Please Help Accents Plus!

Hi, my name is Alejandra and I along with my Mom Virginia own Accents Plus in Evanston, IL. It is a women's boutique providing timeless and ageless styles.

My mom opened the doors of Accents Plus for the first time in June of 1985 on Main Street, but it did not truly find its home until 1990 when it moved to the corner of Chicago Ave and Davis Street. Since 1990 we have aimed to provide excellent service and unique fashion to the people of the North Shore and far beyond. We have customers living as close as across the street and as far as India. Fortunate does not begin to describe how we feel.

That is not to say that we haven’t been through our share of hardships. From recessions to construction directly in front of our doors to a worldwide pandemic, we have fought tooth and nail to stay open. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic retail in downtown Evanston has been struggling. It was the most negatively impacted of all other Evanston shopping districts. As reported by Bill Smith for Evanston Now "The data from CoStar Retail Analytics shows that vacancies downtown have risen from 9.2% last year to 11.7% this year. By comparison, the retail vacancy rate for properties across the city’s other shopping districts has increased only from 4.6% to 4.9%."

As many of you can understand the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to be the most difficult hardship to overcome. We were closed from March 14 until June 10 of 2020 and after that business continued to take a huge hit. Although we applied for several grants, we were not successful in receiving any funding. The first time we applied we were told we were too late, the second time our file was misplaced and by the time it was found we were told they had run out of funds.

After a quieter than expected Holiday season we started the new year needing to pay back rent totaling $45,000. We are in debt as it is and this is a very tough hit for Accents Plus. Not wanting to give up and lead by our continued stubbornness we are asking for your help. We know we have stayed open for as long as we have thanks to our amazing customers to whom we are forever grateful.

If you could contribute any amount to this GoFundMe we would be so appreciative. No contribution is too small. Truly. We ask that you share our campaign with anyone you think may be interested in helping out a small family business that has been up and running for 38 years and plans to pass it on to the next generation.

We are confident that with the lease issue resolved and the back rent paid, we can handle the other debts. We want nothing more than to stay open and to continue to serve the community. Thank you, thank you for your continued support. It means the world to us.

Thank you,

Virginia and Alejandra