Business for a Better World: The Lake Forest Shop
The Lake Forest Shop
265 Market Square, Lake Forest, IL 60045
(847) 234-0548
TheLakeForestShop.com
Industry: Retail
Annual revenue: $2,000,000
Number of employees: 8
Q: Describe your company.
A: A 100-year-old women's fashion boutique. Started by my grandmother, socialite and civic leader Margaret Baxter Foster.
Q: Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
A: We are always looking for talented people.
Q: What will your company's main challenges be in the next year?
A: The economy.
Q: What's the hottest trend in your industry?
A: Many different trends - easy comfort to dressing appropriately and beautifully for your special occasion.
Q: Does climate change affect how your company does business?
A: Yes, the supply chain has affected the delivery of merchandise on time, something we have to watch carefully.
Q: What does your company do to reduce the effects of climate change?
A: Recycling, shredding; less paper to choice of designer fabrics.
Q: Is your company minority-owned? Woman-owned? If so, what are the challenges of being a minority- or woman-owned company?
A: Our community has been supportive of women-owned businesses, as has the women's fashion industry.
Q: What does your company do regarding DE & I (diversity, equity & inclusion)?
A: Our goal is to support DE & I. We have just hired our second Ukrainian woman who has just arrived with her 17-year-old son from Mariupol, Ukraine.
Q: Does your company donate time or money to any philanthropic causes? If so, what causes?
A: We support local and regional nonprofits through our Shop Your Cause event held every October.
Q: Does your company do anything else to make your community better?
A: We work with a small group started Lake Forest Bank & Trust, the first bank within Wintrust. Wintrust's goal is to be the go-to bank within their communities.
I also serve on the board of the Oppenheim Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Lake Forest College.
I am former board member of Lake Forest Open Lands. My father was the founding president of Lake Forest Open Lands.
Q: What do you do to make your business a good place to work for your employees?
A: We are a proactive, team-oriented family and we are flexible.
Q: Do you have a business mantra?
A: Superb customer service - the customer is always right. "Give the lady what she wants." Marshall Field
Q: What is one interesting fact about your company that most people may not know?
A: How important Coco Chanel (fashion friend and inspiration of my grandmother) and Condé Nast (my uncle) were in the early years - 1920s and 1930s - of The Lake Forest Shop.
The Lake Forest Shop
265 Market Square, Lake Forest, IL 60045
(847) 234-0548
TheLakeForestShop.com
Industry: Retail
Annual revenue: $2,000,000
Number of employees: 8