Clove & Creek: A Landscape-Inspired Mercantile
This spring, there is no better time to explore Kingston’s Rondout, a picturesque waterfront neighborhood packed with centuries-old architecture, galleries, restaurants, and shops. A stroll along Broadway, the wide thoroughfare sweeping downhill to the marinas of Rondout Creek, will be the best way to discover the growing number of small businesses that have been opening up on this historic city stretch. One such business is Clove & Creek, a charming mercantile offering locally-made home goods and gifts inspired by the area’s natural beauty. Neighbored by upstate gems such as Kingston Wine Co., Brunette, Jay Teske Leather Co., and sharing an entryway with floral shop Hops Petunia, the shop is a sunlit trove of hand-picked wares all beautifully splayed across rustic shelves and tables. An in-store coffee bar, which includes hot and iced brew from Brooklyn-based Parlor Coffee, is an intentional part of the retail experience and just one example of how best friends and business partners Michael Cook and Scott Neild are helping to facilitate conversation and community engagement.
“Kingston is the type of place where there is a bit of magic in the air, drawing artists and makers and dreamers from all over,” says Michael, a freelance stylist who splits his time between the store and his job as a fashion market editor at Out Magazine. “Like New York City, it’s a brilliant mix of all these different types of people, and what they bring to the table creates this fantastic landscape we get to call home.”
Clove & Creek is a heartfelt reflection of that landscape, featuring everything from Upstate Stock mohair hats and gloves, to Pratt + Hebert cups and mugs, to fragrant bundles of sage by Amoona Botanicals. A west coast collection has even made its way to The ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles. “We select things we would want to put in our own houses — objects that tell a story and have a natural, earthy, and timeless quality to them,” says Scott, a former event planner who found the creative reboot he was looking for up in the mountains. “It’s an exciting time in that there’s potential for this neighborhood to grow in a really amazing way. It has a history, it’s beautiful, and it’s bringing cool, interesting, and artistic people here.”
Photos by Katie Lobel, Words by Caitlin Fusco