Business Notes MEMORIES

History is on sale in the Windy City. Although the Water Tower, which survived the Great Fire of 1871, still stands safely on Michigan Avenue, many of / Chicago's less conspicuous landmarks -- from dime parking meters to 40-year- old ballot boxes -- can now be bought at the first City of Chicago Store. Half a block away from city hall on Randolph Street, the shop, run by the city's tourism council, offers obsolete pieces of Chicago, which would otherwise wind up on the scrap heap, along with the expectable assortment of posters and T shirts. Working traffic signals sell for $125, manhole covers go for $100, and $75 will buy a ballot box -- unstuffed. Most popular item: street signs for $35.