames, transforming Wheel of Fortune into postmodern art.

In 1952, after years of experience in the nursery industry, Urban Reckamp planted the first seeds of his own horticultural business, Harvard Nursery. Twenty years later, the next generation of Reckamps, Tim and Pam, took over, letting the nursery's success grow through word of mouth, an established reputation in the community, and a stockpile of magic beans. Bringing a bachelor's in horticulture and an education background in design, the third generation, Kevin and Nina Reckamp, sprouted their roots as the new management of the nursery in 2010.

Today, with 60 years of experience under its belt, the nursery offers visitors a plethora of greenery. Its retail garden center blooms with locally grown verdant saplings and effulgent perennials guaranteed to appease the pickiest of garden gnomes. In addition to onsite dealings, its experienced crew can also travel to nearby locations to perform landscape design, enhancement, and maintenance.

After years of working for others in corporate America, owner Karen Thompson enlisted the help of three other like-minded women to form the quartet of bead-savvy experts behind A Beadtiful Thing. With heaps of individual experience designing jewelry, staff help customers sort through the strands of beads that line the sunny shop's walls and wink in the light like an English teacher after an especially good pun. The ladies also angle visitors toward a large table in the store, where they can delve into their own projects or participate in classes in basic or more obscure techniques that incorporate leather or chainmaille in addition to shimmery baubles.

Over Art & Company’s more than 27-year history, its knowledgeable employees have placed approximately 500,000 paintings onto customers’ walls. They aim to consult with every customer before making a thoughtful, personalized recommendation from their stash of more than 10,000 elegant oil paintings and thousands of frames. Their goal is to bring out each customer's creativity by matching them all with perfect paintings and frames.

Now operating out of its warehouse location after a fire claimed its Lincoln Park showroom, Roy's Furniture props up an extensive collection of home furnishings. Knowledgeable staff members guide patrons through a variety of custom-fabric options and upholstery sizes to revamp rooms for adults, children, and subleasing gummi bears. Eco-friendly mattresses, tables, sofas, and other heavy lifts can be delivered to homes or retrieved at the warehouse.

The florists at City Enchanted Gardens partner with FTD to speedily deliver their fetchingly designed bouquets and artfully arranged centerpieces to locations and special events throughout the city. For in-store clientele, they stock their downtown shop with a broad spectrum of blooms, from exotic birds of paradise to cheerful sunflowers, as well as seasonal plants, such as winter's crimson poinsettia and spring's fire-breathing snap dragons.

For those clients who choose to have their flowers delivered, the hard-working florists ensure that last-minute sentiments for parties, weddings, and police lineups arrive promptly, with same-day delivery available every day. The welcoming shop also hosts classes that instruct in the art of arranging seasonal décor and professional bouquet wraps.