Italian "lifestyle" brand Culti is opening its first stateside flagship store in September, WWD reported today. The 1000-square-foot space will alight on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and will feature Culti's designs and products for interiors as well as clothing and cosmetics.

So why would a chi-chi Italian brand that hit it big in the fragrance diffuser market 20 years ago, and with stores in Milan, Saint Moritz and London's Harvey Nichols, open its fourth location in the Midwest? Founder Alessandro Agrati thinks Chicago "is a great, effervescent city to start with." Effervescent, huh? Bubbly?

"Obviously in the future we will roll out to other big American cities," Agrati said. Good to hear. Us right-coasters were starting to feel left out.