Ilene Levy always wanted to own a store. She just never planned to own six.
Ilene Levy’s Cheeks, Glassworks, and Other Shops for Home Decor and Fashion in Pittsburgh
To her surprise, this retail dynamo known for her trademark oversized glasses has become one of Pittsburgh’s most prolific as well as impactful independent shopkeepers. Over the past three decades, Levy has amassed a portfolio of fashion and home goods boutiques that stretches from Shadyside to Squirrel Hill and into East Liberty, though she never set out to scale. Instead, she followed a buy-and-build strategy, acquiring and shepherding established businesses, then doubling down with an intensely hands-on approach to customer service that’s her calling card.
“I just saw the right opportunities,” says Levy, who champions the pleasures of in-person shopping and the value of walkable neighborhood retail.
Lingerie, Sleepwear, Decor, Luxury Bedding, and More
Levy’s first purchase, Cheeks, established her template. When she bought the store in 1997, it focused primarily on lingerie, sleepwear, and hosiery at its Shadyside and Squirrel Hill locales. Levy expanded the offerings to include bedroom-adjacent fashion—comfy robes, snuggly pajamas, lounge-worthy leisurewear—while ramping up personalized bra fittings. Investing in one of the store’s French-made, $245 Empreinte bras, Levy insists, is “a life changer.”
From there, Levy moved into tabletop, decor, and giftware with Glassworks, a compact jewel box of a boutique now located across the street from Cheeks. Curated with a collector’s eye, it brings together Baccarat crystal barware and vases, hand-painted Italian porcelain plates from Ginori 1736, colorful Smeg mixers and coffee makers, as well as MacKenzie-Childs’s whimsical checkerboard ceramics. Next door, Feathers is devoted to what Levy calls “pure luxury” for dressing the bed, from Scandia Down pillows stuffed with Hungarian white goose down to French-made Yves Delorme sheets and shams in combed cotton and linen.
The Grind Continues…
Levy’s most consequential move came last fall with the acquisition of Contemporary Concepts, two expansive registry and gift stores representing more than 300 brands, including Waterford, Wedgwood, and Le Creuset. To navigate the scale, she enlisted a retail consultant, Anne Dauer, for the first time. The purchase effectively unified much of the city’s high-end tabletop and bridal registry business, bringing brides, corporate clients, and collectors into a single Levy-run orbit of china, crystal, and silver.
Running a half-dozen stores means Levy is working non-stop seven days a week. She freely gives customers her cell number, answers emails at midnight, and texts at dawn. “We match prices, we gift wrap, we hand deliver,” she says. “We do whatever it takes,” including once packing up every candle in stock at Glassworks and driving them over to a frantic customer. For the always-in-motion Levy, retirement clearly isn’t an option—or even a consideration—because “I’m still working on a ten-year plan for the businesses,” she says with a laugh.
Story by Kathleen Renda
Photography by Laura Petrilla
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