WEST PITTSTON – Angie Roback is a businesswoman and an artist who created The Crooked Branch at 202 Luzerne Ave. during COVID in 2020, and she’s managed to survive and thrive six years later.
As an artist, she’s known for making twisted-wire trees, earrings, glass mosaics from pieces of vases and bottles that she crushes herself, and realistic flowers from sola wood.
The sola-wood flowers have become particularly meaningful because brides use them for wedding bouquets that can be kept permanently.
In 2025 and now in 2026, Roback has been recognized as the Best Artist by the Sunday Dispatch’s Best of Greater Pittston.
While starting the business at home in the beginning, she eventually moved into her current location under The Crooked Branch, which is more than a traditional gift shop, offering other artisans a place to sell their wares out of her shop, as well as her own art.
With a vast array of items sold in her shop, customers have no trouble finding gifts, home décor, or unique handmade items.
The Crooked Branch hosts birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and if some like, you can have a BYOB party. Call Angie for available times and dates for future parties.
Artists, along with Roback, rotate stock seasonally, making it easy to purchase that perfect gift item or something for yourself for your home.
In addition to its items for sale, Roback offers arts-and-crafts workshops for customers.
Earlier this year, she added another dimension to the business with The Crooked Branch Café, a take-out coffee operation located inside the gift shop.
The café serves coffee, espresso, teas, chai lattes, handcrafted Italian sodas, soups and bread bowls, along with baked goods, including cake pops, gluten-free cookies, brownies and rice treats.
Local businesses and bakers, including Front Porch Bake Shop, Cinnfully Sweet and Linda Baldinucci, supply some of the treats.
The café officially celebrated its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 13, 2026, covered by the Sunday Dispatch.
Today, Roback’s customers include coffee drinkers, families, shoppers, artists, craft enthusiasts, and people simply looking for a unique local experience.
The shop continues to offer workshops and handmade goods while the café gives visitors another reason to stop.
The Crooked Branch is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to noon Sunday. The store is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
To reach Roback, call 570-604-0132.