Jeff Manes: Crown Point shopkeeper is drawn to small-town commerce

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Barb Young

Updated: January 23, 2012 8:10AM

“Well I was born in a small town

And I can breathe in a small town

Gonna die in a small town

Ah, that’s probably where they’ll bury me.”

­— John Mellencamp

Barb Young and her husband, Alan, have lived in Crown Point about a year.

They have raised 34-year-old twin daughters; Barb also is a twin.

Barb, 61, grew up in Whiting and graduated from Whiting High School.

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“After Alan and I got married, we moved to the East Side of Chicago for 10 years, then we moved to Lansing, Ill.,” Young began.

Maiden name?

“Bubala; my dad is 100 percent Slovak and my mother is 100 percent Irish.”

Whiting?

“It was a fun place to grow up; Whiting is still a great town. Moving to Crown Point kinda reminds me of coming back home. We came in Hoosiers; we’re going out Hoosiers.”

Speaking of Hoosiers, you probably took in a few matinees at the Hoosier Theater in Whiting.

“Oh, yeah, who could forget the Hoosier Theater? I saw ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Exorcist’ there; I like scary movies. The Hoosier Theater kinda was the heart of the town.

“I grew up on 121st Street; there was a little mom-and-pop ice cream place operated by the Banik family. They lived down the street from us; their store was right on the end of the block. I remember getting ice cream from them on summer nights.

Whiting was big on small businesses.

“We always went to Johnny’s Food Market. Mom would call Johnny for things like ground beef, and us kids would pick it up. Johnny was the nicest guy; he loved all the kids. You didn’t even check out; they just had a shoe box with your name and card filed. They’d write the bill down and your parents would pay it later.”

Later in life, did you visit The New Yorker a few times?

“Oh, yeah. But my favorite, and it’s technically Hammond, is Dusty’s Bar. My girlfriend Sandy Dostatni owns it; it was passed down through the family. Great fish fries on Friday nights and the best burgers in town.

“When you’re a kid and you grow up on Lake Michigan, you just think of it as water — a place to swim. It might be Whihala Beach now, but when you’re old school like me, it always will be Whiting Park.”

What did your dad do for a living?

“He was a pipe fitter at Youngstown Steel.”

Siblings?

“Besides my twin brother, I had two other brothers who are both deceased. One of them was killed in Vietnam in 1966. There were eight young men from Whiting or Robertsdale who died in that war; their names are on a memorial wall next to the police station in Whiting.”

Barb, let’s switch from Whiting to Barbara Jean’s Gifts & Gourmet in Crown Point.

“We’ll open for business Jan. 7; the shop is next to Curves. The grand opening will take place in the spring, when the weather is nice and people are over the holidays.”

You also make gift baskets.

“Yes, a couple of years after retiring from my job in the hotel food-and-beverage business, I started creating gift baskets out of my home.

“My gift baskets are filled with cheese, crackers, cookies, cocoa ... . I love doing them, but I wanted to expand and open up a store and have gourmet food items also.”

Such as?

“Pasta, spaghetti sauce, olive oil, spices, coffees, tea, honey ... . What I’m really excited about are the gift items. I’ll have some gift ware that you’ll see in other stores, but I’m also going to have about five or six local artisans who will be showcasing their products in the store. I’m hoping that’s what people will come to see.”

You should hook up with a local beekeeper for your honey.

“Yes, I believe there’s a beekeeper just south of town; I want to buy their honey. More than anything, down and dirty, I’m a big fan of giving back to the community. Yeah, the malls are nice; I like to go there once in a great while. But I think people should shop within the small towns — especially nowadays.

Tell me about the artisans.

“They’re really cool and different. One girl from the Hebron area paints birdhouse gourds. I’ll have a young mom from Crown Point who does glass etching. She makes beautiful vases. Another gentleman and his wife from Crown Point flatten wine bottles and make cheese trays out of them. There’s another couple who make homemade goat’s milk soap and lotions.

“I’ll also feature a woodworker who makes clocks, cigar boxes, wooden ballpoint pens ... . Phenomenal.”

Are these unique products to be sold on consignment?

“No, I’m going to buy wholesale from them. The first thing I ask of the artisans that I think will work out in this store is: ‘Will you work with me on your price? I don’t want to do consignment.’ Everyone of them said, ‘Absolutely.’  ”

Crown Point?

“I love it. Crown Point, geographically, it’s much larger than Whiting, but it still has a small-town atmosphere. I love all the events happening on the square. The mayor and the members of the Chamber of Commerce are great.”

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Fifty years from now, I can see myself interviewing a 60-year-old who grew up in Crown Point, and having him or her reminisce about an eclectic emporium located a gavel’s toss from the Old Lake County Courthouse.

A mom-and-pop shop that sold local honey, hand-carved humidors, homemade goat’s milk soap, birdhouse gourds and etched glass.

A place called Barbara Jean’s Gifts & Gourmet that easily could have been nestled next to Banik’s Ice Cream Parlor or Johnny’s Food Market back in the late 1950s — in Whiting.