Ten Thousand Villages-the nonprofit fair-trade crafts store-announced last weekend it has signed a long-term, market-rate lease at 121 N. Marion St., former home to Glazed Expressions and the Mad Potter.
The organization hopes to open at the center of the former Marion Street mall by September, said Wil Rutt, board president.
The corner location was a bit bigger than the board was looking for, but Rutt said the location should pay back. “It gives us visibility there,” said Rutt, a retired physician from Berwyn. “We’re counting on this renovation project [of Marion] to bring a lot of people in there.”
The organization raised $90,000 in tax-deductible donations, has applied for build-out and sign grants from the village and Downtown Oak Park, and is seeking a loan from the Oak Park Development Corp. to help cover its $160,000 in start-up costs.
The Ten Thousand Villages board is the same group of people who ran holiday sales in churches in Oak Park and Berwyn in recent years. Before that, a group from Evanston operated bricks-and-mortar stores during the holidays in Oak Park.
Evanston’s Ten Thousand Villages store made roughly $325,000 in profits off sales of $700,000 in 2005, according to federal tax documents. Those profits are returned to artisans in more than 30 developing countries where the items in the store are made.
Ten Thousand Villages was founded in 1946 by a woman who lived six miles from where Rutt grew up in eastern Pennsylvania. The organization went on to found the International Fair Trade Association. Fair Trade, according to the organization, is more than just returning profits to developing countries; it also means, for example, fair wages between men and women, and working toward “socially just” and “environmentally sound” means of production.
The Oak Park store will hire a full-time manager and a part-time assistant manager, but “volunteers will do most of the work,” Rutt said. They’re looking for volunteers now, and hope to draw from as far away as the Loop. For more information, call 484-9728 or e-mail oakpark@tenthousandvillages.com.
David King brokered the lease for the 2,200-square-foot commercial condo space for owner Mike Fox.
Adriana Kopecka, owner of Rocking Horse Boutique across Westgate from the store, said more retail is needed on Marion Street.
“[Ten Thousand Villages] would be an asset for sure,” she said. “It’ll be nice to have a neighbor.”
CONTACT: dcarter@wjinc.com