Our official first press release for a year-long celebration! --

World’s Window, 332 W. 63rd Street, will celebrate 30 years in business in 2014 with a year of events - planned as a way of thanking their customers while supporting local causes. The store, one of the most popular in Brookside, features a rich array of clothing, gift and décor items from around the world.

The celebration’s official theme is “The Joy is in the Journey,” which owners Jan and Lonnie Buerge feel reflects their approach to the business they started in 1984 in a small market stall in Westport. “There was never a plan to become a bigger operation,” Jan Buerge says. “It was always about doing something we felt passionate about - about work as a natural extension of how we live.”

For the Buerges, that has meant working with Fair Trade suppliers, sharing the world’s arts and crafts, creating a sense of community among staff and customers, and vowing a commitment to integrity. These ideals stem in some part from early college study-service semesters and a volunteer experience in the first year of their marriage as disaster relief workers for the Mennonite Church in Central America.

The year-long celebration begins April 12 with an anniversary sale – “Because 30 Rocks!” – which will incorporate a “turning-30” party theme along with an introspective look at the journey of all those years.

That sale will also serve as the kick-off for the annual “Flipping Favorites” clothing drive in support of the Rose Brooks Center. Rose Brooks has been the primary focus of the store’s charitable efforts in recent years. “It’s a terrific partnership,” says Marla Svoboda, Chief Development Officer of Rose Brooks. “They help keep the needs of women and children in crisis on the local radar. It’s wonderful when women come together to help other women.”

Additional events are still in the planning and will include a Dia de los Muertos exhibit in October, a coat and sweater drive for Rose Brooks in late Fall and their annual international nativity exhibit.