When you can't travel to Germany, you can still visit a piece of it in Lincoln Square. There's a shop dedicated to all things German where you can even conduct business in German if you like. European Import Center has been a fixture in Lincoln Square since the 1970s. The shop's current purveyor, Annemarie Bozic has owned it for the past 16 1/2 years. From the carefully designed windows to the tidy shelves and bright display cases inside, Annemarie makes the store a welcome, cozy place to shop for German gifts.
As you might imagine from the name, European Import Center specializes in imported items from Europe—specifically those brought in from Germany and a few other European countries. Although her merchandise runs the gamut, there's a big focus on handcrafted gifts. Annemarie carries a large selection of traditional crystal and cased crystal in a rainbow of colors, along with elegant pieces in porcelain, sets of cobalt china and stoneware in traditional German patterns like the peacock eye pattern. This deep blue, speckled pottery has been produced in Germany since the 1700s. Annemarie also stocks a beautiful collection of linens for your table and home. She points out a particularly delicate pattern. "This is called the blue onion pattern in Germany," she explains. "The design originally came from the orient hundreds of years ago."
For less delicate drinkers, Annemarie sells a wide collection of traditional German beer steins—some of her most popular items. Rows of different heights, colors, and designs line the shelves behind the counters. When they come in to buy their beer steins, customers can also prepare for Oktoberfest, as the shop also carries trachten accessories such as suspenders, Tyrolean hats, hat pins and the traditional gamsbart, or brush that tops off men's hats.
On the whimsical side, there's a wall full of cuckoo clocks of all shapes and sizes from the Black Forest. And an entire population of garden gnomes lives at the shop. (These are some of Annemarie's favorite items and often play a large role in her shop windows.) There's a fun assortment of "smokers," also known as incense burners in the U.S., with a decidedly German twist. These create elaborate scenes with smoke at their center. "This one is 'The Politician,'" explains Annemarie. "See the politician is speaking at the podium and the smoke comes out of his mouth." European Import Center has dolls in traditional German costume and plush animals from Steiff Company. "Mecki is one of our most popular ones," says Annemarie. "People always ask for him around Christmas." This little hedgehog dressed in country attire has been a favorite in Germany since the 1950s. There are actually a lot of little hedgehogs in her shop, everywhere you look. "There are no hedgehogs in the United States," Annemarie explains matter-of-factly. "They live only in Europe."
Selling a variety of German language magazines and newspapers is another legacy that European Import Center carries on from its original owners. Annemarie gets regular deliveries of the nationwide German weekly Die Zeit, Amerika Woche (which at one time had its offices above the Chicago Brauhaus), Eintracht, and Nordamerikanische Wochenpost. She has a number of regular customers who come in every Tuesday to pick up the latest papers. It's a great way for German-language students to practice their skills, too.
 Collectibles make up a portion of what's available at the European Import Center. Of course she carries a range of items from Goebel, which is famous for its Hummel figurines. She has a few of those, but tends to concentrate on other more interesting Goebel collectibles, such as its Artis Orbis collection that applies the work of famous artists like Jan Vermeer, Gustav Klimt and Monet to beautiful ceramic gifts. Thomas Adam and Stephan Ziege are artists in Berlin who create tabletop items for Goebel such as salt and pepper shakers from whimsical characters like Oki the Elephant and Paul the Portly Penguin. German artist Rosina Wachtmeister designs a line of multicolored ceramic cats for Goebel that are available in the shop. Annemarie has recently brought in a line of ceramic miniatures of famous buildings in Germany, such as the Frauenkirche and Alte Rathaus in Munich. For the holidays, she offers the traditional pyramids that spin from the heat of candlelight. And she also carries a line of hand-carved wooden nutcrackers, candle holders, little wooden figurines and angels from Erzgebirge.
Annemarie didn't set out to be a shop owner, but it seems it was her fate. She grew up in the suburbs of Munich where her mother ran a small store for 25 years. "She had what they call a 'Tante Emma Laden,'" explains Annemarie. "This means 'Auntie Emma's Store.' It's a way to describe a store that sells a little bit of everything. I never dreamed that I'd end up with my own Tante Emma Laden." She came to the US to live in Chicago in 1959.
She grew to know the Lincoln Square neighborhood well and realized how wonderful it was while working as a real estate agent at Tempo Realty on Damen Avenue. When the storefront beside Delicatessen Meyer went up for sale, she had the immediate desire to buy it. "It was a must, being next to Deli Meyer," Annemarie explains. "But once I bought the building, I needed a business to put in it." Her next step was to go to a Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce meeting. She asked around to find out whether anyone had a business for sale. She knew she wanted to run a better business than what had been there previously. "There was a man who had a little shop in the space before me," recalls Annemarie. "He sold cosmetics and a few small things. One time I bought an umbrella from him. When I put it up, it rained right through," she laughs. Finally she found the owner of the European Import Center, who was looking to sell his business. She bought it and moved it from its location on Leland down the street into her newly acquired building. "Most of the display cases that I have in here came from his store," explains Annemarie. "I still have a crystal bell from his inventory that I've never sold. It still has a price tag with his writing on it."
Besides her talents as a shop owner, another trait Annemarie shares in common with her mother is a love for travel. Her mother had a sense of adventure and traveled throughout Europe, which was not so common in the 1930s. Annemarie now travels regularly to trade shows in Germany to buy for the store. The largest and most important show for her is in Frankfurt every year. "The show is absolutely huge," she says. "There are maybe ten different multi-level halls full of merchandise. McCormick Place is peanuts compared to it."
Now Annemarie is looking to pass on the torch to the next generation. "Most of us Germans came to Chicago in the 50s and 60s and we're all getting older now," she says. "I'm looking for someone young to buy the business who wants to keep a German store here." Annemarie has three children, all of whom have taken entrepreneurial paths. Her eldest son has a machine shop in Woodstock, her youngest son is a salesman for a Wisconsin Beverage Company and her daughter owns a liquor store in Chicago. "My mom had her store until she was 69," says Annemarie. "Maybe I should be like my mother and retire at 69 too. I would really like to sell the business to someone who will continue to sell German items."
For now, she'll keep running the business as always. Take advantage of the opportunity to visit this one-of-a-kind business in Lincoln Square with a lot of history behind it. Annemarie offers plenty of ideas for holiday shoppers. She will even help you gift wrap your presents.
European Import Center
4752 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
773.561.8281
Hours
Monday - Wednesday 9:30am to 5:30pm
Thursday 9:30am to 7:00pm
Friday - Saturday 9:30am to 5:30pm
Closed Sunday
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