Gather & Collect

With Pride month coming to an end, I find it important to acknowledge that love should be a year-round endeavor! Here at the store, we surely think so. Our pride section is small, but mighty, and has many nifty gifts you might need to show those around you that you love them. We have everything, buttons, cards, socks, candles, flags, lots of knick-knacks that are perfect for last-minute gifts, and if you just need a pride treat for yourself! 

Fear is very prevalent in our political climate right now, for the queer and trans community. As a member of that community, I understand how horrifying it is to have your rights and love under attack. At Gather and Collect lots of past and current staff identify with queer identity, and a lot of our customers do too. This means that the people we love and care for are struggling and scared for their futures. That is why, here, you will always have a safe space to be yourself! We welcome everybody and anybody into our store; all your weirdness and craziness. Authenticity and love are so important to us. We show this love by supporting small LGBTQ+ businesses and supporting local communities. Fostering joy is such a powerful way to uplift your community, and we hope we do that here by making you laugh and feel comfortable within our walls.

We hope you find something that you enjoy in our store, whether that be pride-related or not!

As always, stay awesome and keep collecting,

Mallory

At Gather and Collect it’s very rare to find people bringing in their own lunch, or not eating for that matter. Someone’s always got a snack; we are hungry women! As hungry women, we have a few spots we frequent on the regular, things you can always find us enjoying on the job. 

First up is Glen Oak, a classic in the Gather and Collect rotation. This place is a local diner that offers a wide range of options to suit your taste. My classic choices are their gyro or a grilled cheese sandwich. Maybe a little childish, but if you have it, you’ll understand. Heather and I always get the grilled cheese sandwiches together. Grilled cheese Tuesday we used to call it. My favorite day of the year is when it happens. If you don’t like those options, don’t fret; they have everything from burgers to omelets. A great choice for families or when you’re starving but don’t know what you’re craving! 

We frequent Javis Glen Ellyn, which also has a newer location in Wheaton. The Glen Ellyn is a take-out only store that serves my favorite tacos in the world. A classic steak taco with cilantro and onion always makes my day ten times better. When Leah and I always order, she gets the crispy chicken taquitos. I used to never get those, but I had one bite of hers, and my world changed. Javis does catering and small orders! If you are a fan of Mexican and haven’t tried them out I urge you to! Great restaurant, great people, and great food! 

Main Street Pub is also a go-to for us. Julie always orders their burger sliders, and man, do they melt in your mouth. This classic pub is great for families too, but has flavors and drinks that work for everybody! From chicken wings to burgers, it is a classic pub that will make you feel right at home. Their food is always fresh, even when we order for to-go, and when I go to pick it up, it is always ready. 

Another great spot is Nemic Brothers Pizza, a newer pizza shop in downtown, right next to the movie theatre! This spot is always changing vendors, and we are hoping this one stays, which is exactly why you should give it a visit! White garlic pizza and meat lover options, there is a pizza for literally anyone here. They also have a giant cookie that is basically a cake and is one of the best cookies I have ever had. 

If you love supporting our small business, I know you’ll love supporting the small businesses we love. These food options really have been staples in the gather and collect food rotation. Odds are if you come in around lunch time, you’ll find us eating from one of these four restaurants. So, give it a try next time you are looking for somewhere to eat! 

Stay awesome and keep collecting,

Mallory 

In my last post, I mentioned how easy it is to get lost in our store. From the clothing section to the back vintage rooms, there is a lot you can miss. Thats why in this post I will be giving you a guided tour through Gather and Collect! Our old store was much smaller, so small that you could see most things in under a couple of minutes. And there were only two small hallways! Can you believe that! 

In the front half of our store, you can find all our newer options like cards, puzzles, toys, candles, and more. We have so many cards spinners its easy to feel disoriented, never be afraid to ask us for help! We even have some handy Hokusai gifts to celebrate the exhibit at the College of Dupage. 

There is a separate room in the back right corner of the store that has goodies as well! Right past our pride section, you’ll find a little room full of notebooks, hats, candles, thank you cards, and even baby socks. This is an extension of the new stuff, and is a nifty room we got the joy of filling. 

As you walk down the hallway, past our clothing section and dressing room, you will find two rooms to the right side. The first room is our colorful, full of everything, you guessed it, colorful. This is my favorite room because I love vibrant colors. You’ll find a lot of lamps in here and fun vintage childrens toys, and other random knick knacks. 

Next to the colorful room is its evil sister, the dark room. Not a photo rendering dark room, but instead a room where you can find all our brown, black, tan objects. Things like vases, an odd collection of wooden elephants, wicker baskets, and a wall of vintage photos. This moody room is perfect if you are into neutral tones. 

Leaving behind these two rooms, we take a sharp right, and on our left is the living room. Or that is what I like to call it, hasn’t caught on yet…But what a neat hodgepodge room! 

Next is the kitchen! This is my second favorite room, because it is themed just perfectly. With china and loads of plates and mugs, you can’t help feeling like you’re back in your grandma’s kitchen. All the pieces in here, besides aprons, are all thrifted china! I love looking through this room. The treasures you find are amazing. 

Last is the bedroom, tucked away in the back corner of the store. It’s called the bedroom because there used to be a bed in it, although it’s gone, the name still holds. Here you will find VHS tapes, floral posters, pottery, and little knick-knacks, sometimes the occasional toy. 

Now that you’ve gotten acquainted with the store, you can see how easy it is to get lost in. But getting lost in our store isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you. I’d like to argue that it can be fun. 

Stay awesome and keep collecting

Mallory 

When walking into Gather and Collect, you might be so taken aback by the craziness that you glance over our clothing section, or the back of the store, for that matter! Many people miss the back section of our store, because only a hallway leads to it. With summer sneaking up on us, transitioning from winter to summer clothing can be challenging for a lot of people. I know it’s tricky for me. I get so comfortable in my big sweaters and sweatpants that switching to shorts and tanks seems like the worst thing in the world, almost impossible. Not only because you find you’ve someone grown out of everything you used to own, but it is also hard to get used to all those different colors and cuts! 

There is no need to worry, or maybe you should worry, who am I to say? Gather and Collect has a great selection of women’s blouses, skirts, dresses even men’s shirts that can help you rebuild a summer wardrobe. All of our clothes are second-hand, hand-picked by Julie, except for a few wholesale pieces. Those are usually easy to pick out from our second-hand selection, having a newer look. Here are a few examples of skirt and shirt pairings that I think are just adorable. 

And one of our cutest dresses! 

Don’t forget the men’s shirts, this is my favorite, just look at the blues! 

The biggest tip I have for people when it comes to clothing is not to be afraid. Don’t be afraid of patterns, colors, or length. Wear something outside your comfort zone as often as you can; all of a sudden, you will find your comfort zone is a lot larger. Most of all, wear the things that make you happy, whether or not they happen to be in fashion. Wear the thing that everyone is wearing and the thing that everyone says is ugly; all that matters is that you enjoy it and find comfort and confidence in what you have on your body. Outfits always look better when the person in them is comfortable and happy. Fashion is such a cultural phenomenon, based so harshly on the political and social standards that surround us and our world. When we accept these things about fashion, we can also break through them and wear things that aren’t dictated by the world around us but rather by what we enjoy. So that is the biggest tip I can give you about fashion: find joy in it! Find joy in the things you can find here, at Gather and Collect, because we shop with joy just as much as we wear it.

This is more of a real tip than a sappy love yourself one. I learned something from a former coworker and friend when thinking about patterns. If you have more than three patterns on, then you can wear anything. Polka dots! Stripes! Zig Zags! The world is your oyster, and all of a sudden, it looks so good together! Experiment with your style and learn what suits your body type, but steer clear of comparing yourself to others while discovering what looks and makes you feel good.

It’s also essential to make sure you have a lot of basics in your closet. It is super easy to become obsessed with buying statement pieces, and hey, if you want to buy a lot of statement pieces, do you! But you have to have the basics to build around those statement pieces.

So, what I am saying is, mix it up, be confident, and love yourself.

Stay awesome and keep collecting

Mallory  

Gather and Collect started off about ten times smaller than it is now, on Pennsylvania Ave, where Punch Barber Shop is now. Owned by Julie and Lisa, with Jessica along for the ride… it held the name Vintage Minagerie and was filled with all the vintage goodies they could get their hands on. They were slaying it until one day, when arriving at the store to add inventory, they noticed a chunk of their inventory was gone and had been replaced with items they did not recognize. What the hell! So, like any sane person would do, they called the cops, wondering if someone had broken in, though that would be the oddest break-in ever. When the cops (actually, it was Rose who now works here) came, they had to do a sweep of the whole building to make sure whoever broke in wasn’t still there. Luckily, there was no one in the building or any signs that a break-in had occurred at all. So, they called their landlord to alert them about the craziness that had just occurred. Little did they know their landlord would only be adding to the craziness, because it was she who orchestrated the switch-a-roo! Something along the lines of, “You guys have a good gig going, I’m going to join in”. 

Julie and Jessica were having none of that and decided to abandon ship. Mourning the loss of their store, they decided to take a rest. After about half a year, a new location opened up on Main Street, so Julie and Jessica decided to jump on that, and thus opened Gather and Collect as you know it today. After two years of banging business, Jessica left to open her interior design business, Jessica Moran Interiors, saying farewell to Gather and Collect, leaving Julie sole ownership of the store! Julie stayed on Main Street for about ten years, growing out of the size of the store around year four. If you remember the old shop, you might recall that it was small. About 650 square feet of vintage items and goodies. That’s when Julie started collecting people. First, Heather, her best friend and helper of all things crafty. Then Leah and I, otherwise known as the littles. 

The business was growing, so was the need for a new space, and when another space opened up on Pennsylvania, Julie decided to go for it. The space we are in right now is about five times bigger than the original location, which offered endless opportunities to expand our merchandise and products that we carry in the store. Our clothing, gifts, hodgepodge, and cards all expanded to hold so much more than we could before. Some people don’t even realize how far back our store goes until we tell them! I remember the days of moving. We hand-carried all our pieces over, pushing over bookshelves on wheels, carrying baskets of pottery, and juggling handfuls of books or clothes. 

 As you can see, we’ve done some growing over the years. New spaces, new people, new products, and new chaos. The memories just keep piling up. Along with stacks of goods we need to get out on the floor… 

Stay awesome and keep collecting

Mallory 

Here we are, the Gather and Collect Blog! It has been a long time coming, and we are so excited to start regularly putting out blogs again for you! Things are going to look a little different this time around. Let me introduce myself. I’m Mallory, and I have been working at Gather and Collect for under four years. You might recognize me if you come in regularly! I’m an English Major at school, so Julie and I thought that this summer would be a great opportunity to practice the skills I have been learning: writing this blog for all of you! The catch is I will only be here for the summer, so I hope to enjoy my time writing as much as I hope you all enjoy your time reading. I hope to change topics every week, allowing us to discuss what goes on in our store, what we enjoy around town, and the craziness that happens when running a store like ours. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment on your thoughts! Don’t let me be the one doing all the talking. 

When I started working at Gather and Collect, I was 17 years old, which at the time felt like the oldest someone could be. Turning 21, finding internships, right on the cusp of graduating from college, has given me so many perspectives and thoughts about the world around me, good and bad. But what Gather and Collect has taught me is to laugh right through it. Whether that be politics, personal relationships, or the mess that is running a small business, you just have to keep laughing. That is what I have learned from our customers, too, hearing all your laughter throughout the store from the moment you walk in to the moment you leave. The whole world just needs one big laugh, and I hope we can provide that for everyone who walks through.

Stay awesome and keep collecting,

Mallory

Well, it’s been a short minute since I last posted on the blog. Or I guess a year and a half? Whoopsie! I have intentions of posting regularly, but never set aside the time for the task. Feels like I do that for so many aspects of life. This is my attempt to get caught up. Let’s see…we all remember that little ole’ two and a half years with Covid right? Well the good news is, we made it through it personally and professionally. The shop hardly skipped a beat on Main Street. Things were moving along swimmingly with the shop bursting at the seams with products and customers. In October of 2021, as I was just set to sign a lease for my Main Street space, a space FOUR TIMES the size became available right around the corner on Pennsylvania Avenue. Shawn Sargent Designs was moving to a different location, so I bugged the building owner for the next few days, looked at the space, began dreaming, and the rest is history. We moved in about two weeks later on Halloween weekend, smack dab through the middle of the Halloween parade!

It didn’t take long to begin filling the space up. One by one, we opened up the little rooms as we dug through bins, my garage, my basement…Moving during the height of the holiday season was CRAZY, but we made it through and boy did it come in handy having space to move around in! To look around and see 20-30 people shopping around with room to walk! I love the building, the two story exposed ceilings, the big front (yet drafty) window…Though I miss my old neighbors, The Bookstore, String Theory, Joe the Hot Dog Guy…I have loved being on the block with Ten Thousand Villages and Treasure House. They have been so welcoming.

Stop in and see the expansion. More cards, more clothes, pottery…you name it. Our new address is 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, next to Ten Thousand Villages and across the street from the Glen Ellyn Fire Department.

Thanks for sticking with us for 11 1/2 years. I am humbled and grateful.

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Well folks, it’s “Valentine’s Day” weekend. For some, a weekend filled with over the top gestures – roses, chocolates, wine, bubble baths, expensive jewelry… It has always seemed so odd to me. It’s like…someone one day said, “Hey guys? You want to make February 14th the day where we cram a bunch of lovey dovey shit into the agenda to prove how much we love someone??” …hold on! Now we can also rub it in everyone’s faces on social media! UGH

Kinda like when Santa brings one kid a Playstation, and another a pair of shitty socks. SMH. We all know people who both love and despise this holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a cynic. Love is sweet and may we all feel it in many ways. May we all be able to find it from within, as well as with others. We should focus on making those we care for feel important…cherished…LOVED… now THAT is something we ALL should be doing on a daily basis. Through kind words… through small gestures… through random acts of kindness; listening, encouraging, lifting up…showing up – THAT’s what LOVE is all about! There is nothing better than feeling like you are not alone in this crazy world.

Someone in our village, maybe a few people, leaves these rocks…these little random acts of kindness around for others to discover. Beautiful hand painted rocks with hearts and words of encouragement…just because. I’ve found three so far. The one above on a table I had for sale outside the shop, another on my window sill that said PEACE, and one in the flower bed by the Fire Station. I didn’t even go and pick it up. Just seeing it from afar was enough for me. I kept the first…this heart. It’s in my car so I see it daily as a reminder of the good in the world. I left the others so they could be discovered and hopefully lift a few spirits.

Imagine how much love we could all spread with purposeful, authentic, yet simple random acts of kindness? A friend of mine made a post on Facebook recently that really resonated. “Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery – Joyce Brothers. So very true, and the friend who shared it really walks the walk. Think about it…the act of simply LISTENING may not seem like much to you, but it sure can be a lifeline for someone truly struggling. It may just lead someone back to a better path. It may save a life.

I came across a book “The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember”. Man…he was wise beyond his years. There I found a common thread about the importance of LISTENING.

In one post, he wrote “The purpose of life is to listen – to yourself, to your neighbor, to your world and to God and, when the time comes, to respond in as helpful a way as you can find…from within and without.”

Later, he wrote “More and more I’ve come to understand that listening is one of the most important things we can do for one another. Whether the other be an adult or a child, our engagement in listening to who that person is can often be our greatest gift. Whether that person is speaking or playing or dancing, building or singing or painting, if we care, we can listen.

As you go into each day, think about how you can show yourself and others Love, Respect, and Kindness. It may be just by simply listening.

Geezy Wheezy… 2020 wasn’t enough?? January 2021 blew through the doors and yelled “HOLD MY BEER!” I don’t know about you, but with the looming one year mark of the Pandemic, kids still remote learning, and oh let’s not forget the INSURRECTION… AHHHHHHH…these are ODD TIMES folks.

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I’ve broken my record in posting TWICE in one month/year…hell, it’s usually twice in a FEW YEARS if I’m being honest. I assume I will be receiving a trophy. I’m making attempts to carve out time to post more. This will mean laundry may not be folded. When we went into the original lockdown last March (it still sounds very Hunger Games to me), it was quite the transition to keep a brick and mortar afloat for 13 weeks without the use of said brick and mortar. We survived by slinging goods on Instagram and Facebook, and making porch deliveries. It was hard work, but with the help of family and friends and friends kids, we came through and have had a really strong year. For this I am beyond thankful.

I worked on launching an online shop, and for the past 6 months have been 80% there. I just haven’t had the time to really investigate how to do it right. Customer service, order tracking, inventory, storage, packing, mailing…AAHHHHHHH. This May will be my TENTH ANNIVERSARY. Seems like just yesterday and seems like a million years all at the same time. I still love what I do. I have made so many connections…friendships through the shop. Ohh how I wish I would have kept a journal of all of the crazy stories. The Day of the Ferret… the guy who took ‘shrooms and Sangria during Jazz Fest and flooded my bathroom as he hallucinated…too many to name.

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