This Year In Store Sidekicks

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With only a few days left in 2009, it's time to look back at a year of dizzying highs and crushing lows, a year when every empty storefront held a pop-up shop and every sidewalk a sample sale line. Folks, it's the annual (three years running!) Racked Recap. All this week and into the next, we'll be reliving our biggest and brightest (and saddest and darkest) moments. Take a deep breath of the sweet, sweet nostalgia with the a look back at our Eighteen Store Sidekicks of 2009

This year was not only a time that we brought you the best and worst of designer collaborations, new store openings and even pants, but we also spent 2009 getting to know the fuzzy and welcoming animals that hang out in some of our favorite stores around the city.

We titled the series "Store Sidekicks", because often these cats and dogs are more than just a cute face in the window; they're companions, mascots, and in some cases the store's logo. We know there's more out there for 2010, but for now we'll settle for the warm fuzzies as we look back on the eighteen we visited in 2009.

In chronological order:

· Ruth at Little Marc
· Bob and Junior at Malin+Goetz
· Hayes and Rainer at Spoonbill & Sugartown
· Henri and Beatrice at Silver Lining Opticians
· Monty at Yoko Devereaux
· Roy at Little Marc
· Marlow, Bowery, Rocco and Zoe at Moo Shoes
· Swatch at Mood Fabrics
· Jolie at Essex Optical
· Tiny Tim at John Bartlett
· Francis at Book Court
· Gary at Bird
· Cameo and Dexter at Epaulet
· Jackson at Dunderdon
· Ludwig von Truffle at Art Since The Summer of '69
· Louis Bastian at Suite Orchard
· Cadillac at Cadillac's Castle
· Pablo and George at Miss Lonelyhearts

· All 2009 Racked Recaps [Racked]