It took 25 years, four locations and several name and market changes, but Harris Weiss believes he has finally found a home — across the street from where he started.
Weiss and his wife, Karen, own Alice B, the women’s fashion boutique at 127 McHenry Road in Buffalo Grove. He was one of the original tenants in the Town Center strip mall, and a journey that took him to Northbrook and back, plus in and out of the fashion industry, has left him grateful to be operating in clothing, and to have returned to Buffalo Grove.
“That’s what we missed,” said Weiss, who recently contributed 10 outfits for Stevenson High School’s first-ever fashion show. “It’s a real family-oriented, neighborhood store.”
The 57-year-old Palatine resident now rents 1,000 square feet of storefront, and stocks women’s clothing, shoes, jewelry, scarves, purses and more. On an average day, Alice B offers between 200 and 300 items. And Weiss knows how to keep his products moving when unsure customers walk in: flattery.
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“It’s form-hugging,” he told one woman as she moseys through his dresses, pulling one off the rack.
“Does that mean it will show my back fat?” the potential buyer asked.
“No. Here, let me show you,” Weiss responded, coaxing her and an armful of possibilities toward a dressing room.
He speaks frankly about the selections he goes with for Alice B.
“I will find designer clothe knockoffs, but the quality has to be there,” he said. “It can’t fall apart after the first wear. And, it’s things you’re not going to see in 100 stores.”
He has worked on both the higher and lower ends of that spectrum since March 1, 1989, when he opened B Beautiful in Town Center, a baby-clothing store that later became Born Beautiful. In 1995, he moved to the intersection of Dundee and Sanders roads in Northbrook and shifted toward bar and bat mitzvahs and proms. Success and steady expansion to 6,000 square feet followed — until 2008.
“And that was the end of the store,” he said.
Thinking he was finished with retail, Weiss sold everything from the business, started selling for some of the manufacturers he had bought from, and then left the clothing industry completely for a time.
“I ended up getting what you call a ‘real job’ in a different industry,” he recalled. “I was miserable. I really missed retail.”
He and Karen re-opened at Milwaukee Avenue and Dundee roads, and found new success. In March 2013, they came back to Buffalo Grove, next to the old site of B Beautiful. The inspiration for the new effort is Karen’s grandmother, Alice Blust, a Chicagoan who died three years ago at 90.
“We just thought that would be a great name for a store,” he said. “She was fun, she was feisty, she said what was on her mind, and that’s really what this store is about. It’s fun, fashion, visiting.”