Christine Kostyrka

Christine Kostyrka graduated with a BFA in painting and Art Education from School of Visual Arts in NYC. At the age of 23 she opened a Home Goods store without any real knowledge of Retail. Her appreciation for the common ground between art and commerce and her love of design and handcraft led to a 30+ year career overseeing buying and product development businesses for Home and Lifestyle at Martha Stewart, Crate and Barrel and Urban Outfitters, where she helped launch several trends as DMM over Home, including the resurgence of turntables and vinyl. Christine’s areas of expertise include Product Development, Buying/Planning, Visual Merchandising, Marketing and EComm. In 2019 she joined The Philadelphia Museum of Art as Director of Retail just as they were poised for a 90K square foot expansion. Over the next four years, Christine led efforts to open four brand new stores, several exhibition shops, and relaunched the museum’s web store while overseeing product development and marketing. As she puts it “Our goal is to provide a shopping experience that is just as transportive, educational and inspiring as the galleries and collection itself.” Though from NY originally, she has grown to love Philly, especially its rich history in craft and manufacturing, and thriving creative community. Though the Retail relaunch at PMA, she helped to introduce and support the work of almost 100 local artisans in all stores, as well as partnering with local non profits and artist collectives to source products. She has served for 15 years as a business advisor and Board Member to Fresh Artists, a Philly based non-profit whose mission is to provide art supplies and innovative arts programming to the Nation's poorest schools. Christine lives outside Philly with her daughter and four cats.