Shops on Spring incubator project brings home-based businesses to a storefront in downtown Elgin
Four new businesses celebrated the openings of their first brick-and-mortar locations in downtown Elgin Thursday, all under one roof.
Shops on Spring, a storefront created by the Made-In-Elgin incubator program, held a grand opening at 42 S. Spring St. The shops are on the street level of the Courtyard at 40 apartments.
The incubator project was created by the Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) of Elgin to help small, home-based makers bring their products to a storefront location in the city’s downtown. The program hopes to add four more businesses in the coming months.
“We have incredibly talented entrepreneurs in Elgin, but it’s a huge leap between selling something from home, online, or at a farmers market, and signing a lease for your own brick-and-mortar storefront,” DNA board President Brian Piñon said. “This incubator is designed to help people make that leap, to give entrepreneurs an affordable retail space, real-world experience, business development, mentorship, and ultimately we hope, pathways to storefronts right here in downtown.”
The first four businesses in the program are: Head to Toe Blessings, which creates nontoxic skin and hair care products; La Joya De Taxco, a family-run jewelry business offering handcrafted .925 silver pieces; The Noble Soapery with their handcrafted bath, body and fragrance products; and TCreativ Designs, offering handcrafted jewelry and botanical art using real pressed flowers.
Natalia Monterroso and her mom, Jennifer Monterroso, of La Joya De Taxco had been selling their jewelry at farmers markets and pop-ups for five years before joining the program.
“The farmers markets definitely brought us a lot of clients, but this store is a huge opportunity for us,” Natalia said. “From here, we definitely want to have our own shop. That’s the goal.”
The incubator project is funded by a $100,000 Small Business Accelerator Grant from The Hartford, in partnership with Main Street America, which DNA received in May 2025.
DNA Executive Director Jennifer Fukala said now that the storefront is set up, the project is intended to be self-sustaining. Businesses have shared retail space in the front and a work area in the back that can be used both during and outside of business hours for production, packaging and more.
Products for each business have unique SKUs that are rung up at a common sales counter, which each owner covers for 15 hours per week.
The shops will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.
Twin sisters Tawney and Regina Pauling said they initially opened The Noble Soapery as a way to protect their family’s sensitive skin from harsh chemicals. They make their eco-friendly products using locally-sourced ingredients from Illinois farms and women-owned suppliers when possible.
“This has been a dream of ours for such a long time,” they said, delivering lines back and forth as they introduced themselves to guests during the grand opening. “It’s been a wild ride, very wild. It’s been up and down, and it’s finally happening. We are so blessed to be here.”
rwest@dailyherald.com