Running a young-at-heart clothier is as much about customer service as it is about brands for Nick Heitzman and Robert Donis, owners of Chameleon, a shop on Oak Park Avenue that they opened last summer. In the 10 months Heitzman and Donis have run their urban hip hub, they’ve not rested on the laurels of being the only suburban retailer for many specialty lines.
“If we can’t get it in, we can find out where it is in the city,” Heitzman says of any item from the hard-to-find names they represent.
Starting with their favorite companies-such traditional yet hip lines as Ben Sherman, Penguin and Paul Frank- Heitzman and Donis’s collection at Chameleon has grown to include brands with an urban vibe, such as Sweden’s WeSC and Canada’s The Lifetime Collective. Many of the brands aren’t common to Oak Park.
Heitzman, 31, is an Oak Park native and a graduate of Oak Park and River Forest High School.
“Any other line that you want to find that we have here, you have to go to Lake View, Lincoln Park or Wicker Park,” says Donis, 33, a Chicago native who lives on the city’s North Side.
Going the extra mile to do a job right is second nature for the longtime friends who became business partners after a 2007 Bears playoff game party. Their first retail thought was for skateboard apparel and accessories. But their idea took after the shop’s eponym and morphed.
In selling space that used to house a dry cleaner, the duo undertook all layers of the buildout themselves. After two months of demo and construction, Heitzman and Donis found themselves experts not only in tracking fashion but also in tearing up floors and laying tile.
When they got to setting up Chameleon’s interior, they found that buying readymade shelves and racks wasn’t for them. “These look kind of generic and plain. There isn’t really anything creative about them,” says Heitzman, who headed to Home Depot, where he found pipes-building blocks for custom shop fixtures. “People probably thought I was crazy because I was in the aisle and I actually put them all together … and I was like, ‘Sweet, it works!’ ” he says.
Heitzman and Donis are just as particular about the cost and novelty of their goods. Women’s jeans at Chameleon range from $50 to $150, with such brands as Volcom and Serfontaine. Men’s jeans range from $98 to $165, with such brands as Buffalo and Chip & Pepper.
 Among their other specialty lines are hats by Goorin Bros., a brand Donis proudly reminds visitors dates to 1895. Hats in this classic yet edgy lines range from $35 to $45. Heitzman and Donis also stock jewelry by Oak Park artist Lori Himmel, who has made pieces just for Chameleon.
  Community spirit ranks with work ethic at Chameleon. Recently, the shop sponsored a safe prom night event. Heitzman says he and Donis will help sponsor as much in the area as they can. “We’re always trying to help out,” he says.
 As the store continues to grow, the owners plan to add shoes to their eclectic mix of accessories as well as other Earth-friendly and fair trade lines.
“Chameleons always change colors,” says Donis. “The store will always have some feel that evolves and we’ll keep updating.”
