In 1888, the Village Market in the North Shore town of Lake Bluff officially opened for business. (Hooray! Fresh eggs!) Today, the market still stands, refreshed by a structural and spiritual restoration to its turn-of-the-century roots and by some updated offerings. (Hooray! Fresh gnocchi! Double hooray! Wine tastings!)
The new owners of The Village Market, longtime Lake Bluff residents Sue and Rob Douglass, have lovingly renovated the small-town general store. With its welcoming shelves of candy, fresh fruit, vegetables and assorted dry goods–albeit the 21st Century kind–the shop is reminiscent of Sam Drucker’s neighborly establishment on the old “Green Acres” TV show (no Hooterville comparison intended).
In a nod to the demands of today’s families, the Douglasses also stock an array of locally prepared to-go dinner entrees, and they have created a back-of-the-store wine room emphasizing small wineries and drink-now prices. The market’s Saturday afternoon tastings, hosted by the Douglasses with one of their numerous wine distributors, have become locally famous.
“We concentrate on the small boutique vineyards,” says Sue. “Wines I am loving right now are a 2005 white Bordeaux, Chateau Vignol Entre-Deux-Mers at $11.99, and a 2005 Pinot Noir and Gamay blend, Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf for $14.99. I love that part of this job–finding reasonably priced wines that make you happy.”
Of course, pleasing the grownups is only part of the balancing act that comes with being a village institution. During the renovation, “Every time I turned around someone asked me, ‘Are you still going to have candy?'” says Sue of the first question she got from every “Bluffie” she met. At 5 p.m. last July 2, the store reopened with 30 kids standing outside, their anticipation palpable. Luckily, staying current on the sweets pipeline has not been a problem. “My daughter keeps me informed about what the newest candy is,” says Sue, referring to her 9-year-old consultant.
“The concept of a general store is a bit of a dinosaur,” admits Rob, an architect who relocated his firm’s offices, Lake Effect Architects, to space above the market, “but Lake Bluff is unique. People support us. They take ownership of this store.” With a circa-1900 photograph of the place as his blueprint, Rob stripped the building down to its Victorian-era bones. “It had so many Band-Aids on it, it needed to be completely gutted,” he says. A 1950s coat of white paint on the exterior was chemically removed, revealing the store’s handsome original brick facade, and Sue now greets customers from behind a gleaming mahogany counter.
“Lake Bluff is experiencing a mini-Renaissance,” says Rob, noting that the romantic little Frost and Granger-designed train station around the corner from the store just received landmark status. Picking up his photo of the old market, Rob points to a crisply aproned figure, the shop’s original butcher, standing proudly out front.
This week a shining new butcher shop opened at the rear of the store. “The butcher is back,” says Rob with a laugh. “It completes the circle.”
