When Julia Ziller was growing up in Aurora during the 1990s, she dreamed of being able to go downtown by herself.
But her parents didn’t allow it.
She was musing about that recently as she took in the new Wyckwood House and Bar at 80 S. River St., excitedly saying the boutique and after-work lounge is just one of many symbols of the comeback of downtown Aurora.
“It’s so nice to see my little baby dream come true,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for this my whole adult life.”
Ziller is a friend and associate of Wyckwood founder and owner Shannon Gutierrez, which is how she found herself at the Wyckwood VIP event on Thursday. On Friday, the public got its first look at the new Wyckwood during downtown’s First Fridays event.
All told, the reviews are positive.
“I’m grateful for what Shannon has done,” Ziller said.
What Shannon Gutierrez has done is found a business, then expand it, in downtown Aurora. She exemplifies both an optimism in the rebirth of downtown, and in what people are hoping is the beginning of a post-pandemic world.
Gutierrez founded Wyckwood as an online business, doing occasional pop-up retail events. When she decided to turn it into a regular retail business in 2018, she chose a storefront on Downer Place, where the store blossomed into a successful, trendy boutique, specializing in small, specialized, local vendors.
In that way, Gutierrez not only showed faith in downtown Aurora as the place to start a business, but Wyckwood House became somewhat of an incubator for small businesses to grow and make their mark.
“It was sort of, we can do this, you can do this,” Gutierrez said. “I think there’s a lot of power in community, and I think the Aurora community is something special.
“It’s not just the people who live here, but the business community too.”
There was plenty of proof of that at the boutique’s opening, from the charcuterie provided by Chi-cuterie, a new business getting set to open in the former Moveable Feast building in downtown Geneva, to the balloons and in-store signs designed by Aurora-based graphic designer Sarah Cervantes.
Wyckwood carries some of Cervantes’ artwork – the store made her messaged coffee mugs popular – and Cervantes designed Wyckwood’s labels that adorn the store’s curated line of everything from clothing to candles.
After her success on Downer Place, Gutierrez opened a second store in downtown Wheaton in 2020, and then decided to expand her flagship location in Aurora.
The new location, at 80 S. River St., is in the former West Aurora School District offices that have been remodeled into apartments, the home for Kluber Architects, and now the home for the new Wyckwood.
The new Wyckwood House includes more than just the signature boutique, but also a bar and lounge for after-work meetings and happy hour socializing.
And Wyckwood is just one of a number of businesses downtown either opening or expanding as the pandemic seems to ease. Also holding a grand reopening during First Fridays was the Cotton Seed Creative Exchange at 64 S. River St., just down the street from the new Wyckwood.
The urban retail spot features local artisans, vinyl records, gift items and more.
Owner Yvonne Toney-Thompson moved to a larger location from Broadway – another business started and now expanding downtown.
With Craft Urban restaurant moving closer to opening, another restaurant, Stolp Island Social at Stolp Avenue and Galena Boulevard is staging its reopening as well.
The restaurant closed during the pandemic as a means of staying open eventually, once the Paramount Theatre next door restarted its shows.
The restaurant has opened at 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
It has now begun opening at 10:30 a.m. for brunch and lunch on the Wednesdays and Saturdays the Paramount features afternoon matinees, and also every Sunday.
On Sundays, the brunch is from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., switching to Sunday supper at 3 p.m.
It’s all enough to make someone like Ziller – who can come downtown any time she wants now – wave her hand in a forward motion.
“It’s like they say: Aurora forward,” she said with a smile.
