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Maison Suzanne to leave Oak Park
Maison Suzanne offers a world map of antique textiles, from countries including India, France and Japan. | Meredith Morris~for Sun-Times Media
What’s for Sale?
Everything for sale at Maison Suzanne is 20 percent off, including owner Suzanne Cahill’s array of antique textiles. Artwork is 40 percent off marked prices.
“I have never discounted any of my textiles and had a hard time doing it,” Cahill said, as she’s particularly passionate about these Asian, Indian, French and other vintage fabrics.
Items on sale include:
• Hand-colored botanical engravings, museum-matted, 200 to 220 years old, $425 less 40 percent
• Brass candelabra, $290 less 20 percent
• Antique Chinese apothecary cabinet, $5,450 less 20 percent
• Mid-19th century single-drawer cabinet with original finish, $2,650 less 20 percent
• Antique factory mold center-fitted with a convex mirror, $2,350 less 20 percent
• Antique English blue and white pitcher, $120 less 20 percent
Bring in a copy of this article and receive an additional 5 percent off your purchase.
Article Extras
Updated: October 7, 2012 6:09AM
OAK PARK
The economy strikes again. After four and a half years in Oak Park, antique store Maison Suzanne is seeking new digs.
Shop owner Suzanne Cahill moved her business from Glen Ellyn to Oak Park, where she said she’s missing out on the sales she needs to support her 8,000-square-foot location at 206 S. Marion St. From here, she will return to Glen Ellyn, or possibly move to Hinsdale by early November, to occupy a warehouse space. She will concentrate on online sales, with limited public store hours.
“The people of Oak Park are wonderful. We’ve met some very interesting people who are curious about our products. We’ve just had a bad time with the economy,” Cahill said.
To prepare to move, all items in Maison Suzanne are for sale at 20 percent less than their marked prices, except for artwork, which is 40 percent off. The sale includes Cahill’s antique textiles, which she has never before sold at reduced rates.
“It’s a great opportunity for the people of Oak Park and River Forest to purchase some very special items at a good price,” she said, adding that shoppers shouldn’t wait for the prices to continue to drop, because they won’t. “This is a moving sale, not a store close-out.”
Maison Suzanne’s failure to thrive was largely a matter of timing.
“Our first season here was when the economy went bust,” Cahill said. The bust delivered a particular wallop to the furniture industry.
“Everything from good to bad in furniture was hit. Really good names have shut down,” she said, pointing to the recent, drastic consolidation of Chicago’s Merchandise Mart as an example.
Then, Oak Park’s months-long construction project to revamp South Marion Street began.
“It took four or five months after the construction ended for people to start coming back and buying. But we never recovered from the construction, when we had no sales for about nine months,” Cahill said.
In addition to these factors, Cahill speculates people in the Oak Park and River Forest area may not move as frequently as people in some other communities, and have fewer new-construction homes. They might not have as much need – or free space – to purchase furniture.
Despite Maison Suzanne’s unfortunate turn in Oak Park, Cahill remains passionate about her business, which deals in antique furniture, decorative arts, artwork and textiles.
Recently she’s sold antiques successfully online to collectors from across the United States.
“I will continue to need as much space, but not a retail storefront,” she said. ~.
