Save West Loop shops

WESTERN PROMISES Despite rough times, Kristen Skordilis has pledged to keep her store Koros in the West Loop.

Keep this photographer working: Anna Knott annaknott.com

When Kristen Skordilis opened Koros, the first retail boutique in the West Loop, four years ago, she didn’t even consider exploring another neighborhood to set up shop.

“The West Loop reminds me of the meat-packing district in New York,” she says. “I liked the mix of people. [At the time], it seemed like something was starting to happen.”

Indeed, within the first few years, a good half-dozen businesses moved in, including three other retailers also seeking refuge from the national-chain gang takeover of Lincoln Park and Bucktown: eco-boutique Pivot, custom jewelry shop Erin Gallagher and Allyson Holleb’s handbag mecca Bess & Loie. Like Skordilis, they were drawn to the gritty feel of an area populated by a hodgepodge of burgeoning galleries and beef-hauling forklifts. Now, however, the double whammy of a depressed economy and a less-trafficked location places the shops’ survival in doubt.

After two years in the West Loop, another boutique owner, Erin Gallagher, is considering migrating her namesake shop to Lincoln Park in the next few months, where she’ll spend more on rent but can anticipate ample walk-in business. “When people shop they don’t realize how much of an impact it has on the boutique where they’re spending their dollars,” Gallagher says. She recalls how just recently, an angel shopper plunked down $5,000 on merchandise, which ended up saving Gallagher from cutting back employees’ hours for the next month.

That’s not to say the West Loop has entirely lost its luster. A new boutique, Fix, is moving next door to Pivot in August, and Skordilis recently made a firm commitment to keeping Koros on Lake Street by purchasing the building that houses her shop. She’s even rejected an offer by potential investors who wanted to take her business to other cities by refusing to comply with their request that she first move to an established shopping district.

In addition to organizing around Fulton Market events, the proprietors have started hosting events such as Walk the West Loop to draw crowds to the area and cross-pollinate sales among their shops.

In terms of the ’hood becoming a shopping destination, Holleb says, “the growth is going to happen slower than we thought.”

Revitalize the West Loop at Koros (1039 W Lake St, 312-738-0155), Bess & Loie (1015 W Lake St, 312-226-2247), Pivot (1101 W Fulton Mkt, 312-243-4754) or Erin Gallagher (1017 W Lake St, 312-492-7548).

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