Norridge Boutique: Selling Made in USA Merchandise
Eva DeFilippis of Elmwood Park has wanted to find space to open a boutique for some time.
The graduate of Trinity High School in River Forest has a background in clothing.
“My dad was a tailor and owned a clothing store,” DeFilippis said. “We kept some of the fixtures from that store, and now those racks are in this store.
“It’s like he’s here with us,” she said with a smile.
DeFilippis’ Deva Salon, now in its third incarnation, is a couple of doors down from Boutique3, in the same plaza.
“I never seemed to have the space for the boutique,” she said. “I first opened (Deva Salon) 14 years ago near Irving Park Road and Cumberland.
“I moved into a larger space (in Regency Plaza) and again to an even larger space,” she said. “But I still didn’t have the room.
“So when this place was available, I thought this would be perfect.”
Joining Esposito and DeFilippis in this venture is DeFilippis’ sister-in-law, Geralyn.
Esposito, a surgical assistant by trade and friends with the DeFilippis women, said she always wanted to be her own boss.
“Owning my own business has been a vision for me, a goal,” Esposito said. “But it’s so hard to start a business.”
She finds the boutique to be a godsend.
“Monday through Friday, I’m a surgical assistant,” she said. “Saturday and Sunday, I’m here.
“I love this so much. It’s so wonderful.”
Among the reasons the women find the shop so rewarding, they said, is they can bring to the area quality fashions at reasonable prices compared to other, similar stores in the surrounding communities. And a lot of the products in competing shops, they said, are made abroad, with China dominating the labels.
Eva DeFilippis said her inspiration to open Boutique3 was the lack of choices for one-of-a-kind clothing in the area.
“No woman wants to look like everyone else,” she said. “In the 1980s, we used to shop boutiques.
“Then something happened, and the little specialty stops disappeared,” she noted. “We want to bring back that unique shopping experience.”
Esposito agreed.
“Even though we haven’t been open that long, we have quite a few customers who say this shop is so convenient,” she noted. “And more and more people are looking at the label to see if it was made here.”
Boutique3
5050 N. Cumberland Ave. in Regency Plaza, Norridge
(708) 456-1230
www.SalonDevaBoutique3.com
Specializes in affordable fashions made in the United States
Hours: 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Hours to expand during the summer season; adding mother-of-the-bride dresses in the fall
Closed Monday
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