I had heard about the Randolph Street Market before and had it on my ‘things I want to do list’ but had just never gotten around to it. When Meredith told me that she was thinking of going on Sunday, I figured I might as well go too!
The market is advertised as a few different things…a vintage market, antique market and indie designer market. It is once a month (I think) and is both indoors and outdoors. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I read really mixed reviews on yelp…some people seemed to love it and find great stuff and others thought it was really overpriced.
Mer and I took two buses to get there because I also read on yelp that parking was nonexistent or really expensive. The second bus that we got on had about 4 guys singing gospel–and loudly. At first I thought ‘oh whatever, it is kinda cool’ and definitely not something that you hear everyday. But, 1. they weren’t very good at all and after a few minutes of the really loud singing, I got kind of annoyed, because really how is that different than someone coming on and playing music really loudly? I think it is more just the principal that on a super packed bus most people keep to themselves and mind their own business instead of making a ton of noise and attracting attention to themselves. It’s not like you can really ask them to stop because as Mer and I talked about after, what kind of person is going to ask someone to stop singing about Jesus? We sure weren’t. I made a SIASC (smoothie in a solo cup) for the road, so at least that kept me occupied. It contained frozen berries, frozen 2/3 of a banana, xantham gum, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 scoop protein powder and cereal mixed in.
After our religious bus ride, we just had to walk a few blocks to the entrance. Strike 1 against the market is that it costs 10 dollars to get in. I can see why they charge because they need to make some money, but 10 is pretty steep, I think 5 would be more reasonable. But I sucked it up and paid while cursing myself for losing my (expired) student ID–I think it is a lot cheaper with one.
Right when we walked in, I realized it was going to take us awhile to get through everything–no problem there! There was a center aisle with food and music with 2 rows on one side and 3 on the other. Each ‘row’ had booths on both sides and this was just outside. Mer and I worked out which way we wanted to go and started off. It looked to me like everything was pretty much jumbled together–clothes, jewelry, antiques, house stuff, etc. We saw a lot of cool stuff and I especially loved a ton of random decor items but a lot of it was way overpriced. Here are some highlights:
Wouldn’t those be fun bar glasses? It was a full set numbered 1-24, but I couldn’t really justify spending almost 80 bucks on them–especially because I had already made a few other purchases. I really love them though!
I thought this giant W would be a cool thing for my parents to own, but then I checked the price..$200. Darn.
Pretty chair!
Old School Cookbooks!
Some great shoe storage! Would be cool in a front hall way.
Loved these guys! But the set was 100 and the seller wasn’t budging on price 
. I also thought they would be funny to own since I’m terrified of birds in real life (minus the really tiny harmless ones).
Beads galore!
Lovin the color!
Check out a close up of the above chair…it is made entirely of beads! Can you imagine how long that would take?
I spy Mer and her new purse!
The above booth was cool because they used potato sacks (or that material at least) for signs, pillows, etc. I actually saw this at a bunch of booths so I am guessing it is pretty popular right now. I saw some chair cushions upholstered in that way too. Most of these particular booths said no pics but I didn’t realize at the time mwahahhaa. They would probably be super simple (and cheap!) to diy.
It took us a few hours to get through everything, but it was well worth it.
Now, for the most important part…what I bought!
I got 3 purses for a grand total of 30 dollars!
The first one was 20 bucks and the other two were actually 2.50 each! Not too bad…I plan on fixing up the last one a bit. I saw another purse I wanted towards the end but I had to restrain myself as I couldn’t really justify buying 4 purses in the span of an hour. I also saw a really cool polka dot dress with matching coat that was straight out of Mad Men but it was selling for 150 so I had to let it go (after staring longingly at it for a solid 10 minutes).
Last but not least is….
One of the turquoise tables! Now my new nightstand. I needed a new table anyways because mine was water stained and I loved the color of this one. Plus at only 35 bucks, it seemed like a great deal! It looks good with the black/white color scheme in my room…I can’t show you a pic of the whole room because it is too messy right now.
All in all, I loved the market. Yes, a lot of stuff was definitely overpriced but I left with a lot of great purchases and didn’t feel like I had spent an obscene amount of money for the amount of stuff that I got. Plus it was something fun and different to do on a Sunday (it is also open on Saturday). I will most definitely be back and if you are in the Chicago area, I highly recommend giving the market a try! You never know what you might find.
Are you a fan of vintage/antique shopping? I have nightmares of my parents making me go to antique store after antique store as a child. Ugh it was horrible. But now I can see why they wanted to go because I love it!
Katie
