One of the many things I enjoy about being a retailer is that I never know who will walk into Little Pickles stores, now in Red Hook and Hudson, NY. Since opening the Red Hook Little Pickles store in 2014 I have developed friendships and business relationships with many people who have shopped in my stores, and occasionally I have been thrilled to greet celebrities – notably Timothee Chalamet and Logan Paul this past year alone – who live or spend time in the Hudson Valley.
One of the few things I don’t like about being a retailer of “A General Store For Children” is managing an inventory of almost 10,000 different products, from candies to marbles to collectables to games to toys and beyond; also dividing said inventory between two brick and mortar locations and an e-commerce website.
I mention all this because just the other day one of my regular customers brought in his mom, a whirling dervish of a woman who, now in her late 80s, has found fame and recognition as a TikTok influencer with about half a million followers – Annie Korzen.
My husband knew her as an actress who was on Seinfeld a few times (Doris Klompus from Del Boca Vista, Jerry’s parents’ Florida condo community) and my son knew her as “The Krispy Kreme Lady” due to her first viral TikTok video, but to me she became a kindred spirit when she looked around the Red Hook store and said “How on earth do you keep track of all these products? You must be crazy like me!”
We chatted about how we both believed that “more is more,” not “less is more” as a way of looking at life, and she asked if we could do a TikTok together. While I’m not a performer by trade, she kindly assured me to just be myself and “go with the flow” - here is the result. My innate British modesty prevents me from asking famous folks for a selfie or autograph, but on this occasion, we quickly found a shared perspective on life that I hope you’ll enjoy as a momentary diversion.
Chance encounters like this one reinforce my love for what I do and remind me that the next person to walk through the door can make a lasting impression.