Art history, business savvy
Twenty-four-year-old Leslie Kritzberg is an unusual recent art history college graduate.
Instead of looking for a job with health-care benefits like most classmates, she chose a completely different path, and a risky one in this economy: She launched her own business — in a small town.
Leslie Kritzberg is the owner of Blue Orchid Studio on Route 47 in Yorkville. The gift shop is located in a renovated house and features hand-made goods, including jewelry that Kritzberg makes herself.
When most small business owners admit that it is a difficult challenge to compete with the large chains in the best of times, Kritzberg embraced the idea of opening a gift shop filled with beautiful things because it was a childhood dream.
“I always wanted to be a business owner,” she said. As a child, she and her sister bypassed playing house to play “shop.” She grew up thinking it would be so neat to own a shop and bring something back to the community. Her community is Yorkville. And she is proud to be a third-generation small business owner in her hometown.
And her youth brings a new twist to the gift shop environment — she is eco-friendly conscious, and her product choices reflect it. She takes great care that her store is interesting, exudes a style reflective of herself and is in tune with the planet.
Starting with the location, she “recycled” an old property. With her mother, Susan Kritzberg (also a small business owner and artist), Leslie bought and re-zoned an old house located on Route 47 and Center Street, north of the bridge in Yorkville, for the shop. They did some renovation to give the quaint house a feminine, fresh feel. The store is outfitted with pastel colors and funky design.
