The Hijab Vault Now Open In Skokie, 2nd Location For Unique Boutique

SKOKIE, IL — A thriving hijab-only boutique opened its second location Saturday in Skokie, with customers and local elected officials on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Hijab Vault, now open at 4843 Oakton St., first began as an online business, with occasional sales at conventions or pop-up events, according to founder Juwairiyah Kholwadia.

Needing somewhere with space for her growing inventory, Kholwadia found a vacant storefront at 330 E. Roosevelt Road in Lombard and opened up shop in a 1,200-square-foot space.

"I had no intention of really opening up a store because, for me, I was putting all of my focus on online," Kholwadia told Patch. "But it just really hit off, the Lombard store, so I was managing both online and brick-and-mortar."

After the business reopened to in-person sales after closures associated with the coronavirus pandemic, online sales dwindled but in-store purchases "skyrocketed," and Kholwadia needed to expand the store.

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Luckily, there was adjoining space on offer from her landlord, allowing her to expand to a total of 2,200 square feet in Lombard.

In late 2022, Kholwadia shuttered her online store to focus on in-person sales, though she aims to resume selling hijabs online in the coming years.

"One of the reasons why I really needed to close my online store is because I was very limited with space for my online inventory," she said. "And so for me, it just made more sense for me to expand the business locally."

After spending more than a year looking for another location for the Hijab Vault to expand, Kholwadia found the recently opened Oakton Street store — though she had initially visited the area to review another, smaller available storefront — and signed a lease in January.

Kholwadia prides herself on personalizing her customers' experience, helping women match scarves to outfits for special occasions like weddings and graduations. Some have been known to bring in bags of their clothes to find the perfectly matching scarfs.

The Hijab Vault sources products from Turkey, China, Kuwait and Jordan, updating its stock seasonally and as style trends change. It also offers ranges of custom printed patterns.

“Printed scarves are making a huge comeback now into the community,” Kholwadia said.

Several local elected officials attended last weekend's ribbon-cutting event at the new Skokie location of the Hijab Vault, including one previous customer — District 73.5 School Board Member Bushra Amiwala.

"As someone who would drive 45+min to Lombard just to shop at the Hijab Vault’s physical storefront, I could not be more excited that their second location is in Skokie," Amiwala told Patch. "The ability to feel the different hijab fabrics and see what shade looks best on me is something I can only do in person."

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The founder of the hijab-only boutiques, which also carry accessories like pins and brooches, has chosen not to expand into selling clothing. Instead, she keeps her store and staff specialized on scarves.

Kholwadia, of Glendale Heights, said the recent opening of the new store on Oakton Street was more difficult logistically than when she first opened up on Roosevelt Road, even though she now has the benefit of a half-dozen years of experience running the boutique.

"When I opened up Lombard, I didn't have much stock, I didn't have much inventory, actually. Now, six years later, I have a lot more, I have like 100 styles now and each style has 10 to 25 colors, probably," she said. "So bringing all of that over to Skokie was just difficult."

The Skokie location has hired two new salespeople ahead of its grand opening, and Kholwadia said she is still looking for a couple more. She said her focus is making sure her customers are able to find what they are looking for and walk out of her store happy.

“We really love that women can walk out the door by not only honoring their faith but reflecting their individuality and sense of style," she said. "And so we always like to keep our customers happy that way.”