Meet Your Neighbor… Beth Amireh-Leach

By DONNA NICKEL

Beth Amireh-Leach, the owner of Vita II, located on the second floor of the Hartville Marketplace, isn't one for playing it safe. Just one look at this fashionable North Canton wife, mother and entrepreneur and the word “conservative” does not leap to mind.
She's not a worrier either. “I always come in and do my own thing and focus on that, instead of being nervous about failure.” It's that confidence and belief in herself that enables Beth to successfully sell chic, cosmopolitan clothing and accessories in the same building where other merchants are peddling fresh produce, water systems, floral arrangements, sports memorabilia, and cheese.
Beth grew up in Canton where her mother was a teacher and her father owned a barbershop. When she was a student at GlenOak High School, she worked at O’Neil’s department store. “It was a half-day co-op. I’ve always been interested in retail.” After graduating high school (GlenOak '80) she went on to earn a business/marketing degree from Kent State.
Knowing she wanted to “get out of Ohio and explore more”, Beth moved to Dallas right after college. “A girlfriend of mine lived there and there was an economic boom in Dallas at the time with lots of job opportunities.” After working as a sales representative for a couple phone technology companies, she landed a job at Dallas' Apparel Mart. From there, she became a store manager for Contempo Casuals. When she married her first husband Don, she worked with him in his small men’s and women’s clothing store. “It was really funky; it was geared toward younger people. I really helped him build that company.”
When she and Don divorced in 1995, Beth and their son DJ (now 13 years-old) left trendy, fashion powerhouse Dallas, and moved back to Ohio. “It was very hard. I had to start all over again.” At Belden Village Mall, Beth worked part-time as a salesperson at Express where she quickly moved to management. She then spent three years as a co-manager at Belden Village's Cache.
While working at the mall, she met Bill Leach, owner of Hartville Redi-Mix Concrete Co. The couple married three years ago and made their home in North Canton.
Bill's company poured all the concrete at Hartville Marketplace. “He kept telling me about the place before it opened.” She inquired and discovered two spots upstairs were available. “From the moment I came back from Dallas I knew I wanted to own my own business. I knew I wanted to set roots here.” So Beth signed on for 200 square feet of concrete floor. “They give you a piece of concrete floor and you have to build the booth, the displays, everything.” She started out visiting New York and Dallas for merchandise, and bringing back mainly purses and jewelry to sell. “People just went crazy; they loved the stuff because it was something different.” She settled on a name that was “short and snappy.” She also wanted the name to mean something. “Vita translates into 'life' in several languages.”
Five years later, Vita II, now anchors the second floor of Hartville Marketplace, taking up over 3,000 square feet.. “We're definitely a reason to walk upstairs. We're not something you’d expect to find here, and we're also not what you’re going to find at the mall. You have to come and experience it. Nobody believes it. We get a lot of customers by word of mouth.”
At Vita II, customers can outfit themselves from head to toe, accessories included. “I go to a trade show in Las Vegas to find a lot of our merchandise. It's not as fun as it sounds. It’s a lot of work going through items from vendors all over the world.” Beth's favorite part about owning Vita II is playing the role of fashion therapist. “I love putting together outfits. My favorite thing is matching a customer with the outfit. If a customer is in the store, that’s the most important thing to me. I want them to feel good about themselves. I like to take people a little out of their element, but not to the point that they’re uncomfortable.” Beth's personal style is a bit funky. “I love bling, black and white, animal prints, and furry things, and I love coats. But I'd never force my preferences on anyone.” While there's plenty of funk to be found at her store- “Vita is an extension of me” - mock turtlenecks, jeans, slacks and other basics have a place in the inventory too.
“I think it's really cool that all ages come in and find things, from teens to 80 or 90 year olds.”
One of her loyal customers is t.v. personality Robin Swaboda. Last year when Swaboda was downstairs filming a piece about the Marketplace, Beth, prompted by her employees whom she calls 'the Vita Girls', approached the celebrity and invited her to visit her store. “She was hooked.” Swaboda will feature Vita II on her show “That’s Life” on Fox 8 on December 5 at 10 a.m.
With a business that literally rose up from the concrete, Beth knows what she's talking about when she advices people to “take a risk.
“I know this sounds funny, but it's true: follow your dreams and your passion. Have a plan, make goals, be positive, don’t be afraid of the future. You never know what you can do until you try.”
Check out Beth's advertisement for a Vita II discount for Our Town readers.