Business: Evereve
Address: 50 S. Main St., Naperville
Phone/website: 630-995-3530; www.evereve.com
Store Manager: Megan Lichtenegger, 29, of Villa Park; Inventory Specialist: Karen Roche, 60, of Naperville; Senior Regional Director: Megan Callan, 42, of Batavia; Assistant Store Manager: Lee Ann Hind, 62, of Aurora
Years in business: 17
What does your business do? “Evereve is a stylist company. Women come in here and tell us anything they want about their life and what they’re shopping for. We style outfits for them, but we do not work on commission,” Lichtenegger said.
“Trendsend is our subscription. It’s like Stitch Fix but better because (customers) are actually in a store, touching product,” she said.
How many Evereve stores are there? “We have 11 stores in Illinois,” Callan said. There are more than 100 in 30 states, according to the company’s website.
What should we know? “It’s neat to know that Evereve has done an amazing job of representing women of all ages, all colors, all sizes,” Lichtenegger said.
What happens when a woman walks in? “We ask for a few details about her life. What does she do for work? Is she a stay-at-home mom? How is she feeling about her denim collection, because we specialize in denim. … We’ll ask her more questions or start showing her different products around the store and try to get a feel for what her actual style is,” Lichtenegger said.
How do you tactfully offer style advice? “We have a heart focus. Part of our heart values is authenticity. With that, we’re given the freedom to be honest in a kind way.
“Say that she comes out (of the fitting room) and, to be honest, we don’t love how it looks. How we phrase that is, ‘How do you feel about this?’ She looks at it and says, ‘You know, I’m not in love.’ We can say, ‘I agree, I think we have something better for you,’” Lichtenegger said. “What matters more than our opinion is how she feels in it. We listen to what she says first.”
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What does an inventory specialist do? “I kind of run the backroom. We get deliveries of product every day. That means we have to check it in, tag it, steam in, get it on the floor. … We’re a fulfillment store,” Hind said.
“There’s a huge backroom,” she added.
Where is the clothing from? “Our clothing comes from many different vendors. We have dozens and also have our own in-house Evereve brand too,” Roche said.
What about online? “When people place orders on our website, they will be allocated to the store nearest to them. We’ll never fully compete with Amazon, but our goal is that if someone orders and they live in Naperville, we can package it up and they get it in a couple days,” Lichtenegger said.
“We don’t have stores everywhere so it’s nice that people can order online and can get clothing shipped to them where we don’t have a store,” Roche said.
What about pricing? “The cheapest outfit would be around $115. We have something for everybody and we do have a clearance section,” Lichtenegger said.
What do you like best about your job? “My job is (organizing) the fundraisers and style parties here,” Hind said. “Community outreach. We work with organizations, small local businesses. We set up a day with them. They send out invites. People come in and shop. Fifteen percent of all their purchases are donated to their organization. We’ve worked with the Naperville Humane Society, schools, boosters.”
“Lee Ann has grown us to be the top fundraiser store in the company. Lee Ann has only been with us since November, so that’s a lot to do. She also coordinates our Girls Night Out parties,” Lichtenegger said.
Girls Night Out? “They snack, they shop and get 15% off their purchases,” Hind said.
What are your hours? “We’re open from 10 to 7 Monday through Saturday and from 11 to 5 on Sunday,” Lichtenegger said.
What’s the background? “We started as Hot Mama. You didn’t want to Google it. We’d never own the web address because some gentleman who was in jail for whatever (owns it). … The name was changed to Evereve (in 2014),” Callan said.
What’s your advice for someone starting a business? “Don’t be afraid to try something that failed again. Say I tried selling belts. Nobody bought them. Take a pause. Try it again,” Lichtenegger said.
“Care about people. You can have a really great product and if you don’t care about the people working with you or your customers, it doesn’t matter how great your product is,” Callan said.
“Surround yourself with good people,” Roche said.
“Embrace the community, especially in a town like Naperville,” Hind said.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun. If you know of a business you’d like to see profiled in Down to Business, contact him at [email protected].