Brookfield Upholstering operates out of two buildings set side by side at 3736 and 3738 Grand Blvd. in Brookfield. The building at 3736 has undergone major facade replacement from its roofline down to its window level. The reason: crumbling brickwork.
When workmen removed the wood frame section, in place since the early 1970s and extending above the windows, a bit of history was uncovered.
For years, local people believed that beneath the plain dark wood was the old sign of The Lemon Tree record shop, at that address from 1963 to the early 1970s. According to the workmen, that sign was not found there. But other signs, dating earlier than The Lemon Tree’s, were.
These were not signs hung, but signs painted on the separate interior glass sections, inside and above the regular windows. The old advertising for Boerman’s Record and Gift Shop, in business from 1950-1963, saw the light of day again, after 45 years.
Back then, for the musically-inclined, Boerman’s sold “all labels and all speeds” of records, and sold phonographs to play them on, too. If a record player broke, it could be repaired here. To help sell records, a small speaker was installed over the front door, and recorded music could be heard playing all day long up and down Grand Boulevard.
Besides the records, gifts, such as figurines, glassware and pottery had their place on the shelves. The store also sold and repaired electrical appliances, such as coffee makers, radios, knife sharpeners and deep fryers. Hobbies and crafts were not overlooked. Stamps and coins were sold. There was even a small florist shop on the premises. “If it’s made, we have it” was Boerman’s slogan.
Joseph S. Tlusty, owner of Boerman’s, died on Sunday, May 12, 1963. The previous month, he had sold the business “to slow down and have more time,” according to the Brookfield Enterprise of May 15, 1963.
The new owners, Emily and Ed Kozak, held the grand opening of The Lemon Tree on June 6-8, covering the old Boerman’s signs with the one stating the store’s new name. The signboard ran the width of the storefront.
So it was that on Oct. 21 and 22, the Boerman’s signs were rediscovered by the workmen replacing the brickwork, and also by Victor Garcia, current owner of Brookfield Upholstering.
Garcia, in business at this location since 1998, reports that the slowing economy has not negatively affected his business. In fact, it may be quite the reverse.
“We’re doing OK with the economy problem,” Garcia said. “Instead of people buying new furniture, they’re having the old furniture repaired here. Besides Brookfield, we get business from Oak Park, Hinsdale, Western Springs, LaGrange and Naperville.”
The painted Boerman’s signs are no more. The wide windows have been removed and new ones have installed, sectioned in half. The old brickwork is gone, and new face brick put in its place.
On this building there is another sign, an even older sign, but it has survived intact. It is the small cement cornice, stating the building’s creation year, 1911.
Centered above the front roofline, it once again looks down on busy Grand Boulevard, which, 97 years ago, was Brookfield’s dusty and stony main street of commerce.