By Leslie Hart

With the city unemployment rate hitting 10.3 percent in October, layoffs are rampant and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are suffering. The recession has derailed stock portfolios, disrupted routines, and deferred dreams. On Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, three women have turned a pink slip into an opportunity.

Stephanie Trudeau and Jessica Pichardo followed the example of Boerum Hill entrepreneur Jessica Furst in launching their own businesses after being laid off. They represent a growing trend of formerly unemployed workers striking out on their own. But in opting to open storefronts in this shaky economy, Trudeau and Pichardo have joined Furst as part of an exclusive group of new business owners facing a particularly daunting set of challenges. A lack of consumers willing to spend coupled with overhead costs has so far left these entrepreneurs with mixed results.

“I was really starting to get the hang of it and get the balance and the economy tanked,” said Jessica Furst, proprietor of Artəz’n, a five-year-old boutique that sells hand-crafted art work. “Now I’m struggling – there are stores closing around me right and left.”

Furst is planning to apply for food stamps so she can contribute more toward paying off her debt.

Jeannette Nigro, vice president for economic development at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, has seen a five to eight percent increase in the number of people who turn to entrepreneurship after losing their job. Still, the fact that Trudeau, Pichardo, and Furst chose to open a physical store is less common.

“Most individuals with a professional background will err on the side of caution and work as a consultant, not necessarily opening a brick and mortar storefront,” said Nigro. “It’s less risky, requires little start-up cost, and most people work from home or remote location.”

Stephanie Trudeau, 61, of Stevie’s Artisans is the newest arrival on Atlantic Avenue.

Stephanie Trudeau straightens merchandise at Stevie's Artisans in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. (Photo: Leslie Hart)

After being laid off from her job as gift shop manager at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in July, Trudeau was not sure where to turn. She posted her resume on Craigslist. She inquired at several other museums, only to find the same situation: 10 percent pay cuts and hiring freezes.

“I just kind of thought, well, I’ll collect unemployment for awhile,” said Trudeau. “Wait it out, and just see if it gets better.”

When Trudeau visited the Brooklyn boutique Gumbo in September to find out whether owner Karen Zebulon might be interested in hosting the contemporary artisans formerly featured in the shop, Zebulon offered her something even better: the chance to open her own store within Gumbo.

Trudeau invested in a temporary agreement. Stevie’s Artisans opened on October 1. Now Trudeau’s selection of handcrafts and wearable art is interspersed with Zebulon’s inventory of eclectic children’s attire and decorative artwork.

Although she never envisioned herself as an entrepreneur, Trudeau hopes to make a living out of her new endeavor by applying the infrastructure she created at the Bronx Museum in a new context.

“I’m not reinventing the wheel in any way,” said Trudeau. “I’m taking what worked one place and putting it somewhere else.”

Trudeau is focused on getting online sales up and running. Although the first few weeks were slow, her weekend receipts have recently increased from $100 to $500 thanks to early holiday shoppers. As part of her five-year vision, she would like to curate exhibitions of international crafts and folk art by drawing upon the contacts she made while traveling in Italy on a 2006 Fulbright Scholarship.

“Ultimately what I would love to do is indeed bring that artwork from Italy to New York, if not in this space, some space,” said Trudeau.

Jessica Pichardo, 32, took a more comprehensive approach to her new business, the Linger Café. She conducted extensive market research before settling on the location for what she hopes will become a neighborhood hot spot. Her café opened in July.

Jessica Pichardo prepares coffee at Linger Café on Atlantic Avenue. (Photo: Leslie Hart)

Due to the “kick-in-the-pants” she received after being laid off, she reached her longstanding goal 10 years earlier than expected.

“I always wanted to open up my own restaurant, but I figured I would do something like that later on in life when I’m a little more settled financially as well as in my family life,” Pichardo said.

Pichardo earned her MBA from New York University at night while working in finance at Credit Suisse. An early casualty of the recession, she was laid off in April 2008.

“Instantly I knew I wasn’t gonna go back to corporate, that I was going to go do my own thing,” said Pichardo. “I basically traveled to clear my head, and I came back with a game plan.”

Pichardo secured a $150,000 loan from the World Trade Center Small Business Recovery Fund. She used her savings and severance package to make up the rest of the capital needed to support a café.

Between buying organic ingredients at local markets, planning menus, and cooking, Pichardo works over 80 hours per week.

She hopes to develop a loyal customer base through networking and word of mouth. Her efforts are starting to pay off. Not only has Pichardo served “swarms of people” since Halloween, she recently hosted a farewell party for 70 guests.

Pichardo is satisfied with her investment.

“I’m ‘tappy’ – I’m, like, tired and happy,” said Pichardo. “I’m physically beat but I’ve never felt so passionate and in love with what I’m doing for a living, and it’s such a wonderful feeling.”

Jessica Furst, 35, sells a variety of handcrafted merchandise created by Brooklyn-based artists. She encountered a new set of challenges due to the recession after building her business from scratch in 2004. Furst lost her job as an in-house graphic designer at public relations firm Burson-Marstellar after 9/11. She freelanced for three years before she realized she was missing out on a potentially golden opportunity.

Jessica Furst talks shop at Brooklyn boutique Artəz’n. (Photo: Leslie Hart)

As a favor to her artist friends, Furst designed marketing materials for free to help them sell their work. She transformed her generosity into a mutually beneficial business concept.

“I realized that if I sold their stuff, then I wouldn’t have to ask them for money,” Furst said.

Furst financed the store with $50,000 she had set aside for graduate school, relying on a $115,000 Small Business Administration loan to provide the remaining seed money.

She was forced to borrow money this past summer due to poor sales.

“I’m fortunate that my parents were able to help me with my rent or I would have been closed by now,” said Furst.

Audio Slide Show

Jessica Pichardo, 32, opened Linger Café on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill this past July. She realized her dream of owning a restaurant 10 years earlier than expected after being laid off from her investment banking job at Credit Suisse.

Photos and Audio by Leslie Hart

Behind the Counter at Linger Café from L E Hart on Vimeo.