Beyond the Limit

I was once young and silly enough to shop at this place. The last time I did was in 2009 and was treated by Ann (the proprietor) like shit and the shop manager bearing a «skullet» (that is bald on top and long in the back. Think Ronnie James Dio but more extreme) was just as sarcastic and ill mannered towards me as she was. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, this place was hoppin’ with business. That’s because it was the only shop like it for miles and miles. We had no choice. The prices are outrageous. The staff are disrespectful. The selection is way worse than the Alley on Clark and Belmont. I’ve moved away from Chi-​town and thank GOD I don’t have to deal with this lousy shop anymore. For the life of me, I don’t know how it stays in business.

Ever since I discovered this place, it’s one of the few go to places for my rock and roll/​hard rock/​metal shopping. I’ve been coming to this place for many years now, I would say at least a good 8 years (boy am I old). If you’re wondering what they carry here, they have your standard music t-​shirts not just from rock artists but reggae and a few rap artists as well, metal artists and more. They also have pop culture shirts and random funny shirts too. They carrie hoodies, baby clothing for your mini rocker, wallets, jewelry, piercings, zippos, posters, magazines, hair dyes, music flags and even hookahs. Some of the other things I come here for are their great incense selection, candles, fragrance oils and warmers, magick candles, votives and tealight candles, and pretty badass incense burners too. Don’t forget about the music and pop culture merch they have here like mugs, action figures, cool gismos and toys and more. They also pierce you here if you decide to get pierced in a private room, I’ve had a friend get an industrial piercing here a few years ago. Though this place carries extremely underground music, this place is more known now for their merch and accessories. I listen to a lot of music and when I came here and checked out their music selection, I still have a lot more bands to discover. I wanna say they buy CD’s here too? Not sure, I’d call. I was just here last week, and the store always has a nice atmosphere, definitely in a different league than crappy hot topic and even better than overpriced Rolling Stones next door.

I wish I read previous reviews about this place. It would have saved me a lot of pain and $ 50. This lady is pretty delusional. She is so confident that everything she does is perfect. My piercing was so crooked. And both my friend’s belly button piercing and my own got infected… worst pain of my life. I let it heal but it healed so crooked and scarred that I had to take it out. Wish I went to an actual professional.

I will say that this place actually got one star. I’m not saying that it should have been zero stars and the one star is a default, so I’m conceding in saying that that single star is legitimate. With that said, I hate this place. I really really really hate this place. I think the last time I went there and didn’t want to throw a cheap piece of shitty rock «memorabilia» at the cashier on my way out was when the first two numbers of the year started with a 19**. I think it was for when my sister used my ID when I turned 18 (she was like 15) so she could get her nips pierced (which had to be re-​done by a REAL professional, btw).
Secondly, get a website. I can’t believe that a speciatility shop in this day in age, still does their online promotion of their company through that archaic social networking site Myspace.
Now days the only reason I venture into this hellhole neighborhood to visit this hellhole store is for their music selection. I gave them that lonely yellow star because it’s the only place in the area that I could have counted on for having a large selection of Psychobilly. I’m sure they know this because everything is horribly overpriced. I’m not ok with spending $ 15+ for a used cd that I could buy new online with shipping included for ¹⁄₃ less (which is what I will be doing from here on out). Lastly, don’t count on them having a specific album, the selection is erratic and in this case they didn’t have the album I was looking for (and was unable to find online).
A side note, they don’t have a public washroom so make sure you keep that in mind when you go there to spend your money on their overpriced wares… yup, they’re really appreciative of your business…

I was in high school, young & dumb. Got a cartilage piercing, which was done with a gun. Now of course I am older and wiser but at the time I had no idea what was what so it seemed okay. Eh, no. Not to mention they trained people to do piercings who could barely tie their shoes. I dont trust people with sharp objects around me, especially if they look clueless.
The magazine section went down hill completely and if I wanted to ONLY find magazines where my exes band from Europe is in, I’d stay here all day. No thank you.
The music selection stinks, the shirts are meh. And not to mention the jewelery section used to be much bigger. Now its just crap.
I’m honestly surprised that Hot Topic in the mall hasn’t put this place out of business. Maybe the people who shop here also avoid Hot Topic thinking if they shop at H.T. they will be posers… but…well…yeah. No comment.

I’m a sucker for cool t-​shirts and rock paraphernalia. Throw in a body piercer and mini head shop and I regress into adolescent heaven. Nothing like a little incense and manic panic to bring back the good olé days!
The help is surprisingly helpful for a store of this sort and there’s a good selection of music, hoodies, onesies, magnets and lunchboxes as well. Need any Betty Boop or Elvis crap? They got that too.
They tend to stay open late, but the hours are irregular so you might want to call first.

All the stars are for their INCREDIBLE, eclectic selection of CDs. Everything from 80’s goth and deathrock to several genres of punk (including quite a few rarities) to tons of black metal. I don’t actually *buy* CDs too often (heh) but if I did, this is where I’d always go.
Don’t let this information mislead you, however, seeing as beyond their CD display the place looks like a Spencer’s circa 1999… Think Limp Bizkit dogtags, glow-​in-​the-​dark posters of pot leaves and ICP-​everything. I quite like this juxtaposition, though, seeing as I find their tacky wares hilarious. Good place to go kill some time when it gets too boring up in Dunning (which is um, always…)
Cheapest Special Effects hairdye I’ve found anywhere, too, but call in first to see if they have the color you want in stock.
NEVER GET PIERCED HERE, THOUGH. JUST SUCK IT UP, PAY A COUPLE EXTRA BUCKS AND GO SOMEWHERE LEGIT. THAT DOESN’T MEAN JADE DRAGON, EITHER.
*ahem* That is all.

standard head shop, but light on the hippie crap and a GREAT selection of obscure tee shirts. ARMY OF DARKNESS? IRON MAIDEN? WHERE IS MY VISA.

I’ll admit, I was young and stupid once upon a time and chose to get my 2^nd set of lobe piercings done here. Bad idea. Other than the fact that they used a gun to do so, the lady really had no business doing piercings.
I remember while looking at jewelry (for my industrial) one of the workers described it as «male» and «female» instead of internally threaded and externally threaded, so «did you want the bar to be male or the ball to be male?» was what I was asked.
Again, I was young and stupid and knew nothing about piercings. I would never get pierced here. I would never go to Jade Dragon. In fact, there’s 2 places in the city I’d go to, and that’s it.
Shirts can be over-​priced, but I remember they always had a nice selection of magazines. When I wanted a drum magazine (such as Drum) and didn’t feel like going to Guitar Center, if I was in the area I’d go here and pick up some.
I think everything is over-​priced here (kind of like The Alley), but considering a majority of the clientel are high schoolers going through some phase (yeah, I said it, a PHASE) they’ll pay it. It is fun to look at some of the ridiculous things they have though.

I got my cartilage pierced here. They take you into a little room in the back and have you sit in a dentist type chair, it’s kind of creepy at first haha. It’s really not cheaper than getting your cartilage pierced at Jade, I spent about $ 60 with a gold hoop earring starter. Great experience though, minus the fact she had a baby problem while trying to get the earring on and I was nice and bleeding for a while but haven’t had a problem with it since.
They’ve got jewelry, cloves, Salvia (at least they used to sell it), pipes, t-​shirts and hair dye. I’d honestly recommend Sally’s though if you want to find some extreme hair dye that’s of better quality or more permanent… but they do have some neat colors.
They never seem to have the same people working there and when you come in they’re always screwing around online etc. so go figure. Even if you’re not looking for anything in particular it’s a fun store to window shop in.

I’ve been a customer of Beyond the Limit for years. I’ve gotten many piercings by the woman who owns the shop, I think her name was Annie? Not sure. Anyways, they’ve got new people at the counter all the time lol they must change workers as often as the toilet paper runs out. … That’s a stupid correlation but it’s all I could think of. Doesn’t even matter.
Anyways, yeah, good place to go.
Unless you want to get a piercing and you’re claustrophobic.

The lady 2^nd owner she’s great had a laugh while she was repiercing my monroe and talking about guys and her exhusband who is the 1^st owner. I love this place sells everything for anybody incense, cds, tshirts, pipes, cigarettes, get piercied, even hair dye.

The only record store with a Psychobilly section in the Chicago area. Metal, Punk and Ska are also available. Band t-​shirts, head-​shop fair etc…
Anyone looking for Psychobilly CDs this is the place for you.

Yeah yeah yeah, they sell bongs and pipes. Now that that’s out of the way, there really is more to this place than it being Ye Olde Neighborhood Head Shoppe. The minimal, but excellent, collection of Cds they carry is worth the trip to the Limit on it’s own. Occasionally they’ve got some interesting vinyl or live show bootlegs too.
If you’re not into music or weed (who the fuck are you then?) check out their stock of punk, rock and comic t-​shirts, body jewelery and incense. At the counter in the back they sell a range of tabacco products, including strange and quirky cigarette brands, hookahs, pipes, tobacco and rolling papers.
Whenever Christmas rolls around I almost always end up knocking a couple people off my life at Beyond the Limit.

I give this a store an A for effort, even though I haven’t bought anything from here in 2 years. If you are looking to pick up a Metal, punk, comic, or novelty shirt, give this place a shot. This is like the Northwest side’s answer to the Alley, way smaller though, but not too bad. You can pick up some 420 supplies here, though thats not my thing. They also have some punk and hippy jewelry, spiked wristbands and the like. You can find a smaller selection of punk, metal and alt cds here too. There is a good supply of some novelty stuff, like a kiss diorama or a James Brown bobble head. I stop by at least once a month, to find something goofy, like I said, I haven’t bought anything in years.

Not a bad place, has a lot of fun stuff. The only complaint I have is when my friend got her tongue pierced there about 5 years ago. the guy (who i think is the owner) was kind of pervy and creepy… Plus that room was tiny.

Very cool place. They have many different types of earrings. They also have alot of posters of muscial artists and famous people. The piercing are cheap there and come out great.

This place is like an unheard of Spencers-​type gift, gag, and record shop. You’ll find unusual jewelry, many varieties of incense, tons of radical gear, and much more. It’s a very unusual but much welcomed shopping experience. This is also a great place to check out if you’re the type that likes punk hair dye.

A cool place for collectibles and gifts. They also carry local band CDs. They got some funny and radical t shirts. I recommend browsing through this store. Take a break from shopping down the street and support these little guys!