Love Compels Glen Ellyn Resident to Reopen Her Mother's Lingerie Boutique

Tucked away in the retail spaces sitting on the corner of Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Glen Ellyn are fond family memories for Kathryn Hudson. Her mother owned a gift shop on that corner for 15 years prior to opening a lingerie boutique. Hudson spent many hours as a teen, and as an adult, helping her family's stores become successful--it was a labor of love.

Her mother sold the lingerie shop in 1999 to retire with her husband and Hudson pursued other interests. One day, Hudson was walking by the old lingerie shop and saw the doors were shuttered. The owners were out of business and the shop was closed. 

Behind those closed doors was where Hudson spent almost every day for five years working with her mother after leaving behind a public relations job in Chicago. Now, to see the door closed, just next door to the same retail space her mom previously owned, Daffy Down Dilly, left her with an unexplainable feeling.

"I wasn't expecting how that was going to make me feel," said Hudson. "So I decided to bring it back to life."

The adoration she had for her mother encouraged her to take the leap and once again open the lingerie boutique, , in the downtown space in 2002.

Since then the economic outlook for small business owners became bleak and at times scary, but it's the niche market her and her mother carved out that helped her stay afloat. Despite shrinking disposal incomes, many regulars viewed her store's items, and services, as must-haves. 

"An investment in a good bra is going to pay off in the end, so many didn't want to go back, and go to a discount store and get a cheaper bra because they knew it wouldn't be comfortable, and it wouldn't look as good, and it would wear out faster." 

For the past week, Hudson has been selling items to those preparing for the one time of year when almost everyone is thinking about lingerie--Valentine's Day. However, Hudson wants her store to be a source of confidence for women every day of the year. 

For most women, a bra is the first garment they put on in the morning and Hudson says nothing compares to making women feel beautiful. 

"Life can get tricky enough, we might as well feel good."