Business: Dance’N Tees
Address: 3124 S. Route 59, Naperville
Phone/website: 630-904-4433, www.dancentees.com
Owners: Judy Purcell, 80, of Algonquin
Years in business? 38 years overall, 12 in Naperville. She also owns stores in Crystal Lake and Schaumburg.
What does your business do? “Basically, it’s retail sales of dance shoes and apparel. We also have sportswear, silk screen printing of T-shirts. … We do almost anything we can to sustain the business. … We also do gymnastics (gear),” Purcell said.
How did you get started? “My kids were dancers. Three girls. I had a T-shirt store and the dance teacher thought it would be advantageous to add shoes and dancewear. She was an experienced dancer. … She showed me how to fit the shoes and we went from there … We took one corner of the store and turned it into dancewear.”
How has the virus impacted your business? “I lost a store to COVID. It was in Libertyville. The lease was up, he was going to sell the location. And with COVID, I needed to downsize. So, I sacrificed one (store) to save three, hopefully. … We were closed for 10 weeks. Curbside pickup does not work for dance. … I’m trying to make it work. … We’ve lost all the dance conventions because virtual doesn’t work for that. … I’m trying not to lose a business after these many years because of COVID. I’m stubborn.”
Why not retire? “I like the business a lot. Two of my daughters work for me full time. … My husband sits at home. I don’t want to sit at home.”
What misconceptions do people have? “I don’t think they have any. It’s definitely a destination store.”
What’s good about being here? “Naperville has a lot of young families and a lot of large dance studios. They’ve vibrant, into competitions, the latest fashions. They’re up on the newest stuff.”
Any negatives to the job? “Anything I don’t like? Not really. Most of my customers are really nice people. The hardest part of my job is keeping up with the inventory and the book work.”
What challenges do you face? “Online is out there, but we try to give them really good customer service so they’ll come back. … Luckily for us, dancers are procrastinators. Even though Amazon and some of them can ship overnight, they don’t have all of the products. Some of our suppliers don’t sell on Amazon, so (customers) have to come to us, or another dancewear store. … I had a customer last night who came from Libertyville to the Schaumburg store because she is going on to a professional dance company in Florida. I have a name that I built.”
Are there many stores like yours? “We do have competitors. Again, we try to give (customers) the greatest service we can give them and carry the best products. They either like us or they don’t.”
When are you busy? “August and September. And in January when it’s back to school again. Then we have recitals in May and June. COVID has changed that quite a bit because we did dance conventions between our busy times. … All my conventions in the summer and fall were canceled. I’m holding out for one in December.”
Are there many male dancers? “Sure. They’re out there. … They’re mostly downtown (Chicago).”
What’s your advice for someone starting a business? “Don’t do it. Not unless they want to work 80 hours a week. … They better do a lot of research. There’s a lot to learn.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
