Rain and wind provided a considerable challenge to the Oak Brook Artisan Market, which debuted over the weekend at Oakbrook Center.
But shoppers and some of the 70 vendors still considered the set up in the mall’s village green area a positive experience and said they plan to return as scheduled Aug. 10-11 and Oct. 5-6. Hours of operation for the market are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the Saturday of each weekend and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the Sundays.
“You cannot control the weather,” said Maria Belokurova of Chicago, who sold handmade, upcycled leather earrings. “I work in the mall at Neiman Marcus, so I know a lot of people come here, and I thought it was a great opportunity to expose my products.”
Joseph Meyer, who owns a store in Evanston, Ten Thousand Villages, said he felt Oakbrook Center would be a good place to sell his merchandise.
Ten Thousand Villages is a fair trade retailer of artisan-crafted home decor, jewelry, accessories and gift items from around the world. Fair trade is a trading partnership that seeks greater equity in international trade.
“Oak Brook was a fair trade desert,” Meyer said. “With all of the retail stores in Oak Brook, we saw that fair trade was missing. The demographic made sense, it’s a good market for us.”
Chicago Tribune Sports
Lynna Smith, who, along with her husband, Jonathan, operates the Oak Brook Artisan Market, said Sunday the weather related issues frustrated her on the market’s first weekend.
“Saturday was just terrible, with the strong winds just practically coming out of nowhere,” she said. “The wind and rain made it difficult for everyone, but we’ll be back, hopefully with much better weather.”
Dan Martin of Chicago came Sunday to check out the artisan market in Oak Brook and said he definitely will return in August.
“I really like these types of markets and have been to many in the Chicago area in the past,” Martin said. “You can tell the weather didn’t help things here at all, but there are some really nice vendors, and it’s a very good location for something like this.”
The Smiths worked about 1½ years to put the Oak Brook Artisan Market together. The couple has been operating the Chicago Artisan Market in the Fulton Market neighborhood for five years.
The vendor focus is on fashion, packaged foods, home goods and art, said Jonathan Smith.
This isn’t the first time Oakbrook Center hosted an outside market. The Christkindlmarket made the mall home in 2007 and 2008, and again in 2014 and 2015.