New women’s boutique opens in Hoffman Estates

Opening her first store in the United States has allowed Russian native Luda Wildt to combine all her true passions — retail, art and personal style.

The Elgin resident is the proud owner of Kina’s Boutique, at 1730 W. Algonquin Road in Hoffman Estates, a unique women’s store that carries jewelry, shoes, accessories, clothes and more.

Opening the shop has been a longtime dream for Wildt, who has worked in retail most of her life, including as a merchandiser, buyer and designer. She also is an artist, enjoying ceramics, photography and knitting.

“I am crazy about art,” she says. “It’s in my blood.”

Along with a sharp sense of personal style, that passion and experience is why Wildt feels her store stands out.

For as long as she can remember, Wildt paid attention to how she dressed. Family turmoil resulted in her spending portions of her childhood in a Russian orphanage, and she remembers mixing and matching her clothes from an early age.

People would say in surprise upon learning where she lived, “But you always look so nice.”

After studying fashion design, she opened a small shop in her hometown village, teaching herself the retail business from the ground up. Political upheaval sent Wildt and her children to the United States in 1995, when her daughter was 11 and her son was 17.

In America, she found more opportunity for her children — and for herself.

Now, Wildt loves coming to work each day and sharing her unique items and fashion advice with others. She likes to mix styles and she travels the country and the world to find the perfect pieces to display.

The items also are affordable, she said, with many clothing pieces in the $30-$60 range. The store hosts fashion shows and girls-night-out events, and Wildt also offers her services as a personal stylist and consultant. She describes her own style as “classy elegant.”

That sense of style is what first attracted her fiancee, Dean Sheridan, when they met at a nightclub seven years ago.

“I like a classy woman, and she carried herself well,” he said. “She had an old-world style about her.”

Wildt’s store opened last Sept. 11, a date partly chosen because she wanted “to remember it as a good day,” she said.

And though she had some concerns about opening a new business in the middle of a rough economy, Wildt says she knows it was the right thing.

“This is exactly what I want to do,” she says.

For hours and more information, visit www.kinasboutique.com.