pubblicazioni

The Pleasure of Being Enthusiastic

È la traduzione di un articolo scritto da due giornalisti italiani su Chicago

di Natalia Nebel

Introduction preceding Chicago piece (page 1)

The Pleasure of Being Enthusiastic

Mamma mia, we’re terribly depressed. We aren’t conscious of this, truly conscious, until we’re faced with our opposite: an enthusiastic human being. Happy with their work, the people they spend their time with, the place they live. We realized this during our recent, brief mission in Chicago (summary on page 32): a crazy whirlwind of meetings with people happy to be living their lives, professionals and non-professionals alike. Let it be clear that this isn’t an example of the proverbial Northern European “good life” consisting of welfare, goodwill, taxes paid to the very nth cent and a few rare smiles. What we found in the capital of Illinois is true happiness: a mix of cheerfulness, practicality, simplicity and, perhaps most importantly, a strong, secular sense of belonging to a larger community. From the retailing trade’s top managers to those all the way down the line. The right to happiness is written into the 1776 American Declaration of Independence. But an article of law isn’t enough to change the mood of an entire people (if you don’t believe that, try asking D’Alema and Berlusconi to launch a new bicameral). For our part, the little we can do is testify that another frame of mind is possible. All that remains is for us to invite you to try it, for the good of your being and, why not? your business.

Article pages 36-37

WHERE COMMERCE IS MAGNIFICENT

We toured three of the most important commercial districts in Chicago, city generating 17% of US retail sales – from the high fashion of the “Magnificent Mile,” to the Loop of businessmen and students, to the creativity of Lincoln Park. Where the merchant associations have much to teach.

Chicago may be considered the capital, not only of Illinois, but of the

Midwest, where a third of the US GDP is generated. Crossed by 42 train lines,

by the two airports described in the previous pages (servicing around 90 million passengers between the two of them, connecting to 148 North American cities and 68 world capitals) and by two of the three coast-to-coast highways, it is considered North America’s distribution hub. Some data: 12.5 million containers pass through every year, 46 million visitors, 17% of US retail sales, America’s third most popular tourism destination, especially internal and business tourism.

Chicago has a number of quite distinct commercial areas. We visited three with the help of Italian-American business lawyer Charles Bernardini, of the law firm Ungaretti & Harris. The districts are: the Magnificent Mile, the State Street district, and the Lincoln Park area. Bernardini, in addition to being president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Chicago and the United States Chamber of Commerce of Milan, also works to facilitate the arrival of Italian businesses to the area, continuing to assist them once they are established. He has no doubts about the benefits our Italian brands would reap by operating in the Midwest, because of the area’s growing demographic, a competitive labor market in terms of cost and flexibility, the many incentives offered, the low cost of transport and energy, and above all because Italy maintains an image that is well-known. An investigation conducted by the Piepoli Institute with United States ‘decision maker’ revealed that the best known Italian products are foodstuffs, wine, footwear, cars, clothing, accessories, fashion, furniture, all associated with an image of quality, design, originality, high price, and status symbol. And according to a study by Investar-Unicredit, 90% of Americans would increase the percentage of their purchases of Italian products if post-sale services were more reliable.

North Michigan Avenue

The Loop

Lincoln Park

Although a walk through the Magnificent Mile and the Loop leaves a person wide-eyed, the presence of brands that one would find in Europe and even Italy can’t be denied; the view along Armitage Street, in the residential area of Lincoln Park, is by comparison a real discovery.

Here we toured 12 stores, accompanied by a large delegation. The ward alderman Michele Smith was present, along with the representative of the Chamber of Commerce, Loren Dinneen, and also a broker, a store owner (Laura Kofoid of Laudi Vidni) and an interpreter. During the tour we saw a significant number of new concepts and we spoke with business owners. We began with the hamburger restaurant Butcher & the Burger and then moved on to Tabula Tua, which sells craft objects from all over the world (since 1994). Next in line was Laudi Vidni and its made to order leather purses, inspired by a series of models designed by store namesake Laudi Vidni: “We want to go from hearing the phrase, “I like that handbag, but,” to “I like that handbag,” store owner Laura Kofoid told us. Lill Studio, a little further along the street, has a similar concept, always along the theme of purses, which are assembled in three stages that are outlined with great clarity in explanatory placards. Our tour continued and went on to include the handmade chocolates of Vosges Haut Chocolate (present also at O’Hare airport with a corner) and the brilliant point-of-sale store Paper Source, specializing in gift-wrapping paper and stationary. There is also space for special niche, high fashion (Cynthia Rowley) and for a few national chains of fashion ware (Intermix from New York) along with international ones (like Benetton, which here is positioned higher in the marketplace than in Italy). But above all, original ideas and innovations from young people abound. For example, Lululemon was created by a handful of young Canadians who were passionate about yoga and who, a few years ago, had the idea of creating a yoga centered line of clothing, which they have now extended to other sports. Or the two friends behind the café Topics, which hosts rotating art installations and has among its innovative points the possibility of renting two different rooms for meetings, at moderate prices. Sociability, in fact, is one of the neighborhood’s strongest assets, and can be seen in the high levels of participation that workshops organized by the stores Paper Source and Lululemon enjoy.

“We give assistance to people who want to open a business in the neighborhood,” Alderman Michele Smith tells us, “putting them in contact with the appropriate building landlords. We want to favor the creation of unique stores that give an identify to the neighborhood,” which is affluent and can even boast of having “Chicago’s best theater.” One of the ways potential retailers get assistance: there is a commitment to making sure that licenses may be obtained in a short period of time. For example, barring unusual circumstances, a couple of weeks would suffice for a clothing store. F.P.

Chicago, Inside the legend (Pages 32-33, an excerpt)

It is the third busiest airport in the world, after having been the first for many years.

Chicago’s O’Hare is recognized the world over as a reference point for food in retail travel and for entertainment as well. However, it offers opportunity to retailers, including Italian ones, because fashion here is almost absent.

CHICAGO - Tuesday, June 12, 16:00, Terminal 3 of Chicago’s O’Hare airport.

They are about to cut the ribbon of a new “vodka bar” of HmsHost, Ice Bar.

Speaking is the “commissioner” of the two airports of Midwestern cities,

Rosemarie Andolino. Wearing a viola tailleur, little more than forty years old, her smile and enthusiasm contagious. She thanks the head of the Department of Aviation of the City of Chicago (airport owner), the president and CEO of HmsHost of North America, Thomas Fricke, and the two journalists who have arrived from Italy, “with whom we exchanged some interesting ideas.”

It’s the climax of a day in which retail&food was able to take an exclusive guided tour of both Chicago’s airports, O’Hare (67 million passengers, the third in the

world for traffic) and Midway (18 million), in the ambit of a press tour organized by the City of Chicago (see the articles in the following pages). Between morning and afternoon the most senior representatives of the airport and the

North American division of HmsHost were involved for a total of fifteen people.

At the end of the day, two pieces of information stood out in particular: restaurants in both hubs are a global reference point for the airport sector, but retail is still under-developed, given that the majority of stores present are newsstands/book stores selling gifts. There is news, however, relayed by Commissioner Andolino in person: the airport wants to increase the number of its spaces dedicated to retail and fashion accessories, taking as a model the largest European hubs. And Italian brands are invited to come forward, because on the other side of the ocean Made in Italy is more than ever synonymous with quality and style.

altri racconti di Natalia Nebel

In addition to the four novels I've written, my short stories and translations have been published in a variety of magazines, including Triquarterly, Chicago Quarterly Review, Seems, ELM, Greene Magazine, Primavera, Free Verse Magazine, Fifth Wednesday, Prague Review, and Great Lakes Review. I've had the pleasure of writing book reviews for Chicago's Newcity and Another Chicago magazine, and articles of mine on Italian cultural events can be found in i-Italy. I've had a short story nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and my novel FALLING was a finalist in the John Heekin Unpublished Novels contest.