Gift store reflects teamwork
Township residents and former Board of Education members Debra Camitta, left, and Mary Litterman fold towels in their store, Curate, located on Millburn Avenue. Camitta and Litterman opened the gift store slightly more than a year ago.
During their nine-year tenure on the board, Litterman and Camitta were members of the Property Committee. In the mid-2000s, the two co-chaired the Millburn Education Foundation in which they raised money for computer and editing rooms, one in Millburn Middle School and the other in the high school. The foundation provided video and conferencing equipment to each of the township’s elementary schools.
When their co-chairing days ended about two years ago, Litterman and Camitta embarked on a new project that involved teamwork: starting a business in Millburn.
Their idea was to create a shop that sells jewelry and gifts that are unusual, functional and affordable. With this thought, Litterman and Camitta searched around the world for these types of items, and were successful. In April 2010, they opened their gift store, called Curate, which got its name from the idea of curating a gift collection.
“The focus was to find things that you’re not going to find anywhere else,” said Camitta.
When Curate first opened slightly over a year ago, Litterman and Camitta were faced with a tough economy and construction on the Millburn Avenue bridge, but the duo pulled through and was able to draw customers into their shop.
“Serving on the Board of Education was good training for working in a business together,” said Litterman.
“We worked well together,” Litterman noted, referring to their time on the board, “Even if we didn’t always agree, we tried to come up with alternative solutions.”
