Geneva Merchant of the Week

I felt like a thorn among roses at last Wednesday’s Merchant of the Week event at Villa Verone. The two businesses featured last week, Jane Pabon Boutique and V Fusion Studio, are both owned and operated by smart, talented, and beautiful women, who are deeply passionate about their work. I had the opportunity to talk to them a bit about their work that evening. I tried not to sound too ignorant, and they graciously pretended not to notice.

Admittedly, I am a complete idiot when it comes to fashion. Despite years of accompanying Dorothy on missions to find clothing to augment her wardrobe, I am still baffled by the entire process. Women have the uncanny ability to recall their entire clothing inventory and to quickly determine what items a new purchase will match. When Dorothy asks me if I think something will go with something she has in her closet, I have no idea. I try to offer up some sort of thoughtful opinion, but it’s obvious from the expression on her face that I’m clueless. My only saving grace on these outings is that I carry the bags.

Jane Pabon and Christina Stammen, the owners of , and their assistant Rochelle Smith, were very gracious as they patiently explained to me what they do. Jane and Christina opened up their boutique at 220 South Third Street about a year ago after they outgrew their space at Century Corners in St. Charles. Mike Simon worked diligently with them to find a suitable location here and advocated for a zoning change to allow resale shops on Third Street. Jane Pabon Boutique sells new and gently used upscale women’s clothing and accessories on consignment. Jane has an extensive background in fashion consulting and Christina specializes in reworking vintage jewelry into unique pieces to complement the outfits they sell.

Jane and Christina insist on selling only the finest quality clothing made from natural fabrics such as silk, cotton and wool. Many of the items they sell, such as the Dolce and Gabbana top Jane was wearing, you can’t get anywhere else in the area. They feel that women should have clothes that they can use to dress up or dress down and they should be able to get 5 – 10 years of wear from those clothes. Jane and Christina love working with their customers to find just the right combination of clothing and accessories that suits the person and the occasion.

They also offer closet consultations to help women determine what outfits they can put together with their current wardrobe and what clothing they might have that they shouldn’t wear. Jane says that many times women have too many clothes and it can be overwhelming trying to decide what to wear. She stresses versatility and function over quantity when choosing clothing.

Part of what they like about Geneva is a “concierge” quality of service that many of the shops, including their own, offer. Jane feels a lot of shop owners go above and beyond their customers’ expectations. For example, they had a woman come in to buy a dress to wear to the Emmys and they helped her find a hairdresser in Los Angeles to do her hair before the awards ceremony. Rochelle once gave a thirsty customer the soda she’d set aside for her own lunch. Try getting that kind of service or attention in a big box store.

Future plans may include some men’s apparel. Christina thinks they could experiment with vintage men’s jewelry, such as watches and rings, which would be interesting and wouldn’t require a lot of space. After the first year here, the shop is doing very well and they are drawing customers from outside the area. We can only hope that this is just the first of many successful years Jane Pabon will have in Geneva.

Vicky Waterman is the owner of V Fusion Studio at 129 ½ State Street, which specializes in fitness training programs that include XTend Barre, Zumba, Pilates, yoga, and TRX. Vicky’s path to her current role as owner and one of the instructors at V Fusion did not exactly follow the plans she had for a career in ballet. But she has taken her passion for dance in a direction that has been rewarding and satisfying as well as challenging.

Vicky began dancing at the age of five and took formal ballet training classes at Ruth Page and Stone-Camryn School of Ballet. She won a scholarship at the age of 16 to study at the American Ballet Theater in New York, one of the premier ballet schools in the whole world. She had a deal with her Dad that she would give the ballet a try for three years and if it didn’t work out, she’d go to college instead. But her Dad had a stroke at the age of 46 and those plans fell apart.

Vicky cut her ballet studies short and went to the University of Illinois where she earned a BS in Marketing. During college she also performed with the Chicago Ballet. By the time she graduated from college, though, it was too late to begin a career in ballet. She worked in sales and marketing for Motorola and Xerox and later married and ran a small construction business from a home office while raising her two children. When her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, Vicky closed down her business and brought her mother to live with her so they could spend more time together.

Vicky trained in Pilates at The Physical Mind Institute and taught Pilates classes for more than a dozen years. But her thoughts were never very far from her first love – dance. She combined her training in dance with her Pilates training to create a unique form of exercise that combines elements of dance, Pilates, and yoga.

When Vicky discovered she had the hereditary genetic marker for ovarian and breast cancers, she underwent preventive surgery, which left her unable to exercise at the same level she had before the surgery. But Vicky has always managed to rise above whatever challenge life sends her way and the surgery was no exception.

She now teaches Xtend barre classes at her studio. This high energy, low impact exercise program makes use of the ballet barre, playground balls, hand held weights, and yoga straps and is safe and effective for all ages. She even has an 84-year old woman in one of her classes. The program has a couple of different levels, but most people can work out at whatever level they choose.

Vicky has lived in Geneva with her family since 1995 and her studio on State Street has been open for about a year now. Her training in Pilates has taught her the importance of the mind and body connection. Perhaps dancers have always been aware of this connection since dance requires such great discipline and precise control of body movement. Many of the first students of Pilates were dancers. But more importantly, I think her approach to life in general has made Vicky successful at everything she has tried.

I was also fortunate to meet Shari Ralish, owner of Peaceful Parlour at 212 South Third Street. Peaceful Parlour sells organic clothing, jewelry and toys made from recycled materials, rain barrels and rain benches, and tree free paper and journals, Seventy percent of the products they sell are made in the United States. They also sell cacao that does not have added sugars and retains the magnesium, iron, anti-oxidants and other healthy stuff that gets processed out of regular chocolate. Shari told me that Peaceful Parlour has been added to the Geneva Chocolate Tour.

This Friday, October 7th, will be hosting Twilight on the Terrace, featuring guitarists Julie Patchouli and Bruce Hecksel from 6 to 9 PM. Shari took advantage of the Geneva Outdoor Music Grant program to help bring Patchouli to Geneva. Patchouli ought to be a natural for Patch readers.

This coming Wednesday, October 5th, Villa Verone will host Stockholm’s Restaurant and micro-brewery.