For museumgoers who savor nothing more than a trip to the gift shop, the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s new pop-up shop may inspire some sticker shock. A hair dryer costs $291, and the bottled water has been marked up 2,000 times. A store–exhibit hybrid, Loop Value: The How Much Does It Cost? Shop reveals the hidden costs of the products that we buy every day: Though that hair dryer may have a sticker price of $21, it really costs a total of $291 over 10 years, largely because of the electricity needed to power it. You may not go home with a funky set of museum-approved measuring cups, but you’ll likely gain an appreciation for how price tags only tell part of the story. Through 2012. • architecture.org
