“E
very day is a sweet day at Bella
her children were very young, she decided to
Christie & Lil’ Z’s Sweet Boutique!” delve into a business of her own that quickly
say sisters Kristin Lewis-Smith
became a success.
and Kadee Lewis. As one of Pittsburgh’s
About four years later, Lewis-Smith and
treasured boutiques, Bella Christie & Lil’ Z’s
her sister, Kadee Lewis, joined forces to
offers something unique and delectable that
expand the business to create the shop that
will tantalize the taste buds of anyone whose
exists today. Lewis, a personal trainer and
favorite part of a meal is dessert. This fall, the
gym owner in Aspinwall, pushed her sister
booming business continues to cultivate its
to expand her talents and encouraged her to
second location in Lawrenceville with unique
tackle new items like fondant and wedding
interactive dessert offerings.
cakes.
“We opened our second location several
As the business took off, an actual
years ago when the opportunity presented
storefront, more space and a staff became a
itself,” recalls Lewis-Smith.
reality for the Lewis sisters. “Kadee is really
Dozen Bake Shoppe—which had been open creative when it comes to the design of
in that location for several years—was closing the shops and has created a whimsical, fun
its doors and looking for someone to take over storefront that really matches the personality
the existing lease. At the time, Bella Christie’s
of the desserts we create,” says Lewis-Smith.
business was growing rapidly and the sisters
“The name of our bakery is inspired by our
found the Aspinwall shop bursting at the
three daughters: Isabella (Bella) Smith, Alexa
seams, in need of space to expand.
(Christie) Smith and Zoe Skirboll (Lil’ Z).”
“Instead of relocating to one larger location,
Bella Christie’s two locations are only
we decided to essentially split the bakery into
four miles apart, but they are very different
two,” explains Lewis-Smith. “Our Aspinwall
from each other. “The new location gave us a
location continued to craft our delicious
chance to express ourselves with new design
dessert items and our cake wizards continued
ideas,” adds Lewis-Smith. “It took on a rustic
to sculpt and design their beautiful creations—
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only now they had more room to do so. We
moved our candy
making, chocolate
dipping and
decorated cookie
production to our
new location in
Lawrenceville.”
Bella Christie’s
was initially started
by Lewis-Smith
about 12 years
ago. At that time,
the home-based
business was small
and specialized in
decorated cookies
and bakery bars
as well as cookies
produced for private
and wholesale
clients. Growing up,
Lewis-Smith would
spend countless
summers “down
south” apprenticing
with her
grandmother—a
master “southern”
baker and candy
maker. With her
grandmother’s
influence, she
fostered a love for
baking and candy
Alexa Smith mixes ice cream on a cold slab as part of the Liquid Nitrogen Ice
Cream station, where ice cream is flash frozen and placed on a slab to mix in
making, and when
the customer’s choice of just about any topping.
Penn Hills | Fall 2017 | icmags.com 11