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LOGAN SQUARE — A home goods and gift shop from a local maker has opened in the heart of Logan Square, selling handmade plant pots, candles and other “things to make you smile.”
Pixie & The Boy has taken over a long-vacant storefront at 2605 N. Milwaukee Ave. sandwiched between Reno and Webster’s Wine Bar. The shop is having a soft opening 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday. Saturday is the grand opening.
Owner Trish Carnevale has decided to strike out on her own just a few months after opening a shared plant and gift shop with a friend a less than a half-mile away. That shop — Terracotto Plants and Pixie & The Boy at 3056 W. Diversey Ave. — blended Carnevale’s housewares with former business partner Cotto’s house plants. But now, Carnevale and Cotto are focused on their own shops.
“We both got together to open a shop because we were afraid to do it on our own,” Carnevale said. “Once we got in there and started working, and we saw how successful it was, we were both like, ‘Hey, I don’t know what we were afraid of.’ … As time went on, we both realized we wanted our own shops.”
Credit: ProvidedPixie & The Boy is a reflection of Carnevale, a Logan Square resident who has sold handmade accessories and housewares online for a few years under the same moniker.
The 900-square-foot shop carries Carnevale’s handmade plant pots and jewelry, along with home goods and accessories made by other local makers, from candle holders and pillows to glassware and wrapping paper. Carnevale said everything in the shop is something she owns or wishes she owned.
Once settled, Carnevale plants to hold do-it-yourself craft workshops centered around making candles, macrame plant hangers, jewelry and more. She’s also talking to maker friends about hosting other events, including ones revolving around screen-printing and cake decorating.
“Every time I meet a new maker, I’m going to offer up my shop for them to do classes,” she said.
Pixie & The Boy will fill a hole left by the now-closed gift and housewares store Shop 1021, Carnevale said. The independently owned shop, just a short walk away from Pixie & The Boy at 2650 N. Milwaukee Ave., closed last year because of the pandemic.
“I think we need something like this in the neighborhood,” Carnevale said. “Shop 1021 was my go-to place for gifts and home goods. But since that closed down, there hasn’t been a shop like that in the neighborhood.”
Carnvale said opening her own shop in Logan Square is meaningful on a personal level. She and her family live in Logan Square and her son — the “boy” in Pixie & The Boy — goes to a neighborhood school.
“Now, I’m a business owner in Logan Square, and I couldn’t think of a better neighborhood to be in, and I’m so excited,” she said.
Pixie & The Boy is open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
Credit: ProvidedListen to “It’s All Good: A Block Club Chicago Podcast” here:
