A favorite store of mine that used to be in downtown Chicago back in the 90’s was Tender Buttons. Unfortunately, it went out of business about 6 years ago. It was such an amazing little store, stuffed to the brim with all kinds of unique and ordinary buttons. Having been a textiles major in college, I would drool over places like this and I was able to visit and purchase a few buttons there. The last 10 years of being a divorced single mom left me too busy to pull out the sewing machine or craft supplies, but I’m starting to get that itch again.
Imagine my delight when I came across a website for a store in NYC by the same name at http://tenderbuttons-nyc.com/ The website has some photos and a history of the store. The late Diana Epstein, an editor for Funk & Wagnall’s Encyclopedia, bought a closed button store in 1964 on East 77th Street on a whim and turned it into Tender Buttons. Millicent Safro, an antique restorer soon after became a partner. In 1965, the shop moved to its present location at 143 East 62nd Street in New York City. Check it out if you’re in the area.
The photo below is of the Chicago Store back in the day…
Tender Buttons Store, Chicago, Illinois
Photo credit: Atelier Teee / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/atelier_tee/50635210/”>Atelier Teee</a> / <a href=”http://foter.com”>Foter</a> / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>CC BY-NC-ND</a>
Serendipitous Cookery 
Great photo of an iconic landmark!
When I saw the headline I thought it was the New York shop, I love that shop. What a pity your local one had gone.
hello there, I love your blog it is nice to read what other people are doing and experiencing. I still have to work how to do a link page on wordpress, I will link you when I know how
Thanks Tessa! I am far behind on posting on mine. Just returned from a 2 week trip to visit my daughter in Germany, so will have lots to talk about!
Marcia. It is something wrong with the link after the photo.
I will have to check into it this afternoon, thanks Victor!
I have been to Tender Buttons in New York! I love that store.
I was reminded of this store when I came across some unique buttons I’d purchased there, but had never used. Every December, I attended a convention in Chicago, and always made time to visit Tender Buttons. Row after row of wonderful temptation.