DeKalb’s The Cotton Club owner seeks successor amid retirement plans

DeKALB – Nestled in DeKalb’s Junction Shopping Center inside a bright red train car is The Cotton Club, 858 W. Lincoln Highway.

The sewing and alteration shop has had a part in helping area customers to look and feel their best, no matter the occasion, for years.

Owner Farkhunda Mahfooz said she feels good about the services that she provides to the community.

“I make the customer happy,” Mahfooz said. “That’s the most important thing.”

At The Cotton Club, Mahfooz has an assortment of equipment and supplies on hand to meet customers' sewing and alteration needs. Those include sewing machines, hemming machines, serger overlock machine, zippers, velcro, thread and more.

Mahfooz said she had worked for the establishment’s previous owner, Eileen Sheppard, who died on March 4, for several years.

Mahfooz took ownership of the business in July 1998.

“She was like a mother to me,” Mahfooz said. “She came a couple times to visit me here, and she was treating me like a daughter.”

Mahfooz said she’s always felt the shop was a great place to do business.

“The area is very nice,” Mahfooz said. “The store is in the Junction Shopping Center. It’s a shopping area. It looks nice because it’s a caboose, and everybody likes that.”

As a whole, Mahfooz has nearly 45 years of experience in sewing and alteration.

“I worked in Arkansas,” Mahfooz said. “I worked in California, Wisconsin and Dubuque, Iowa. You name it. I worked everywhere. ... Everybody likes it, and I do all kinds of alteration. I do wedding dresses alteration and the bridesmaid dresses, prom dresses, homecoming dresses. Then, we do all the suit alteration, and we do the leather jacket zipper work.”

Mahfooz said she would like to leave The Cotton Club in good hands. She intends to retire in the next year, but did not set a specific date.

“I wish somebody can buy this store so it keeps going,” Mahfooz said. “I even said that if somebody buys it, I can come and work for them for a while, for a little bit.”

Mahfooz said customers have told her they’re going to miss The Cotton Club when it’s gone.

“All the customers are very happy and they’re sad when they heard that I’m going to close, but I have to think about myself also,” she said.