The bleak stain of poverty and crime roundly permeates the landscape in East St. Louis. Ubiquitous blight cuts through this community of roughly 17,600 people similar to the pervasive cracks in the city’s sidewalks, that is, where you can find those sidewalks. Empty, deserted lots and decaying hulks of vacant buildings stand as sentinels to the population exodus that fill what used to be a vibrant downtown. In the early 1900s, this city had a sterling national reputation as a thriving hub of capitalism and manufacturing. These days, it is notorious for its sky-high murder rate, which perennially ranks as one of the worst in America.
Bernita and Derrick Maxwell do not try to sugar coat the pain they have experienced in the city they love unconditionally, the city of their birth, and the city they call home. But they would rather talk about the prosperity they have found in East St. Louis, which as the owners of Personal Touch Boutique, has been rooted in a mindset of “can do” as opposed to “cannot.”
“Your presence is a ministry. Our presence has been a ministry right here in East St. Louis,” said Derrick with a prideful smile.
A fashionable business
When we met Derrick, he started his morning with one of his daily routines, walking outside the store to hang a colorful array of jogging suits from the security bars that help to protect Personal Touch Boutique. Derrick said he gets plenty of business from customers who drive by the store and pull into the parking lots after seeing something that catches their eye. Derrick calls this place “the grown man store,” catering to customers who want to purchase quality menswear.
“Our typical customer is the church crowd. I also have that 9 to 5 man,” explained Derrick. “I do weddings and funerals. I do from A to Z, whatever you need. I’m that one-stop shop.”
“Most of our customers are African American,” added Bernita. “We get people from everywhere. Often people come through after they hear about us. We’ve had people call from New York. We’ve had people visit from North Dakota. We also have new customers, because we have a website presence. They’re (customers) are looking for a certain shoe or hat that you may not find at the mall because African-American men dress a certain way. You have to know where to find this type of clothing.”
The Maxwells are careful to make sure their store is well stocked. They say their regulars know they can order on-line from Personal Touch Boutique, but that many customers prefer to make the drive to the store.
“A lot of customers want to see and feel the clothes they’re buying and try them on. They’d rather come into the store, especially our older customers,” explained Bernita.
The start of the journey
This retail journey started in 1988, when Derrick started selling merchandise out of the trunk of his car while working as a fast-food manager to supplement his income. What caught Bernita’s eye wasn’t his blossoming business, but his unwavering determination with Derrick transforming a box car into a mobile fitting room, so customers could try on clothes to help persuade them to make their purchases.
“When I met him, he was selling clothes out of a box car, which he pulled with his green van,” Bernita recalled. “A lot of people thought he was strange. But I realized that he knew something a lot of other people didn’t know. And that interested me.”
Derrick’s gritty approach to retail was interpreted by Bernita as entrepreneurial genius in disguise.
“If it was raining outside, he was outside selling umbrellas. If it was cold and it started to snow, he was selling ski caps,” Bernita remembered with a smile. “I thought it was a great beginning. He was working on his dream after he had graduated from college. He had his degree and managed other people’s businesses. Now he was beginning to manage his own.”
For a stretch of six years, Derrick built his business from the ground up, graduating from a car trunk to a van to a box car, with Derrick driven by strong customer demand.
“There was a lack of my people (African Americans) selling retail in the area. So, who’s best to sell to my people but me?”
In 1994, Derrick’s persistence paid off, and he opened a 4,200-square-foot location on State Street, where the store still stands today, with Bernita now a co-owner as Derrick’s longtime wife.
But the path to prosperity was anything but smooth for the Maxwells. Derrick’s voice quickly filled with emotion as he recounted a wide assortment of challenges for the store over the years.
“We’ve been through a fire. We been through break-ins. It took us almost 15 years just to make a profit,” Derrick said with tears in his eyes. “They (would-be-thieves) would come down through the roof. They would come through the walls. I put so much into it. I get emotional because, our intentions are to be an example for the children.
“Adversity comes with life. You have to stand up to adversity. That’s why we we’re successful. Our whole aim was to not only make a living, but to make sure that our children saw that we were successful. We want to be strong for them. I went through it. There have been many nights I cried. But, we ‘manned up’ and we’re still here.”
Yet, it was precisely those hardships that revealed the deep bonds between the boutique and this community. After the fire, and while insurance repairs were underway, Bernita suggested that she and Derrick return to their roots.
“Let’s go get stock and set up like we used to,” Bernita suggested to her husband. And so, they pulled out a trailer, set up tables with clothing for sale, and witnessed an extraordinary outpouring of support.
“Our customers were grateful,” Derrick remembered. “They would stop and buy things that they didn’t even need and leave money to say, ‘Here, we support you.’ That was awesome to be tied to a community like that.
“The people of Illinois need to know that this is a family retail operation, and it takes family to be successful.”
Derrick takes great pride in how he and Bernita have created a business that has thrived even when times have gotten tough.
“We say in the street, ‘slow money is the best money.’” Derrick said, describing how he and Bernita built the shop virtually from the ground up. “We make our money slow. But, you know, it (the business) builds up over time and that’s what we want to show our children. We want them to see you can be successful. And it’s important to have patience to build success through commitment and consistency.”
Personal Touch Boutique is the only, locally-owned retailer in East St. Louis where men can purchase clothing these days. And so as a pioneer, the store stands as a survivor of circumstances, a symbol of possibility, and a refuge for men to connect with their community.
“It’s important to be an African American business owner (in East St. Louis), so that the children can see that we service our community,” Bernita boasted selflessly.
“You don’t have to be a drug dealer to make a living or be successful. You can be a businessman who gets up every morning, goes to work, and goes home to take care of his family,” Derrick retorted in response to his wife.
East St. Louis: Storied roots
Whether it be decorated Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, “The Queen of Rock n’ Roll” herself, Tina Turner, or one of the greatest jazz musicians to ever live, Miles Davis, East St. Louis has had its fair share of hometown heroes.
In their own way and with their own singular sense of swagger, the Maxwells have their own cache of stardom in East St. Louis after outfitting generations of men.
“There are a lot of great people who have come out of here. We want to uphold that tradition in our little corner.” said Bernita. “It’s our little spot. People know we’re still here. We’re still surviving, and we’re thriving.”
The Maxwells are well known, not only as retail legends, but pay-it-forward do-gooders in their city. They have partnered with their school district to bring in students and train them about how to run a business, teach them how they should dress, and how to carry themselves when they go to work.
“We put a lot of ourselves into the kids and the community,” stated Bernita.
“We try to teach that you can be successful if you stick to it and if you follow direction,” Derrick added, emphasizing it requires holistic buy-in to create success. “The parents have to be on the same page. Get their child here on time and pick them up when it’s time to leave.”
You might say Bernita and Derrick, symbolize the style and class of the nattily-appointed suits they sell. They both attended college. Their son served in the military. Their daughter has her PhD. Their success story challenges common misconceptions about achievement in East St. Louis.
“I don’t think you have to leave to be better. You just have to want to be better and follow your dreams. You just have to put the work in.”
All about connection
In a city where the overarching retail landscape resembles a figurative graveyard, Personal Touch Boutique has become more than just a clothing store. It is proof that hard work and perseverance can lead to success in East St. Louis.
“I love working here because I meet all kinds of people,” Bernita shared with a joyful smile. “You learn that you can’t judge people by what is on the outside. The very person you think ‘Why are you here?’ is that person who will spend a thousand dollars. You just never know.”
For Derrick, the gift of retail comes from meeting immediate needs in meaningful ways. “Sometimes people need same day service alterations. Sometimes, you might have a wedding coming up that same week,” Derrick recalled. “It’s good to see a satisfied customer. That’s our main goal – to satisfy our community.”
