Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Iverson.
Jim, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My wife, Gloria is a special education teacher and an autism expert, and she has seen the dilemma of families whose special needs children have aged out of the system. One of our sons, Nicholas is also on the Autism spectrum, so Gloria’s experience is both professional and personal. Gloria wanted to help special needs youth and their families, so she decided to open a business that would provide vocational training and jobs to the intellectually disabled, especially the autistic.
We decided on a candy store, because Gloria and I both have experience with candy, and Gloria felt that a store would be a great environment to challenge and teach young people with special needs. Skokie was the perfect place to open the store, because this community is open and accepting, the village government is progressive and supportive, and the small business community is friendly and helpful.
We opened at the corner of Warren and Lincoln in 2014. Our family built out the store (bins, counters, shelves, lights), we custom designed a POS system (cash register), and Gloria designed operations to adapt to people with special needs. In 2015, we moved to a larger, more flexible space at our current location at 7927 Lincoln. Our family took a few months to rebuild the store, and we reopened that summer. Nicholas manages the store full time, while he continues his college education with evening and weekend classes.
In the past four years, we have worked with more than a dozen organizations and at least a hundred young people with special needs. Our whole family has been deeply involved with the work of this project, and Gloria and I still have our regular jobs, so these years have been difficult, but they have been deeply rewarding. Mike Isaacs is a journalist who created a wonderful video about Mini Man Monkey Brains. You can see it at http://video.suntimes.com/Mini-Man-Monkey-Brains-26267985.
Has it been a smooth road?
We face the same challenges as most small businesses in downtown Skokie – taxes, zoning, and regulations, etc. Our special challenge is that Mini Man Monkey Brains focuses on service first, and profit is a distant second, so financing has been tight.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We have candy priced at 1 cent, and the overwhelming majority of our items are priced at 5, 10 or 25 cents, so kids can come to Mini Man Monkey Brains with pocket change and take their time choosing from a large number of items.
Our store is operated by special needs people, and special needs people are welcome as customers, but so is everyone else. I think that young people who might not feel welcome in other stores feel at home in Mini Man Monkey Brains.
Social interaction is particularly difficult for many people who work in our store. I am proud of Nicholas and others who work at our store who have overcome their disabilities to very good quality customer service, and I am proud of our community and its understanding of nature.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
There are very few communities where Mini Man Monkey Brains could work, and Skokie has been wonderful for our store. Few are hostile, some are patronizing, but most accept people as they are. Skokie is very special in that regard.
Pricing:
- Several items for 1 cent
- A variety of Mexican candy from 5 cents to 50 cents
- Full-size candy bars for $1
- Soda pop in glass bottles for $1.50
- Takis and other snack bags for 50 cents
Contact Info:
- Address: 7927 Lincoln Avenue
Skokie, IL 60077 - Website: www.minimanmonkeybrains.com
- Email: minimanmonkeybrains@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minimanmonkeybrains/
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
