While visiting a friend recently in upstate New York, I had the chance to spend an afternoon in the antiquing destination of Hudson. I have been hearing about how great the antiquing was in this town, and have wanted to visit for years.
Like most things hyped, it was perhaps not quite as great as I had anticipated it being, but there were some good shops and lots of cute pubs, cafes, galleries, and such. And i do believe the whole experience is probably much more pleasant in nicer weather; we went on a bitterly cold and windy February day.
Here are some tips if you find yourself there!
There is really just one main street, Warren Street, on which all the shops are located. It is very long, though, 7 or 8 blocks. The architecture of the area is very beautiful, but it is clear the heyday of the town was many moons ago.
Again, there are many great shops and galleries. And the selection is superb: junky shops where you have to dig for your finds; very sophisticated shops; some selling mid century pieces; some Victorian antiques; some simple vintage finds.
One stop I had to make was at Red Chair Antiques. This favorite of mine used to be in Peterboro NH but moved to Hudson a while back. It always has an absolutely wonderful selection of vintage things, and the owner is an absolute genius at merchandising and styling her store.
Rural Residence is a stop I recommend highly. A lovely mix of vintage and regular retail and charming and welcoming employees, something NOT the norm in most of the other shops I entered, Tsk Tsk.
A few other stand outs for me were:
Trout & Co: one of the dusty, search-for-it places, it had items of a more industrial edge.
Hudson Home: A stunning home design shop, with very high end sofas, tables, chairs, accessories. Beautifully merchandised. A place to dream of future design schemes.
Henry: A lovely small shop with vintage Hudson Bay blankets (great for upholstery) and other unique and interesting finds and a great mix of primitive and industrial, but with appallingly unfriendly and unhelpful customer service. I'd like to hope it was just one bad day.....
Neven and Neven Moderne: A fantastic array of mid century modern classics: Eames, Saarinen, Gibbings, Knoll.
There are many, many more of course, these are just a few suggestions.
And lots of places to duck into for a hot toddy (in my case) or something cool if you go in better weather.
So if you have the chance to go, enjoy!
