Women of Main Street America | National Women’s Small Business Month
How Afton Dusek brings local makers together to create a different kind of shopping experience on Collinsville’s Main Street.
GlowInto X Afton Dusek
I’ve begun exploring the women of Main Street America because I want to know the stories behind the businesses we walk into. Where did the idea begin? What did a woman bring from her previous work and life into the business she is building now? And how is that changing what we experience as shoppers?
Those questions are guiding this series as I look at the women shaping Main Streets across the country. I’m interested in how their experiences come together in a business, and what happens when they make room for other people’s ideas, too.
At Lou Belle and Bing in downtown Collinsville, Illinois, owner Afton Dusek offers one example. Her background in apparel design, love of thrifting and admiration for local makers came together in a small business collective where each maker’s setup feels like its own little store.
I notice that every time I visit. Each space has a personality that makes me want to look closer. I can return for a trusted favorite and discover a business I didn’t know before, all within the same visit.
That thoughtful approach to the shopping experience made me want to learn more about the woman helping create it.
Finding room for her own ideas
Afton describes spending a decade in the apparel industry, pursuing creative side businesses along the way. With a background in apparel design and a love of the arts, she says she could never settle on just one hobby or craft.
“I’ve always had the entrepreneurial drive and never saw myself in a long term career working toward someone else’s dream,” she says.
During the pandemic, a renewed love of thrifting began turning into a career change. Through face masks, hand sanitizer and no-contact pickups, she started building something of her own.
Her first shop was a part-time venture in a 250-square-foot space behind Walmart. When an opportunity came to move into a larger Main Street storefront, she saw room to share with local makers and artists whose work she admired.
Walking through Lou Belle and Bing now, I can appreciate what that decision made possible. It’s the perfect spot to find a one-of-a-kind gift for any special occasion, whether you’re looking for something practical, a handmade keepsake or an unexpected treasure you won’t find just anywhere.
That has been my experience. I return for items like my dry shampoo and tallow balm, but there is always someone else’s work to get to know.
The familiar face who brought me here
For me, that familiar connection is Meagan, whose story we previously shared in GlowInto.
She works at Lou Belle and Bing one day a week and sells her Crafted Essentials line alongside jewelry, vintage handbags, clothing and other collected goods. Her dry shampoo has become a must-have for me. If you haven’t tried it, it’s one of my personal favorites to recommend.
When we first talked, Meagan described shaping work around motherhood and allowing one creative interest to lead into another. Her interest in everyday ingredients helped inspire products including powder-based dry shampoo, tallow balm and beach wave spray.
Her photography is another part of what she contributes. She photographs the shop’s displays and fellow makers’ work, using her eye to help other businesses be seen.
Knowing Meagan gives me a more personal understanding of what Afton means by a collective. There are products on the shelves, but there are also people contributing their time, sharing their skills and helping the space come together.
Read more: Meagan Meier and a Life of Creation.
Looking closer at what fills the rooms
As I move through the shop, light comes through the old windows and falls across the hardwood floors. The warmth of those rooms is part of what makes me want to take my time. Afton has developed distinct spaces for over forty makers while allowing the character of the home to remain part of the experience.
The building itself is the Schroeppel–Brown House, built around 1910 and once home to Dr. Gustave Schroeppel. A 1919 photograph preserved in the Collinsville Historical Museum’s collection shows the house with two Schroeppel girls and a sign reading “Doctor Schroeppel.” It became a designated Collinsville landmark in 2002.
Learning that gives a name and a family connection to the history I feel when I’m inside. Today, the rooms have a new purpose, with each maker bringing her own experience and ideas into them.
That layering of old and new also appears in some of the things for sale.
Afton describes that history in her own clothing, explaining that she is drawn to vintage textiles for their colors, florals and worn-in textures. She shares the example of a recent collection of collared shirts made from tablecloths, with collars or pockets fashioned from another family’s pillowcases.
“There’s something peaceful about the cycle of a tablecloth being the setting for a family’s dinner for decades, and ending up as a funky button up shirt on a stranger years later,” Afton says.
“It’s undeniably symbolic of how we are all connected,” Afton says.
The shop also carries quilt coats from Terrace 54, the St. Louis mother-daughter business of Jo Ann and Grace Powers. Their display tells how Grace sources quilts and vintage textiles, while Jo Ann began quilting for self-care during the pandemic and discovered a love of upcycling.
The name Terrace 54 honors the home where Jo Ann raised her three children. Learning that adds something to the experience of looking at their clothing. A family’s memories are part of the business’s identity, while older textiles become pieces someone new can wear.
Other businesses in the shop began with a different kind of personal need. Ashley Morgan launched Whip It Goods Skincare in October 2022 after leaving a career in tech marketing. Her daughter’s skincare needs had led her to explore making plant-based products, which grew into a small-batch body-care business.
The colorful mugs from Clay by Tay reflect Taylor Emery Eck’s love of pop culture and her background in ceramics and graphic design.
Functional ceramics from The Wheel & I offer another artist’s approach to the objects we use each day.
And the rows of soaps from Maven Apothecary, owned by Kate Bethel, represent a business that began in a basement in 2005. Its business profile describes products still mixed, poured and cut by hand.
These are some of the businesses that make me want to take my time here. A display can catch my eye, but learning about the person behind it gives me another reason to remember it.
What we support when we shop
We all shop at larger retailers, myself included. At Lou Belle and Bing, I feel a particular connection to the person behind what I’m buying.
A skincare product, a one-of-a-kind piece of clothing or an upcycled vintage find represents someone’s ideas and the work she has put into them. I appreciate that care, and I like knowing my purchase supports someone’s dream.
In the written interview, I asked Afton how shoppers recognize the value of handmade work. Her answer turned to AI and what she believes it could mean for people who make things by hand.
GlowInto: What do you wish shoppers understood about the work and price behind something handmade? How do you help people recognize its value while respecting the maker’s time, skill, and need to earn a living?
Afton: “Albeit bittersweet, we are entering a time when the average consumer is starting to understand and appreciate the art of handmade. This began with the resurgence of craftsmanship and DIY, and is progressing with the rise of AI. It is proving inevitable that many 9-5 jobs may be obsolete in the near future, and people with hands-on skills will finally get the recognition and compensation they deserve.”
Her answer gives me another reason to look closely at the work in these rooms: the fabric someone selected, the pottery someone shaped and the products someone developed. Knowing who made something, and having a place to discover her work, becomes part of its value to me.
Afton says she has watched business owners establish their first retail presence at Lou Belle and Bing, then expand into other stores. In her response, she gives the makers credit for their success while expressing pride in being connected to their growth.
Afton explains that when space opens, she considers businesses on the waitlist that could fill gaps in the shop’s offerings. She says her priority is variety without overcrowding any one category.
Having spent time in the rooms she has created, I can understand why there is a waitlist. Each maker has an identity within the larger space, and customers have a reason to keep exploring.
A place to keep becoming
Afton describes how the collective has also become a source of friendship. Makers whose work she admired have become friends who exchange ideas and encourage one another when they need it.
She has learned to leave room for her own growth, too.
“Since I fully took the leap into being my own boss, my biggest lesson learned is that I have to allow myself to keep learning and evolving,” she says.
She says she values the freedom to follow an artistic idea and has learned that spiritual fulfillment can be as important as financial achievement. Afton also credits the women she has worked with for teaching her about their strength, bravery and resilience.
That community extends through visiting makers and events as well. Justine, the St. Louis artist behind Elementally Legit, traces her fascination with rocks and minerals to a Smithsonian visit at age four. She now creates jewelry using wood, wire, metal and semi-precious stones. During Witchy Night Out, her DIY bracelet bar will give visitors a chance to take part in the creative process themselves.
For the future, Afton hopes Lou Belle and Bing will be an anchor for a thriving small business community and part of a Collinsville Main Street that draws visitors from surrounding areas.
When I think about why I’m glad Meagan introduced me to this place, I come back to the feeling of moving through those sunlit rooms. I can find something I already love, discover someone new and take a moment to appreciate the work that brought it all together.
More than a century after the Schroeppel family called it home, the house holds a different kind of daily life. I still notice the light through the windows and the hardwood floors beneath my feet, but I also see the care Afton and the makers have put into what happens here now. Each visit gives me another part of that story to discover.
For Afton, being part of their journeys is something she hopes to keep building on.
“Nothing can stop a determined and inspired woman,” she says, “and I hope I can be even a tiny part of these women’s drive to keep at it.”
Visit Lou Belle and Bing at 317 West Main Street, Collinsville, Illinois.
Visit during Witchy Night Out
Meet Main Street after dark during the 5th Annual Uptown Collinsville Witchy Night Out on Friday, October 23, 2026, from 6–9 p.m. The event features free entry, costumes, tarot, food and drink specials, attendance prizes and special activities at participating Uptown businesses.
At Lou Belle and Bing, 317 West Main Street, the evening’s special guests include:
Lakey Lou Tattoos: exclusive Witchy Night flash tattoos on site.
Shrike + Asteria Woods: tarot.
Witch of the Woods Wildcrafting: DIY fun.
Boujee Blooms + Bites: candy-covered fruit.
Mahalo Shaved Ice: Hawaiian shaved ice.
Happy Life Collective: fall baked goods and sweet treats.
Elementally Legit: a DIY semi-precious stone bracelet bar.
Make Lou Belle and Bing one of your stops as you explore Uptown and discover the small businesses helping bring Main Street to life.
