DMApothecary, a family-run herbal apothecary in Edgewater, is reopening at a new location on Broadway after facing prolonged building issues and repeated flooding at its previous address. The shop, operated by Deirdre Austin and her son Matthew Walcott, originally opened in 2022 at 5230 N. Sheridan Road but was forced to close for over a year during its three-year lease due to persistent flooding and other problems with the building.
The previous location, known as the Edison Apartments, experienced nine separate floods that resulted in approximately $22,000 in lost sales and damaged inventory. The building had also failed several inspections and was the focus of tenant protests following incidents such as smoke alarms failing during a serious fire.
After closing their Sheridan Road store last August, Austin and Walcott continued serving customers through online sales, farmers markets, and street festivals. Community support played a significant role in helping them stay afloat; neighbors contributed to a GoFundMe campaign when the business could not afford to relocate.
DMApothecary’s new storefront at 5430 N Broadway will host its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on February 21. The event will feature free tea-mocktails and soap bar samples for visitors.
“It’s really just been a great battle, and tons of support that has kept us afloat. Just when I thought I was at my critical breaking point, there has always been some guiding light there, somebody to throw us a raft and say, ‘don’t give up yet,’” Austin said. “That gave us that second breath to keep going, even when I thought we couldn’t, we were able to keep going.”
The new space includes a tea bar offering home-brewed teas such as peach hibiscus, apple cider, and lemon myrtle—blends designed both for taste and health benefits like supporting immunity or digestion. There is seating for 22 people near the tea bar area. The back of the shop displays soaps, creams, and scrubs—some shaped like pies or candies—that are made by hand.
Austin began making herbal remedies more than three decades ago after learning from her grandmother how to create homemade treatments for various ailments when she was eight years old.
“I became an herbalist to really make products for myself to stay out of the emergency room,” Austin said. “There were generations and generations of homemade remedies… My mother couldn’t afford to take us to the doctor. My grandmother could go in the closet and whip up any kind of remedy for any kind of ailment, no matter what was wrong with you. That love for nurturing and having my hands in the ground came from her.”
While working as a corporate manager with Carson’s department store chain earlier in her career, Austin developed her own makeup and beauty products because of allergies—a practice that expanded into DMApothecary’s current offerings.
“Once I got to start making products for myself, it just became making teas to making bath products to making hair products … It was a rabbit hole,” she said. “There is really a growing culture for people to have more of a holistic lifestyle. People want to live clean, eat green, be healthier and not infuse their bodies with so many chemicals.”
Austin started DMApothecary in 2016 as an homage to her late mother who encouraged her ambitions; her son now serves as co-owner and graphic designer.
With their new location open Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays), Austin plans to resume classes on soap- and candle-making while providing space where customers can relax.
“I want people to be able to come here and just unwind. Grab a warm cup of brew and just enjoy a nice peaceful ambiance,” Austin said. “There’s a lot of chaos in the world right now… so I really want this to be a place where somebody can just come and just unplug.”
