The Prince's Table offers luxury goodies for women
A Hollywood celebrity described a business that recently expanded into Glen Ellyn as "a toy store for women."
The Prince's Table, which opened 22 years ago in the seaside village of Pacific Palisades, Calif., now operates at 530 Duane St. in Glen Ellyn as well.
Owner Margot Henshaw, who grew up in Naperville and moved to California when she was a teenager, opened the shop before she was married.
She moved back here with her husband, Mike, who works for Northwestern Mutual Life, and searched for the perfect location for a second store.
Henshaw sought an area where customers would have an appreciation for their homes and decorating.
The business features an array of merchandise, from pewter baby cups to Limoges boxes.
An important aspect at The Prince's Table is the heavy focus on American-made merchandise.
"At least 50 percent of the things here are made in the USA. And 10 percent or less is made in China," Henshaw said. "If it's not made in America, it comes from Europe," she added.
For example, she carries a line of baby blankets woven in Indiana and a line of picture frames from New York.
She carries about 300 different picture frames, from jeweled to pewter to enameled. A line of wooden frames features wood bought in Italy and then made into frames in the U.S.
A popular pick at the shop is hand-painted decorative enamel eye glass trays designed to help people keep track of their glasses. The holders are often purchased as a 40th-birthday joke gift. Customers often end up buying several for different rooms of their home, Henshaw said.
When choosing merchandise for the store, Henshaw draws on experience gained as a child.
"When I was a kid, I was dragged around to auctions," she said.
Her grandmother was an antique dealer and her mother an astute collector. They taught Henshaw how to determine quality-built furniture, and the intricacies of jewelry.
The shop carries an array of jewelry, including the Jacqueline Kennedy collection, a replica line of jewelry pieces once worn by the late former first lady. A line of jewelry with matching purses made in San Francisco is another popular pick.
The store is going over well in Glen Ellyn, Henshaw said. "It's like a little piece of Europe," she said.
For more, check out www.theprincestable.com.
To the top: Georgia Dudley, founder of Empowering Women Network Inc., is the featured speaker at the June 5 Barrington Area Professional Women meeting.
The event takes place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Makray Golf Club, 800 S. Northwest Hwy. Dudley's topic is "Negotiating Your Way to the Top." For more, visit www.BAPW.org. The cost is $35 for members.
Industry awards: David James Group, an Oakbrook Terrace-based integrated marketing communications firm, recently received honors in the BMA National Pro-Comm Awards, the BMA Tower Awards and the Healthcare Advertising Awards.
Nomination garnered: Fran Bolson, president of the Woodfield Chicago Northwest Convention Bureau, has been nominated for the board of directors of the Destination Marketing Association International.
The organization said it is the world's largest association of convention and visitors bureaus and was founded more than 90 years ago. It has more than 1,500 members from 625 destination management organizations in more than 25 countries.
New gallery opens: Long Grove Artist's Co-op Gallery recently opened at 344 Old McHenry Road in Long Grove.
Artist Beth Kapov, who previously displayed her work at the not-for-profit co-op gallery in Lake Zurich that recently flooded, is heading up the new gallery.
It had been Kapov's dream to open this type of gallery in her hometown. She is operating in the empty Shamrock Bike shop that is slated to be razed later this year.
The gallery is open Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.