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The strategically located furniture throughout the elegant Northbrook Court shopping center—I rarely use it. But when I do fancy a sit-down between, perhaps, Brooks Brothers on one side, the Sharper Image on the other, Marshal Fields behind me, and the AMC multiplex ahead in the distance, I generally find the posh sofa or love seat or recliner too soft or too firm or too big. Nevertheless, that furniture, I’m glad it’s always there.

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