‘It’s been a nightmare’ — GILDA Designer Thrift Boutique closes due to burst pipes, store flooding | News

“I was born into fashion. My mother was a designer, my grandmother was a pattern maker and my uncle upholstered cars. So I was always around fabrics and design,” said Gilda Norris, as she fingered through an assortment of earrings amid her shop’s last days in business. As Norris reminisced, “I Say a Little Prayer” by Aretha Franklin played softly on a speaker in GILDA Designer Thrift Boutique, 1553 E. Hyde Park Blvd.

After seven years in business in Hyde Park, Norris is closing her boutique and leaving the neighborhood altogether due to combination homesickness and in-store flooding that has plagued the shop for almost a year.

Born in New York City and raised between Staten Island and Long Island, Norris attended Howard University. She ran a thrift store in the Washington, D.C. area for several years before moving the shop to Hyde Park in 2016 following a visit with a friend.

“I had no intentions on coming to Hyde Park, but I did come here to visit someone and I fell in love with it,” Norris told the Herald. “It was extremely affordable compared to the East Coast. It’s very quaint and walkable, and I knew (the community) needed me here.” 

But after almost a decade, Norris is closing the boutique following a year of flooding caused by continuously bursting pipes, and the difficulties in resolving this with the building’s property manager, TLC Management Company. 

“It keeps flooding in my stockroom, so I said this is a sign that it’s time to go,” she said. “The flooding ruined about $20,000 worth of merchandise and TLC didn’t want to pay. So this time I didn’t want to make a big stink about it.”

Inside the boutique’s stockroom, missing ceiling panels reveal yellowed, peeling plaster due to water damage, open pipes and frayed wires hanging above destroyed merchandise. Scattered on the ground are large containers to catch leaking water. 

Norris said her issues with flooding began last August, when the pipes in her ceiling burst. Though her renters insurance initially paid for the damages and repairs, Norris was told that another incident could mean her premiums would increase and she may get dropped from the policy altogether. She turned to TLC for help.

“It was first reported in August 2022. (TLC) patched it up in April 2023. They just patched it and did not fix it,” alleged Norris. “It’s just been a nightmare.” In her main showroom, an exposed pipe is covered in patches of duct tape — a quick fix by TLC, Norris alleged.

Norris’ shop is a tenant in the 12-story Scholars Corner Apartments, 5100 S. Cornell Ave. According to reports from the Chicago Department of Buildings (DOB), from February of that year through December, the building failed all five inspections conducted by the DOB. 

In a May inspection report that year by the DOB, the building received multiple code violations for leaking pipes, which damaged its basement, workout rooms, stairways and walls throughout.

“(TLC Management) keep gaslighting me like I don’t know what I’m talking about, then I show them pictures and videos of it literally raining in my store — They never fixed it,” alleged Norris. “All they did was come in to empty out the water.”

Norris said that TLC eventually told her it would not pay for damages to her store’s merchandise.

As of press time, TLC did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.

“Some people cried. They’re begging me to stay,” Norris said. “They say, ‘there’s nothing else in Hyde Park but restaurants. You’re a staple in the community. What are we going to do without you here?’”

“I didn’t know the community was going to take it this hard,” she continued. “I do not like letting people down, but I have no other choice.”

As Norris packed up, she recalled fond memories of her time in the community.

“The people here have embraced me, have lifted me up and have supported me,” she said.  “That’s really why (leaving) is bittersweet. I’m going on to the next phase of my life, but I’m leaving a great part of my life behind.”

One customer, she said, once described the store as a place “where fashion meets community.” Known as Dr. Gilda by some friends and customers, she would frequently meet with clients for individualized consultations; appointments could last upwards of an hour.

For years designer brands like Gucci and Ralph Lauren were available in-store at relatively affordable prices at the designer thrift boutique. This April, the shop was ranked among the top 10 thrift stores in Chicago by Time Out magazine. 

In past times of trouble, Hyde Parkers have rallied around Norris. During the summer of protests in 2020 following the police murder of George Floyd, one of Norris’ store windows was smashed. Customers subsequently came together to raise money to help her replace it.

Though GILDA Designer Thrift Boutique’s last full day of business is July 28, the store will continue selling its fixtures and furnishings through July 31.

Norris plans to move to Brooklyn and start a mobile boutique similar to her storefront in Hyde Park.