Ted Hochheiser
of
Annie*s Boutique
By Kathleen Downey
Ted Hochheiser
Long Island native Ted Hochheiser decided to open his own business after he decided not to become a New York State senator. “Growing up in New York, which had two Jewish senators then, it was always a possibility,” the Newburyport merchant of the Jewish faith deadpans. Tall and fit with wavy salt and pepper hair, the bespectacled Hochheiser purses his lips as if struggling to quell his next lurking wisecrack. But the pink tint to his cheeks and the sparkle of mischief in his eyes contradict his effort for decorum.
With his wife, Kate, Hochheiser owns and operates Annie*s, the Pleasant Street boutique with the magical window displays. Passersby cannot help but notice the delicate glass ornaments of dazzling colors, stained glass mirrors, whimsical clocks, and exquisite pottery that are elegantly showcased by miniature white lights. But the full enchantment of this part art gallery/part contemporary, distinctive gift shop is revealed only when one walks through the door. Navigating through the store is a delightful art walk. Hand-crafted wooden jewelry boxes, pottery, metal-crafted art that includes a jazz-band ensemble and intricately designed flatware that transforms a spoon into an object of beauty, Judaica, mobiles, glass figurines, the occasional quirky piece of furniture (a chair fashioned to look like a cat or a dragonfly, for example), and other hard-to-walk-by-without-noticing wares fill Annie*s.
And of course, there is Hochheiser. Standing at the front of the store at a glass counter that serves as a case for a sparkling array of jewelry—rings, necklaces, and bracelets in a wide assortment of gemstones, sea glass, and silver designed by renowned artists—Hochheiser is unobtrusive, helpful, warm, and welcoming to his customers.
Without Kate’s presence to keep him in check, he freely shares his unfiltered commentary. Hochheiser met Kate at night school in New York, where the two were studying business administration. “I thought she was good-looking, smart, and liberal,” Hochheiser says, adding that his wife possesses each of these qualities in equal measure.
Both dreamed of owning a small business one day, but Hochheiser first took a detour into menswear. He went to work in Boston, while Kate remained in New York and worked as a paralegal. The couple would see one another on weekends. “When the airline shuttles got to be too expensive, we decided to get married,” Hochheiser matter-of-factly states the reason for their nuptials. His employee, who has been pricing vases at the counter, looks up from her work and appears slightly horrified by her boss’s less-than-romantic recollection. “You don’t want to say that. What’s your wife going to think?” she asks. But Hochheiser is impervious to her cautions. “That’s what happened,” he declares, “and I’m sticking with the story.”
The couple realized their dream when they opened their shop in Rockport in 1992. They were guided to American handcrafts by an acquaintance who was a successful jewelry artisan. Through networking and attending wholesale art exhibits, they expanded their artist connections and stocked their shop with wares from across the country. It was a very busy period in the couple’s lives. “We bought a home in Topsfield in February, opened our store in Rockport in May, and our second daughter, Leah, was born in June,” Hochheiser reminisces.
Annie*s relocated to Newburyport in 1998. “We had been looking for a location for a couple of years,” Hochheiser says. The city’s year-round visitors and supportive resident community are appealing draws for a small business owner, Hochheiser explains. So when the boutique Choices vacated its Pleasant Street storefront, Annie*s moved in. “Now, we are one of the longer-established businesses on the street,” Hochheiser remarks. The Chamber of Commerce member then adds wryly, “But I’m still a carpetbagger.”
Owning Annie*s has led to many wonderful friendships with artists and with customers, Hochheiser says. Many have become “like family.”
There’s the group of women from Natick who travels to Newburyport once a year for the primary purpose of shopping at Annie*s. And there’s the local woman who purchased the forged-iron cat chair; she sings the praises of Annie*s salespeople, who, in the Hochheisers’ rare absence, “got the guys working at the pizza shop across the street [Pizza Factory] to carry and load the heavy chair into my car.” “Annie*s,” she says, “is one of my favorite stores, and Ted and Kate are great people.”
Hochheiser is reluctant to give up any customer anecdotes, however. Finally, he shares a story from the vault. “We had an 80-year-old customer who returned the earrings she had purchased for repair.” Hochheisser pauses, as if delivering a punch line. “The earrings had become mangled after an evening with her gentleman friend.”
Hochheiser’s two daughters, Annie (for whom the shop is named) and Leah, both young women now, help out in the family-run store from time to time. His daughters are his greatest joy. “Neither one of them has been in jail, so I feel that Kate and I have done a fine job raising them,” Hochheiser states.
When he and Kate aren’t busy running the store, Hochheiser says they enjoy hiking, kayaking, and dancing. He also enjoys feeding the birds in his backyard and has named all his squirrels. “Doesn’t everyone name their squirrels?” Hochheiser asks. Rusty, a red squirrel, and Tubby, a portly gray squirrel, are two with whom Hochheiser has forged an understanding. “I gave up trying to fight them,” Hochheiser says, declaring his victory, although he seems to be singing the squirrels’ victory song.
Hochheiser’s success as the owner of a small boutique might have been foretold when he was just four or five years old. “My grandfather owned a few ‘Five and Dime Stores,’” Hochheiser recollects. His father inherited one of these shops, and even though his dad ultimately sold the small business, the notion of being at the helm of his own small shop found its way into Hochheiser’s consciousness.
Asked what alternate career he might have chosen if he were not a small business owner, Hochheiser responds, “I’d like to be a journalist, or maybe a D.J.,” He suspects that Kate, with her paralegal background, would be a good lawyer. Speculation on his wife’s alternate career leads Hochheiser to share a peek into the successful dynamic of his marriage. “It can be tough to get a word in when hanging out at the kitchen table with my wife’s large Irish family.” But, he adds, as the lone Jewish person at the table, “I can hold my own pretty well, and I’m very proud of that.”
Hochheiser believes in the “randomness of the universe,” a philosophy espoused by the satiric and dark, late American writer Kurt Vonnegut. “The moral of the story is we’re here on Earth to fart around,” Hochheiser recites his favorite Vonnegut quotation. However, Hochheiser’s drôle sense of humor and appreciation for sardonic wit cannot conceal his great humanity, which permeates his countenance and is revealed in his self-effacing demeanor.
Kathleen Downey is the Features Editor for Newburyport Today. If you are a townie or a citizen who would like to be profiled (or to suggest someone to profile), please email: Kathleen@Newburyport-Today.com.
