Business Profile: Anne Koplick Designs, Brewster
When Anne Koplik started her business, it was off of her dining room table. The year was 1981.
Now, 34 years later, Koplik isn’t working in her house anymore, but at her warehouse in Brewster. The owner of Anne Koplik Designs (AKD), Koplik, with the help of her two daughters Kara and Jill, has transformed a business that started out modestly to a destination for those seeking a unique collection of hand-made, vintage inspired jewelry.
It’s become such a household name that her jewelry can be seen on national TV shows like Dancing with the Stars, The View, and others major programs.
Koplik’s journey into the jewelry business started unexpectedly.
She was recently divorced and had two teen daughters to support. As a former interior designer, Koplik, originally from Long Island, needed to make a living. Having old beads and vintage pieces of jewelry, Koplik started by making ten pairs of earrings and took them into a
store she and her sister owned, and sold them all in two days.
Koplik continued to put jewelry together and eventually a sales representative came into the store and asked her to put a collection of 20 pieces of earrings with matching necklaces together to see if he could sell them.
From those original samples, Koplik started selling at a rapid pace, earning thousands of dollars in the process.
“After that, I really felt that I had a decent shot of doing something like that,” Koplik said. “We started off small, but slowly but surely we hired people. We went into our first factory seven years after that and that’s really how Anne Koplik was born.”
The first factory was on Long Island, but the business was moved up to Westchester and is now in Putnam in the village. Both daughters, who live in Brewster, are actively part of the day- to-day business operation. One is in charge of finances and the other helps in designing the jewelry.
The vintage jewelry business, Koplik noted, was one that was thriving when she first started, but in many aspects, it has slowly declined. Instead, Koplik has been able to adjust and move forward, selling earrings, necklaces, rings, pins, and bracelets. AKD jewelry can be seen weekly on Dancing with the Stars, The View, The Wendy Williams Show, America’s Got Talent, The Insider and Entertainment Tonight.
“We have a niche and we fill a need that not many other people do what we do,” Koplik noted.
Anne Koplik Designs is located at 173 Main Street in Brewster. Its phone number is 800-542-3134 and its website is http:// www.annekoplik.com.
