Punk, goth and mom: Mother-daughter team at McHenry’s Hideous Heart caters to alternative crowd

There are clothing stores around that have a rack of what Megan Miller would consider “alternative” clothes, but they are hard to find and usually limited in sizes, the Wonder Lake woman said.

“There are not a lot of stores ... anywhere with anything like this,” her daughter, Lila McGovern, added. She dresses in the clothing they sell – goth, punk, metal head or spooky styles – and knew there were others looking for clothes to express that.

It was McGovern who “wanted to open something” to sell the kinds of clothes they both wear.

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“We opened a tiny location as a learning experience for my kids,” Miller said.

The mother-and-daughter duo opened McHenry’s The Hideous Heart in March 2024 in space of just 250 square feet. But met with demand, they moved on July 5 into 1,800 square feet of showroom space at 5302 W. Elm St. to meet a recent influx of customers.

Miller credited their need for a larger location to a Facebook post. A customer posted a recommendation on a McHenry-centric page in April that received 125 comments, 613 reactions and 35 shares.

“It was posted on Everything McHenry that we exist. We had 3,000 people and a line out the door that day,” Miller said. “We have been steady ever since.”

“The fact that we are doing this good is kind of crazy,” McGovern said, adding that many of their customers come from McHenry or nearby which surprised her. “I went to McHenry [High School] for a year and there were a couple of other cool kids.”

Customers are also coming from as far away as the Quad cities on the Iowa-Illinois border and from southern Wisconsin, and even a few people have come in from Chicago, Miller said.

She’s asked people at the store from Chicago why they’ve traveled all the way out to McHenry County to shop. She said she’s told there are few stores doing what they do “and we are more focused on their wants and needs.”

If customers are looking for plus-size designers and clothing, she will find it, as well as clothes and accessories from smaller designers, Miller said.

At The Hideous Heart, customers “can see smaller designers’ lines in person” and help get them started, McGovern said.

While the duo do buy from smaller designers, they are also are selling fashions from those who are well-known in the goth and punk community too, like Demonia and New Rock shoes and Tripp NYC clothing.

“They are things you don’t see in stores – we have in store. Those are heavy hitters and why people come in,” Miller said.

The community – those who identify with the culture around built around goth and punk – have also been supportive of them and it’s not just teens either.

“The older crowd, we are all in mom mode but we are still trying to express ourselves too. It is hard to find the clothes to do that anymore,” Miller said.

With the bigger space, Miller hopes to host events and maybe even have local bands play in the store.

“We will do our best to allow that to happen, to have a space to meet other kids with similar interests and similar tastes,” she said.

Their success also shows that retail – and retail clothing – can thrive in an era when malls are closed and fast fashion can be purchased from online vendors.

“You can try it on before you buy” to check fit and quality, McGovern said. “That is taken away when you buy online. Most people come in to try it on – to feel it and to see it.”

When a store gives customers what they want, it will do well, Miller said.

“The businesses that I shop at, the one thing they are very good at is catering to their audience because, ‘This is my store.’ We are trying to do the same.”