We recently connected with Kitty Izzo and have shared our conversation below.

Kitty, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My husband and I own a restaurant, Park & Field, located in Logan Square, around the corner from our home. After opening, we quickly realized we needed more storage space for liquor deliveries, kegs and the like. We reached out to the owner of an abandoned building next door to the restaurant and were able to purchase it. We gutted the back and transformed it into a storage area for the restaurant, but once we saw the shop front space, I knew I wanted to open a retail space, rather than renting it out. It had been left vacant since the 80’s when it was a dental office, but was completely deteriorated since then. We tore down the drop ceilings and found original tin, lifted the moldy carpet to find original wood floors and tore out the drywall to find beautiful brick. We needed to fireproof the ceiling because there is an apartment upstairs, so we painstakingly removed the tin piece by piece so that we could replace it later. The natural bare bones look to the space really spoke to me. Having traveled to Europe many times, I loved all the simple shops I always found there, selling local goods, really just everyday ordinary items that were so beautiful and well made, they could really stand alone as objects- but they were functional too. I didn’t feel there was anywhere in Chicago to purchase everyday tools for the home outside of Target, and I knew I was personally tired of buying junk, just to shove into a closet and ultimately to break and need replacement. The environmental side of this gnawed at me, knowing we were just filling our landfills with more and more cheap plastic everyday. So I was inspired by these beautiful little European shops and thought, well let’s try something like that. I wanted to cover every aspect of the home and life, so started researching merchandise for the bathroom, kitchen, dining room and study. I wanted to incorporate a gardening section as well. My husband is a big gardener, and although Chicago is often times limited in yard space, we have many avid plant lovers in this city, and I felt I could cater to them as well. There was sort of a dead space in the center of the shop- drywalled up courtyard of sorts to provide cross air exposure to its original tenants. We opened that up and replaced it with glass walls and fresh doors and created a little outdoor garden section.

So, first it was the products that inspired me, then it was the space, and once I started bringing in all the handmade brooms and brushes, pots and soaps from all over the world- it just worked. It turned out people were looking for well made, sustainable tools for their home and that I wasn’t the only one feeling concerned about all the junk we’re tossing into landfills. Now you can purchase something for the house that you don’t want to shove in a cupboard when guests arrive, something that won’t quit on you after a few uses, things that will often last a lifetime… and beyond… things that you can pass along to the next generation even.

Our brushes come from Sweden, from a company that employs the visually impaired to make them, provides good living wages and a respectful career for them… and have been doing so for over 70 years. Our cookware comes from Austria, form a factory that has been making enamelware the same way for over 500 years. Everything from production to shipment is done in an ecofriendly way (via steamship). These are companies that have the same values as I do, making quality products, safe for you, safe for the environment and treating their employees ethically. Nothing comes in the shop without passing 3 big questions; is it functional? Is it environmentally friendly? Is the company it comes from ethical? That always results in high quality products, built to last & beautiful to look at.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We sell everyday essential items for the home and life. Our soaps come from France, they have been made the same way, in large cauldrons, for 170 years. There are 5 ingredients, all of them natural, and the final soap makers step is a taste test. These are soaps for your face, body, hair, as well as all purpose cleaning sprays and detergents. Many of the tools in our shop are made by hand, much of them from protected forested woods, using all natural horsehairs and goat hairs, providing the best materials for each specific job. There are brushes for your dishes, bicycles, record players, computers, and anything else you can imagine needs an occasional scrubbing. I love3 watching customers dig through the inventory, giggling at the wide array of tools for any endevor… then suddenly wondering how they have lived without a radiator brush for so long. My favorite thing is to have them come back and say, you know, I purchased a ___ brush here last year, and I honestly use it every single day. We never give customers a hard time about returns, but honestly, we rarely receive them The products are so well made, by companies that have been using the same techniques for decades, or even centuries. They know what they’re doing.

Finally, we have had offers to expand, go corporate, further our reach, but I like being small. I like that if you have a question, you can call the shop and get a real human on the phone. Oftentimes, me. I like slowing it down and getting back to the basics, and I want my business model to reflect that.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My husband and I started our 1st business (a restaurant) on our own. We didn’t have investors or capital- we had a home that we refinanced and used that to purchase the restaurants property. It’s in the neighborhood we live in, which was important to us to invest in our own community. When you live there and work there, you get to know your customers and neighbors on a much deeper level. You care a lot more about crosswalks and trees being planted… we have managed to get a few garbage bins insta;;ed from the city on Fullerton Ave, that took us 4 years to achieve. If we didn’t live here and work here, we wouldn’t have the same stake in it. I think that’s important – if you are driving 45 min in and out from work, you’re disconnected to the community in a way. Thankfully our restaurant did well and we were able to reinvest those earnings back into the neighborhood by buying the building next door, where my shop resides. I sent a year purchasing merchandise and building up stock levels before opening. A little here and a little there, whenever I had the funds to do so. It was 2020 when I intended on opening, but that never happened, so I spent those days doing more research and gathering more inventory. When I finally opened, I had faked out so much of the product because I really didn’t have much. I tried to make it look full, but had to hustle on replenishment orders to slowly build up my supply.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The obvious one is covid. We had a restaurant that was in its 3rd or 4th year when covid hit. Things were going really well and bam- we had to close. We suddenly couldn’t seat anyone inside and thankfully had a large outdoor patio. We brought in heaters and had fire pits everywhere, provided wool blankets for guests to sit outside in the freezing winter months. We started delivering groceries and family meals, paper towels and toilet paper. Anything we could do keep things moving. You have to be able to pivot and keep it rolling in this industry. My shop took a backseat (we were supposed to open in 2020), so I just kept building up my inventory levels and pushing forward to the day we would finally be able to open.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://loganmercantile.com
• Instagram: @LoganMercantile
• Other: 3505 W Fullerton Ave
  312-776-2987

Image Credits

Wade Hall