Our Story

The Spotted Owl is in small town Fairbury, Illinois with a population of just under 4,000. Our goal is to provide a unique shopping experience in this once two-story home that has been converted into a boutique. Here you will find rooms filled with boutique clothing, home décor, and gifts. We are located at the corner of Route 24 & 1st St at the only stoplight in town. Fairbury is a charming small town featuring unique shops and restaurants. We would love for you to grab your friends and visit for the day!

The Spotted Owl was created with the passion of loving and providing the women in our community with a place they can go not only for the latest in fashion, but a comfortable unique shopping experience. We carry women's sizes small through 3x and strive to find styles to make all women feel beautiful.

Joni Kilgus - Owner

Fashion and home décor have always been a passion of mine. After being a stay-at-home mom for many years, I was starting to think what the next step in my life would be and when I saw the business was for sale, it felt meant to be. As someone who loves this town, being born and raised here, I felt like these small boutique shops are part of the answer to keeping small towns growing. I wanted to do my part to be a part of Fairbury and provide not only a place for those in our community to shop, but a reason for people to visit our town. Joni spent time with family and friends remodeling and revamping the home converted into a store, reopening under new ownership on November 22, 2016. Even as the business has grown, and more staff has been added the business continues to be a family affair. If you stop in the store, you will often see my children or husband behind the counter and may recognize my daughter modeling on the website. I feel truly blessed to do something I love every day and am so thankful for each customer who has chosen to support us!

Meet the Website Manager, Amber Barsema

When my sister, Joni approached me about creating and managing an online portion of the store, I had no idea what to expect. We created and went live with the website in June 2017 and have since had great support locally (especially during a pandemic) and our presence is expanding throughout the United States. Managing our website allowed me to have a flexible schedule and raise our three kids while mostly working from home. Now that they are getting a little older, we have worked to consolidate all the online and inventory and I spend much more time at our storefront packaging and fulfilling orders. We strive to provide that same personal feel of our storefront with our online business, and your package will arrive quickly, personalized and making returns easy.