Geneva’s Little Traveler to celebrate 100 years of unique shopping experience

“They come largely out of curiosity but go away patrons.”

That’s what a reporter for the Geneva Republican newspaper wrote Oct. 27, 1922, about The Little Traveler Art Shop, which had opened just six weeks earlier in the home of a Mrs. Edmond Raftery.

The unnamed writer marveled at what could be found in the home at 404 S. Third St. in Geneva. There were quaint wooden Dickens dolls from England, hand-carved animals from Italy, cottage furniture from the South, candlewick bedspreads from Tennessee, and lace, silks, linens and “handsome” cutwork table covers from China. There were “ravishing” rabbit-skin opera cloaks, flapper pajamas, handmade lingerie and the sheerest of baby clothes. The reporter said the store had “objects of beauty seemingly without end.”

It’s an even more apt description today, as The Little Traveler prepares to turn 100 years old.

Raftery was in her mid-50s when she opened the business. It started when a friend, the wife of a U.S. ambassador to China, brought her some Chinese trade silks. Raftery displayed the silks, and some items from France and Italy, on her grand piano and invited her friends to buy. The store originally was called the Geneva Gift Shop, then The Little Traveler Art Shop. It soon dropped the “Art.”

According to newspaper articles from the 1930s, high-society women would drive out by the carload to the store. They came from Chicago, the North Shore and elsewhere in the state. For years, buffet luncheons and afternoon teas were served amid the antique furnishings Raftery was selling. The Chicago Tribune ran a recipe for its “famous” Black-Bottom Pie.

Current owner Mike Simon said Raftery was a bit of a showman. To get people in the door, she held fancy dinners, hosted speakers, had puppet shows for children, and more. Employees modeled the latest fashions as shoppers dined (something that continues today, in the store’s Atrium Cafe).

A longtime favorite Geneva bookstore, Robin’s Nest, and a St. Charles children’s clothing store, Marian Michael’s, got their starts at The Little Traveler (named after Raftery’s nickname for one of her buyers, who traveled the world finding products). In the 1930s, she suggested two patrons, who were good cooks, consider opening a fine-dining establishment in Geneva. That’s how the Mill Race Inn was born.

Civic and business leaders say the store turned South Third into well-known dining and shopping district.

Currently, The Little Traveler is in refresh mode after the busy Christmas-holiday season and the annual taking of the inventory. It’s putting away Christmas items and setting out spring-related goods.

Simon also plans to revamp the fair trade department by including environmentally friendly products and introducing items related to the empowerment of women. He noted that items related to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg were popular with shoppers last year.

The store is gearing up to celebrate its anniversary. Special activities will begin in March. One plan is to celebrate intergenerational family shopping groups with gifts and a monthly prize drawing. Simon said he has seen as many as five generations from one family shopping and dining at the store. The business is also honored to be the subject of a special exhibit at the nearby Geneva History Museum.

After Raftery died in 1954, someone else owned the business for about a decade. Then the Fred Harvey restaurant and hospitality company bought it, with plans to open branches throughout the nation, including several at national parks. That attempt fizzled.

Simon’s late father, Sol, and his business partner, the late Al Rosenthal, bought the store in 1971.

Raftery would likely be pleased the Simons retained her philosophy of stocking beautiful and unique items for shoppers to discover as they ramble through the 36-room maze. The emphasis is to provide gracious, personal customer service.

Simon said shopping should be fun, not a chore.

“The customer should walk out of here happier than when they came in,” Simon said.