For almost 20 years, fair-trade retailer Ten Thousand Villages has been a resource for local shoppers interested in using their purchasing power for good. The Oak Park nonprofit, which sells hand crafted items from artisans in developing countries, has been struggling since COVID and will be closing at the end of February.
Manager Mike Burris refers to statistics indicating that, in Cook County, retailers selling nonessential items have recovered only 40% since pre-COVID levels.
While downtown Oak Park witnessed several store closings last year, David King, a commercial leasing agent representing many downtown properties, attributes the closings to reasons other than loss of sales, and believes Oak Park remains a vital business community.
“The world is constantly changing and I could not be more excited about what I’m seeing for 2025 and beyond for downtown Oak Park. We continue to see a lot of interest in vacant spaces,” said King.
Both King and Burris believe Oak Park is in a time of transition. Burris alludes to pressing needs within the Oak Park community that have influenced compassionate residents to prioritize local causes over those abroad, such as the artisans supported by Ten Thousand Villages.
“If you have lived in Oak Park for any length of time, you’ve seen a transition in our neighborhood. We have increasing numbers of unhoused people. We were one of the few towns that willingly took on assisting an influx of migrants, which was amazing. There is an urgent need for support within our community and I think that surpasses anything outside our community. Is that a bad thing? No, but it does detract from mission-based businesses like ours,” Burris said.
Ten Thousand Villages was founded almost 80 years ago by Edna Ruth Byler after she visited Puerto Rico and saw a variety of beautiful but undervalued handicrafts. She started buying products and bringing them to the U.S. where she sold them to friends and neighbors and at craft fairs. Eventually, with the support of the Mennonite Church, she built retail stores across the country. At its height, the nonprofit organization oversaw hundreds of retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada selling products from 20,000 artisans working in 20 developing countries. Artisans are paid a fair wage and given long-term contracts to ensure a sustainable source of income.
Oak Park’s Ten Thousand Villages opened in September 2007. Oak Park resident Judy Gaietto-Grace, one of the store’s first volunteers, helped stock shelves and paint walls before the opening and then served on the board for nine years. She continues to volunteer on Fridays.
“Oak Park seemed like the perfect place for a store. The mission of fair trade resonated with me,” Gaietto-Grace said. “The artisans we support are often invisible and we allow them to have dignity and an education and a sustainable living.”
Burris, who had a wealth of corporate management experience at big box retailers, took over as manager in July 2023. He focused on introducing new products, creating stability and business continuity, and revitalizing the décor by using limited resources to their fullest extent.
“As compared to my corporate experience, I quickly learned that the cost of every paper clip mattered because we were dealing with such small volume,” he said.
Because of Oak Park’s unique character, he was determined to make the store a community resource by featuring local vendors such as Bright Endeavors, a social enterprise that produces candles and other fragrance products to support Chicago-based nonprofit New Moms. Burris states that the store supported 203 artisans through sales in 2024. He also focused on creating a welcoming environment for everybody, including unhoused people who came in for drinks of water and to use the bathrooms.
Burris insists that the store’s popularity has been due to its dedicated, globally minded, compassionate volunteers who he believes are representative of the general Oak Park community.
River Forest resident Kathie Walsh has been with the store since 2009, after retiring from her medical practice. She was looking for meaningful, purposeful volunteer opportunities. An active member of the community, Walsh also volunteers with the Oak Park Conservatory and the Migrant Ministry and is a long-time ESL tutor.
“There are so many wonderful, worthwhile organizations in our community that need our help. It is a privilege to have the time and means to volunteer—and you get so much more out of it than you give. It has been my pride and joy to spread the word about Ten Thousand Villages,” Walsh said.
Barb Cunningham, a Chicagoan, joined the store in 2019, after retiring from nursing. She works the Tuesday shift and has developed strong friendships with customers and her co-workers, who get together every couple months for tea and conversation.
“We come here not to make money but to talk with each other and our customers. I’m going to miss it because now I’ll have to talk to my husband—but he gets tired,” she said, laughing.
Burris believes that Ten Thousand Villages, or a mission-based facsimile, may be able to be successful in the future, after the local community solves more pressing social issues.
“Does the store closing mean that fair trade failed? I don’t think so. This is such an amazing community to be part of — people care about each other and the world around them. If I could box this store up and reopen it maybe five years down the road, I think it would probably be extraordinarily successful again,” he said.