Shopping Hyde Park has everything for everyday needs and plenty for people who don't have everyday tastes.
Shoppers can find sweet potato pie, hand-woven clothing, African artifacts, CDs, and vintage LPs.
Hyde Park is also the best place to shop for books in Chicago, if not the entire Midwest. Hyde Park booksellers offer new used, classic, foreign, popular, academic, obscure, picture, and pop-up varieties, and there are plenty of coffee shops in which to read and discuss them. Ribs, chicken, and seafood are other popular choices for eating in or taking out. Perhaps the most satisfying way to experience ethnic culture in Chicago is through food, offered up in neighborhood restaurants, delis, and streetcorner vendors. Whether it's chimichangas, dim sum, spanakopita, sauerkraut pierogi, barbecued rib tips, matzo ball soup, or pastrami and rye and good German beer, every neighborhood has its specialty in Chicago.