Chicagoland Hobby used to have a booth at the DuPage / Wheaton show, and I bought many things from them at very good prices. They stopped selling there when the show was sold in the early 2000s.
Long before that (late 70s / early 80s), when they were located in the Arcade in Downtown Chicago, a work colleague and I killed many a lunchtime in the store. He was into military models and kits, and they sold many.
A nice thing about the store on NorthWest Highway was that it was barely a block from the Norwood Park Metra station, so you could reach the store from anywhere on the Metra system. I did that a number of times from my "home station", further out on the same line. It was great to avoid the vehicle traffic on the expressways.
Sadly, all things must pass. Good luck in retirement!
