New Naperville boutique store’s going for ‘unique and different’

Sharon Rodney never imagined that the stories she told her son of then Toddler would one day be the name of his new charming store in downtown Naperville.

She opened George & Fred for business on June 21 on the second floor of the 216 Main St.

The oldest building in the city center – a plate on the exterior wall says that the founder of the city, Joseph Naper, built it from 1847 to 1849 – houses the new company.

“George and Fred are two rabbits of which I invented stories when my son was about 2 years old. He fell on the rear bench. Remember these days when you said:” Not yet, not yet “? I tried to keep it so he fell asleep (in his bed),” she recalls.

The fictitious rabbits have embarked on all kinds of adventures to entertain the young Rhett.
“When I thought of opening my own store, I wanted it to be an adventure, a story. Everything here can give a story to someone else,” said Rodney, 54.

By the way, Fred is the smartest of both and George is always trouble. If you remember the Pinky cartoon mouse and the brain, you have the idea.

“Everything here, hopefully, is a story and when you bring it home and someone else sees it, they will say:” It’s cool. Tell me where it comes from, what it is “,” she said.

The story of Rodney has made work 30 years work in the Center-Ville de Chicago corporate world, putting to use the skills acquired when she graduated from the University of Illinois with an advertising diploma.

But after three decades in marketing, she “struck a wall of stories told for companies that have not made my heart sing,” she said. “I had my filling and I wanted to do something that is a connector with the people of the community.”

She therefore left her job with Accenture in 2024 and began to sell eclectic items from her home. She then decided that the brick and the mortar was the way to follow.

Rodney, who has lived in the Naperville CRESS CREEK subdivision for almost 20 years, has refused sites in two shopping centers, preferring a more historic setting.

She repainted the interior with a shiny white and had installed five distinctive chandeliers.

Even the windows are different. She found a couple in a barn: “They will be super cool when I redo the glass and light them.

“I love this place and the idea that it will give people a unique experience. The people who come here are so cool. I want to go to have coffee or a beer with one of them, ”she said.

She hopes these buyers “need something unique and different”. Walking with Rodney in his 700 square foot store, it is clear that there is no shortage either.

There are handmade jewelry and household items “many manufacturers, people who actually make pottery or hand with glass and eclectic things like the old steins of beer, things like that.”

There are hand-made silk links for men and dazzling bags for women who are created from zero by a mother-daughter team. There are 3D works of art, unusual wine decantations and many other catchy articles.

“These are nice things for your home or if you offer a gift when you go somewhere. Another candle? Another plant? A bottle of wine again? I want to sell things that say “I thought of you,” said Rodney.

“I’m sure they can find a Turkish carpet somewhere, but will they be able to enter a store here (in Naperville) and find it?”

“I don’t have to win a million dollars. I just want to stay in business, have fun and give love to other people. And make money to pay the bills, “she said.

Rodney is currently the only employee in the store.

“Rhett sometimes helps me. He bears the name of Rhett Butler because he is the coolest guy in the film,” said Rodney, a great cinephile, when she remembers the memorable character of Clark Gable in “Gone Wind the Wind”.

Rhett is a student, specializing in economics and nutrition at the University of Vermont.

Her future plans include the organization of a series of guest speakers, perhaps Thursday evening, who “come to talk about strange staff,” she said.

George & Fred is open from noon to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. Visit the Georgeandfred.com website for more information.

Steve Metsch is an independent journalist for Naperville Sun.