THE 2020 BUSINESS REMIX: NEW VENTURES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Let’s face it, 2020 has been a crazy year, requiring businesses to shut down, reopen, adapt, innovate, and evolve. Some entrepreneurs bravely embarked on new business ventures amid the chaos of this year. We want to highlight and congratulate some business innovators and courageous new ventures in our area.
THE REMIX: MAKING A BUSINESS LOOK GOOD IN A PANDEMIC
COLD SPRING CHEESE & COLD SPRING COFFEEHOUSE
How do you turn a retail space into a service window to keep your employees and customers safe during a pandemic? These guys both got to work with their toolkits and made lemonade—or, rather, lemonade stands—out of a lemon of a year.
How do you continue running a restaurant during a time of severe restrictions on the number of tables you can serve? The folks at the Depot have been jumping hurdles since March. Whether it was their gung-ho take-out business early on, their outdoor café reconfiguration, or their installation of fancy PPE glass screening between stools at the bar, pictured above, we have to give them props for their tremendous efforts to keep everyone safe while making it look good.
Jack Goldstein has offered one of the best antiques collections on Main Street for years. After retailers were forced to close for months, Jack came up with a new approach suited to an unpredictable future. JLG now has a new home on the Web at jlgantiques.com. The curation is exquisite, and the history lesson with each item is fascinating. You will find yourself wondering which of your friends you’d like to give each collectible to—if you don’t end up keeping them for yourself.
349 MARKET
This year Renate and Rich Frost, the owners of the deli at 349 Main Street, in Nelsonville (next door to Homestyle Creamery), reinvented their family business with a new interior and exterior design, a BBQ smoker out back, and a fresh menu of take-out breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. They will celebrate their reopening this Saturday, Oct. 17.
BUSINESS LAUNCHES
FLEX PHYSICAL THERAPY, 3021 Route 9 - An award-winning boutique physical-therapy clinic from New York City has opened a second branch in Cold Spring. Need rehabilitation after the stress of this year? They are ready to help you.
HUDSON HIGHLANDS HOME, 35 Chestnut St. - The interior designer and decorator Andrew Kepler has set up an office and showroom next to Grey Printing. Take one peek inside, and you’ll start having new visions for your home.
PAULETTE, 114 Main St. - This innovative business combines a chic coffee bar and a clothing store with a Parisian slant. You can conveniently take a break for coffee and a pastry while shopping for modern classic womenswear—what a great idea! Jacqueline Azria, who opened the shop in July, named it after her mother.
SPICE REVOLUTION, 161 Main St. - This newcomer takes the local food scene to a new level with its selection of herbs, spices, and baked goods. Did you ever think about what happens to herbs and spices if they aren’t fresh? The folks at Spice Revolution have, and they are here to rescue your cooking from flavorlessness. Their tempting baked goods will restore you when you’re done learning about their array of hard-to-find seasonings.
SWEET HARVEST, 82 Main St. - Here’s a rare shop with something to delight anyone—moms, tots, tweens, hikers, Main Street shoppers, and everyone in between. Sweet Harvest has found the right balance by offering smoothies, refreshing drinks, acai bowls, salads, and snacks for the trail or after school. Every item is made of healthy ingredients.
COMING SOON…
NINA CHANEL ABNEY STUDIO - This site, formerly the location of Impellittiere Motors and a Ford dealership and most recently a dilapidated garage, has been purchased by Nina Chanel Abney, a painter whose works have been exhibited and included in museum collections around the world. She will turn the building into her studio space, reusing the existing concrete-block walls while expanding the structure and adding a sawtooth skylight roof to let daylight into the interior. This visionary project will join other creatively repurposed industrial buildings in the Hudson Valley, such as Dia Beacon and the Eileen Fisher offices in Irvington.
WANTED
BRAVE ENTREPRENEURS WITH VISION. CREATIVE TYPES PASSIONATE ABOUT SERVICE. SAVVY BUSINESS PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT COMMUNITY.
Several spaces in the village are for rent or for sale and are ripe for a new business dream. Keep an eye on these locations:
40 MAIN ST. - This space had a former life as the Ellen Hayden Gallery, a marvelous flea market of antiques and art. Now that it’s empty, it looks, frankly, like a parking garage—and Cold Spring could really use one of those! There would also be a tremendous response to a food hall, with stalls selling meals and ingredients from around the world. Those are just two of many possible ideas. What would you cook up for this enormous space located near the train station?
49 MAIN ST. - Formerly housing the soap shop Bird’s Creations and the Cold Spring Apothecary, this petite space is centrally located and semi-private. It would be ideal as a professional office (perhaps for a lawyer, an independent real-estate broker, or an architect), as a specialty showroom (say, for custom picture frames), or as a carefully organized boutique selling small items (such as shoes, cigars, or kitchen supplies). Located a half flight up, the space has limited visibility from the street, a drawback for retailers that could be overcome through smart window treatment and signage.
101 MAIN ST. - The former home of Burkelman, this prime retail location offers a large ground-floor space and ample basement storage ready for … a men’s, women’s, and children’s shoe emporium? ... a retailer of bicycles, kayaks, skateboards, and other sporting goods? This is one of the most beautiful store spaces in Cold Spring and is ideal for a business visionary with retail know-how.
184 MAIN ST. - Whistling Willie’s is waiting for its makeover. With an original, Civil War–era bar and a prime location at the corner of Route 9D and Main Street, the place could become a beloved gathering spot and a goldmine for someone who has the right touch with modern bistro fare and craft cocktails.