New Businesses Venture in Despite Rash of Closed Downtown Stores

The complexion of downtown is changing again, with two businesses opening their doors in the wake of five others closing in the last three months.

Amanda Wright, owner of Acorn Portraits, and Anna Bretz, owner of Me Tu Boutique, have taken the two storefronts in the newly renovated at Illinois and Lockport streets. The photo studio is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and by appointment and the clothing store will open by year’s end.

Both owners see downtown as the perfect location for their new ventures, and they may have a better-than-average chance of success in that both women already own successful businesses – Wright in downtown Chicago and Bretz in downtown Morris.

And they’ll not have to deal with one thing that hurt downtown stores and restaurants more than anything in recent history – three years of Route 59 construction that kept customers away from Lockport Street.

Dora Lathrop cites that as a chief contributing factor as to why she'll close Forget-Me-Not Gifts and Home Accents at 24038 Lockport St., by the end of the year.

“The construction problem is what did me in,” Lathrop said.

When she opened in July 2007, she had enough business to allow her to hire staff so she did not have to man the store on her own six or seven days a week. When her customers started dropping off because they were avoiding downtown, she had to let her help go, she said.

“In a nutshell, I just kind of want my life back,” said Lathrop, who plans on getting into real estate. “The thrill is gone for me.”

That the road construction coincided with the economic downturn didn’t help either. Lathrop said, “Right now I’m doing very well, but everything’s 40 percent off right now.”

Forget-Me-Not will soon be joining the Gingerbread Shoppe, a gift and home décor store at 24103 W Lockport St., and Devin’s Hall of Fame, which sold sports memorabilia and trading cards, on the list defunct downtown businesses.

While the former was open for just a few months this summer, the latter had been in business since 1996. Devin owner Devin Turcotte did not return calls for comment.

Stores were not the only businesses to suffer financial problems and close this year. Daddy-O’s, a fast-food/ice cream store at 15102 Fox River St. that opened in 2010 (and previously did business as Mary D’s Ice Cream Parlor for at least six years before that), and Finnegan’s Irish Pub at 24102 W. Lockport St., have “for lease” signs hanging in their windows.

Both owners faced financial problems; Finnegan’s lost its liquor license for failing to pay state taxes.

Wright, who has lived in Plainfield with her husband for four years, said her downtown location is ideal for a portrait studio. And hers is a business that does not rely on foot traffic.

While her Chicago studio does mostly weddings, the Plainfield business will specialize in children, high school graduation and family photography. That said, “I can shoot almost anything,” she said, including commercial editorial work.

"I'm a very natural and sophisticated shooter," Wright said. "With the north-facing windows, the light in here is the best feature (of the space she's leased). ... I'm very family oriented, and I think that it's natural to have to have that 'Main Street' location."

Bretz, too, thinks her business is going to be a natural fit for downtown Plainfield.

She's already had a taste of success in Plainfield -- she's housed a small store for seven months inside , a downtown shop selling antiques and new items. Vintage owner Cassie Van Tassel said Bretz's clothing and accessories were an immediate hit so it's no surprise that she wanted to branch out into her own site.

Bretz thinks so, too. The key, she said, is to offer eclectic items that buyers can't find elsewhere and to display them in a way that customers see something and want the look.

She's been so successful with her displays, she said, that sometimes people want to purchase them as well. Initially, with her Morris business, she would decline people's offers, but now she said she's game to give the customer whatever she wants -- especially because she knows she has an easy supply of new display tables and other items at Vintage.

"I look for (merchandise) things that is different, not something you can find at the mall," Bretz said. "I have a designer who makes things specifically for the store. She's an artist with glasswork and beading."

Bretz said she's going to trying her had at designing in the coming year, working with a seamstress to help her make the items she comes up with, and she may also start working some men's clothing into the store as well.

"It just seems like a good time to expand," she said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Amanda Wright has a child. She does not.