Voila has more than doubled its space in Lake Bluff in recent weeks. Residents are thrilled to see one less for-lease sign on Scranton Avenue, and shoppers are excited by the store's expanded mix of unique gifts, interesting clothes and French antiques. But some are curious how a specialty gift store can take on 1,050 additional square feet when many competitors are struggling and others are closing.
And that explains it. Voila owner Susie McMurray and partner Liz Bermingham believe one woman's recession is another woman's economic opportunity--or two other women's: Theirs.
"Others stores have closed, and that leaves an opening for us," said Ms. McMurray, who is recovering nicely from knee-replacement surgery. (Ms. McMurray also is vice-president of Darwin Records, a music production company in Lake Bluff. On Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. at its Scranton Avenue store, Voila invites the community to celebrate the release of The Derrick Stout Quartet's new CD, "Melodies Under The Mistletoe," which was produced by Darwin Records.)
But back to the expansion of Voila: After The Downtown Dog closed last summer, the space
adjacent to Voila sat empty for several months, and Ms. McMurray had ideas. (That's her on the right side of the French armoire, with Ms. Bermingham on the left.) "In this economy we're still doing fine," said Ms. McMurray, who opened Voila nine years ago to sell French antiques. "Instead of taking money out of the stock market and putting it in a bank and sitting on it, we thought why not invest in ourselves. We know what we can do and what our potential is."
So far, so good. Voila's October sales this year were up from the same period last year, and Ms. Bermingham said the store was quite busy on the first weekend of holiday shopping.
"I like to think we live in a recession-proof area, but it hits everyone," said Ms. McMurray, who believes one of Voila's saving graces is its loyal customer base. "If they need a gift when we're closed, they know we will come and open the store for them."
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