better than fodor's.

There was time when if I had a trip coming up I would head out to the bookstore and buy the city guide that I thought would have the best shopping information (nerd alert). My mother is a big fan of the "Born to Shop" Series...but that's for an older crowd, even though she's pretty inclusive of all areas. But I'm not really always on the lookout for linens or collectibles, so now when time is short I go to the American Apparel Website and find out all the areas where they have stores, and usually I'm good to go. The three areas I visited in Chi-town...all had one...and they were pretty on point. The good thing about this method, as cheesy as it may sound, is that sometimes they stick stores is really random areas, so you get to see some neighborhoods that are a little more local...