When you walk past the T-Shirt Deli on Damen Avenue, at first, you might think you’ve discovered a new lunch spot.
But as you step inside, you’ll soon realize you’ve walked into a very different kind of deli, one that sells T-shirts instead of food.
“I actually didn't even think that would ever happen, but it happens a lot," said T-Shirt Deli owner Ninel Pompushko. "Some people come in confused and then disappointed. So we always yell, 'We have chips!'"
Pompushko opened the T-Shirt Deli in 2003 after she designed t-shirts for Pride that sold out.
Carolina Garibay
“And all of a sudden I thought, 'I would love to open a T-shirt store where I could sell funny phrases,'" she said “The idea of the deli was born where nothing gets made unless somebody asks for it, if somebody wants it, just like a sandwich in a deli.”
It works just like a traditional deli, too, but instead of making a sandwich, you’re making a T-shirt.
“You choose your T-shirt or hat, and then you put the toppings on, which is either lettering or your design," she said.
Then, you choose your colors and "we make it here and wrap it up in butcher paper with a bag of chips and put it into a doggie bag.”
Carolina Garibay
Pompushko said people come up with all sorts of designs, from Chicago-specific phrases, to sports sayings, to inside jokes.
Whatever the occasion, she said she hopes the T-Shirt Deli both provides customers with a fun, unique gift-buying experience and leaves them feeling like they “got gift for someone that they can't wait for them to open.”
“I want people to come in and make gifts that that they are proud to give, and that are that really say, 'I know you, I listen to you, I know what you like'" she said. "I'd like for them to leave with knowing that you know we help them kind of make their gift idea come to life.”
