'Full Circle Moment': Lifelong Mokena Woman To Open Boutique In Town

MOKENA, IL — Mokena resident Carly Baranak has long dreamt of the moment she could swing open the door of her very own boutique.

It's even sweeter that it's about to happen in the town where she's spent most of her life.

Baranak, of popular online boutique Hustle & Heart, has signed a lease on a spot on Front Street in downtown Mokena—the same street where she can so clearly recall riding her bike as a kid.

"I’m just so excited to be right on Front Street," Baranak said. "The perfect location!"

It's a big step for Baranak, who first started the boutique out of her home in 2017. She worked as a stay-at-home mom to her and husband Brandon's four children: twin girls, a son, and another daughter.

"I was never able to have a storefront, because I had four little kids," Baranak told Patch. "It was online, out of my house."

Inventory was stored in her garage, renovated over time into a mini-warehouse to accommodate her growing customer base. She and a business partner weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, riding out the tough waves that hit businesses.

"The last couple of years have just been a little iffy with the market," Baranak said.

Now seven years in and her kids ranging in age from 10 years old to a sophomore in high school, the Lincoln-Way East and Mokena and Mokena District 159 alum kept feeling an urge to take a leap and open up an actual shop.

"I feel so led to just do it, jump into it," she told Patch.

She first toured the space at 11041 Front St. a year ago, but things didn't quite fall into place. She looked around, considered other spaces including one in Frankfort.

"I just kept getting drawn back to that building," she said.

Recently, she reached back out to her realtor, and the space on Front Street was still available, and in fact, the rent had dropped some.

She couldn't pass it up this time.

"I’m most excited to put faces to my customers, to be able to help them in person," Baranak said. "I love helping style people, dressing people. The most passionate part of the business, I was never even able to do (when only online).

"... I just feel like it’s a full circle moment, I grew up going to the pharmacy in downtown Mokena riding my bike, the streets that I grew up playing on, now I’m going to be owning my own store on."

Baranak carries a wide range of styles: loungewear and activewear, all the way to a cocktail dress for a wedding.

"My bread and butter is a cute top and jeans," she said. "That’s the main thing we sell."

She stocks several well-known brands like Judy Blue and Kancan jeans. She also just launched a "trucker hat bar," where customers—kids and adults—can design and create their own custom trucker hats, using handpicked patches and logos.

As a small business owner, she also plans to carry other smaller brands, such as a small candle business bringing in candles in July, and another business that offers customized lip colors. She plans to partner with businesses like Lashology Skin and Beauty Bar, and Zap! Taco House in creating girls' nights events.

"Events and stuff like that, trying to make downtown Mokena a little bit more of a fun place," she said.

Entrepreneurship is a shared passion with Baranak and her husband, also a Lincoln-Way East alum who owns Design-A-Deck, a deck and outdoor living company also based in Mokena. The two have known each other since second grade, but didn't start dating until after high school. Both have families with roots in Mokena, and chose to stay there to raise their own: 10-year-old twin daughters Paisley and Payton, eighth grader son Owen, and Lincoln-Way East sophomore daughter Charli.

"We just always loved Mokena," she said. "It’s a great town, great community, still has that small-town feel."

It turns out the timing has been right every step of the way, Baranak said.

"I feel I’ve been so blessed," she said. "We had our kids right away. Everything felt like it was part of God’s plan: I stayed home, raised my babies, worked from home.

"And now they’re finally of the age, it’s still going well and I can have a storefront."

Even better, Charli and all of her friends want to work for her, Baranak said. Her twins can't wait to be at the store with her, too.

"It’s going to be a fun summer opening up, because everyone’s excited about it," she said.

She's hoping for a late-May opening, but she tells fans to keep an eye on her Facebook and Instagram for the latest on an exact date.

"I want it to be perfect," she said. "I don’t want to rush it."

She's thankful for a loyal customer base that's kept her dream thriving online for seven years.

",,, I’m blessed, I’m so excited, I’ve been really lucky," she said. "I have the best customers ever. I’ve been online for so long, shopping online is not the easiest. They’ve all stuck with me for seven years online.

"... I’m so happy to shop with them more. I’m so excited to meet them."

Hustle & Heart will be located at 11041 Front St., Suite A. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram for the latest on an opening date.