Lynn Brodsky can’t resist a little gallows humor typical of business owners who are closing shop.
Over the Top, the Highland Park women’s boutique she co-owns with her husband Gene, has been packed with customers — many of them former regulars – ever since the couple announced their retirement sale.
“Where have they been?” Brodsky laughed. “We might have been able to stay open.”
Over the Top opened in March 1989. The Brodskys had operated Pioneer Court restaurant on Michigan Avenue in Chicago for more than a decade. When their first son was 9 months old, they decided to move to Highland Park. A family friend who operated a women’s clothing store in Florida suggested that his kind of store—every kind of top– would be “a natural” for Highland Park and the North Shore, Brodsky said.
Jumping “from the frying pan into the fire,” the Brodskys set up shop in the original Once Upon a Bagel space at 1866 1st St., eventually expanding into the space next door occupied by a shoe repair store. Why Highland Park?
“We lived here, and I’m a big believer in supporting local business and supporting local community,” Brodsky said. “I liked being close to home. It gave us the best chance of making a success out of our store.”
Over the Top specialized in exclusive brands and manufacturers that customers would not readily find in department stores or even the Internet, Brodsky said. “We felt the North Shore doesn’t want to see themselves coming and going.”
But what set Over the Top apart, she said, was customer service. “If you go to a department store, you’re not going to get (the kind of personalized) customer service we offer,” she said. “It is important to be honest with people about how they look. We were not going to let them leave if they didn’t look good in something we sold them. You have to be honest with your customers.”
The Brodskys cultivated a family atmosphere. One employee has worked there for 17 years, another for eight. Judy Zamost, who passed away, worked there for 15 years and was instrumental with helping to grow the store, Brodsky said of her “best friend.”
Gene Brodsky is 74, Lynn, 69. “We wanted to go out on top while we both feel good and are healthy enough to travel,” she said. “Two of our three sons are in Oregon. We have five grandchildren we don’t see enough.”
Over the Top was the quintessential mom and pop store of a type that seems to be disappearing from small towns like Highland Park, Brodsky lamented. “Highland Park has become too corporate and too generic,” she said. “It’s losing its specialty store feel. Unfortunately, that’s becoming a thing of the past. Highland Park has kept its small town feel more than others on the North Shore. They offer great entertainment at Port Clinton and they really try to bring the town together. But it’s getting tougher and tougher.”
The Brodskys are still selling clothes and fixtures and don’t plan to close the store until “maybe Thanksgiving.” The past week has been “bittersweet” as well-wishing customers say their goodbyes. Northbrook resident Carol Bookman originally found Over the Top through word of mouth and has been a regular shopper through the decades. “I’m happy for them in their retirement, but very sad for myself,” she offered. “The store was fantastic, one of a kind and they are wonderful people. They’re going to leave a void.”
“We have wonderful, terrific customers,” Brodsky said. “Part of the problem is that 75 percent of them now are gone from mid-October to mid-May, and even though we have great clothes for them, their adult children, ages 40-50, don’t want to shop where their mother shops. But we want the people to know how much we appreciate them. This past week has made us feel nostalgic about how great and supportive everybody is. It’s been a real love affair.
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