Bachabee’s is a gift boutique in the Verlare Shopping Center at 116 West Vallette Street that’s been in Elmhurst for over four decades. They carry a curated collection of gifts, keepsakes, jewelry, greeting cards, fine paper goods, ribbons, and charming accessories. The selection changes constantly with items personally sourced from gift shows and artisan vendors.
Origin Story
In 1984, Tina Heckel and her mother, Mary Anne Loftsgaarden, opened a tiny consignment store on Montrose Avenue in Elmhurst’s Spring Road Business District called “Once Upon a Time,” filled with handmade items from local crafters and artisans. Tina had discovered her passion for retail years earlier when she tagged along to gift shows with a flower shop owner on Spring Road and learned the art of buying and curating a selection.
When the business grew and the name kept getting mixed up with other shops, they rechristened it Bachabee’s, a word Tina had invented as a little girl to describe birds.
After Mary Anne passed away in December 2010, Tina eventually found a new home for the shop at 116 West Vallette Street in September 2012, where Bachabee’s has flourished ever since as a tribute to the mother-daughter dream that started it all.