Duluth Holdings Inc. CEO Stephanie Pugliese will travel to Chicago Thursday to cut ribbons at two Duluth Trading Company stores in the Windy City.

The first is located in Hoffman Estates at 5190 Hoffman Boulevard, and the second in Downers Grove at 2966 Finley Road.

“Chicagoland is a big first for Duluth,” said Pugliese.  “It is the first time we have opened two stores back-to-back in a new region. Hoffman Estates is also our first build-to-suit store and it will serve as a prototype for other store locations.”

The grand opening of the Hoffman Estates store will take place on Thursday, September 15, and the Downers Grove location will celebrate the following day on Friday, September 16.  Each store will host several events to celebrate their respective grand openings. At both locations, there will be an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. Central Time, with Pugliese on hand to do the honors. At both noon and 5 p.m. Central Time there will be a BBQ buffet and lumberjack show to welcome customers to the Hoffman Estates and Downers Grove stores.

Duluth Holdings’s sales rose 27.4 percent in the quarter ended July 31 compared with a year earlier, thanks in part to heavy spending on advertising.