You don’t have to be a cowboy or rancher to enjoy a visit to Lambert’s Leathers and Things.
Every inch of the long, narrow leather supply shop in downtown Grayslake is filled with an intriguing array of leather goods and accessories. Walls, counters and shelves brim with animal skins, tools, kits, beads, silver jewelry, moccasins and much more.
If working in leather is a hobby or business, you’ll find everything you need to get the job done. If you aren’t a do-it-yourselfer or don’t find what you want in the store, owner Fran Lambert will be happy to create a custom job for you in her tiny workshop at the rear of the store. She regularly makes fringed purses, wallets, eyeglass cases, saddlebags or pouches.
Lambert said she was more or less born into the business. She was raised on her grandfather’s 580 wooded acres on the Maryland-West Virginia state line, seven miles from Camp David. She learned how to trap, hunt and produce her own tack for horses after the estate was turned into a hunting lodge.
Thirty-five years ago she and her husband Rex moved to the Chicago area and 18 years later they opened the store as a business that they could continue after his retirement. She ran the business alone until three years ago, when he retired. Now he works with her in the shop much more often.
Ninety-five percent of the merchandise she sells is available in the store, and whatever isn’t can be obtained from a large catalog, Lambert said.
Animal hides are priced by the square foot, but sold by the full piece, usually a full side (half of an animal) in sizes averaging 22 to 26 square feet. Prices differ depending on whether the hide is deerskin, snake skin, pigskin or cowhide.
Craft kits differ in the degree of difficulty in the stamping and tooling, but even kids can find kits tailored to their abilities.
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Lambert’s Leather and Things, at 141 Center St. in Grayslake, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Call 708-223-4447.
