In November 2019, Bon Appetit’s Christopher Morocco waxed poetic about a new clothing and home goods shop in Dobbs Ferry with an in-house, all-organic cafe. Within the “impeccably curated” interior of At Land, Morocco trilled that he and his family “became a slightly better version of ourselves”—the version that wants to move to the country, have a yard, and live a simpler life.
Four years, a pandemic, and one such move later, At Land has set up shop on the ground floor of an immense industrial-era brick building on Broadway in Kingston. The cafe concept is gone and the selection of products has been pared back by 90 percent, but at its core, the mission to offer “grounded goods” made with sustainable practices and materials is more distilled than ever. Shafts of butter-colored sunlight pour into the historic space, which has exposed stone walls, polished concrete floors, and clothing racks tucked between custom-milled, blond wood shelving.
“It’s hard to be fully, fully sustainable at the highest level,” says At Land founder Melissa Lauprete. “My objective has always been to work with brands that were trying, that were fighting against the machine, fighting against capitalistic structures—that could be the dyes they’re using, their production practices, the living wages they’re paying—there are so many things.”
Lauprete started working in retail at age 13 and continued through college before a career in advertising took her into the corporate world. After chronic illness forced a change of pace and lifestyle, she took the lessons she learned from her own healing journey and decided to apply them to her love of fashion and design. “That change in my life—going to a nontoxic lifestyle, diet, and environment, and caring about where things came from—helped me significantly from a health perspective,” Lauprete says. “I started this business to round up what is essentially a selection of my favorite clothing and housewares.”
When she started the business online in 2017, Lauprete’s sourcing and sustainability standards were leagues ahead of other boutiques’ and the public was hungry for the level of quality and authenticity she was offering. In the years since, green buzzwords have taken over the fashion industry to Lauprete’s frustration. “It’s hard because everything has become so trendy,” she says. “But I truly scrutinize every product I carry. Every ingredient that we put into your home or body is natural.” That task is slightly more manageable in the Kingston incarnation, where Lauprete has gone from 800 different products to around 100.
New, But Better
“I still believe in creation,” she says of the fashion industry. “Vintage and all these other things are really important and prominent, especially in this region, but I believe we still need to make new and allow creative expression.” To that end, she carries around 40 brands from emerging, international, and independent producers, including 11.11, As Ever, Henrik Vibskov, Beklina, and Black Crane. She looks for designers that focus on slow, conscious, and timeless production, eschewing fads in favor of well-made pieces that will last years if not a lifetime.
Given the materials and ethics of the products, the prices are surprisingly affordable. Certainly not H&M cheap, but that’s not the point here. Products range in price from a $108 washable silk top to a cotton-linen dungaree skirt for $163 to dresses, sweaters, and jackets in the $200 to $400 range. “I wouldn’t put anything in here that I could not stand by from a production and quality perspective,” Lauprete says. “That ends up costing more because of how they’re made, where they’re from, and the wages of the people making them. It’s not a luxury good that is marked up even though it cost very little to make. My hope is that instead of buying three jackets over the next few years, you buy one that lasts. It’s possible for some people to make that shift, but it’s a hard thing.”
On the sparse tabletops, At Land has a selection of accessories from Carla Colour, footwear from Rosa Mosa, jewelry from En Studio and Maida, home goods from Lue Brass and Johnny Ortiz Ceramics, and unisex fragrance from Abel.
“Most brands I carry are from personal relationships,” Lauprete says, “be it from the old school way of walking by something and asking how or where it’s made to friends of friends to searching endlessly and aggressively for the perfect thing in whatever category it is—the perfect chair, toilet brush, pair of earrings, candle, sweater. Perfect, of course, is a loose term. But I’ve found things that I feel are made with incredible energy, thought, and care. And I really highly scrutinize them for durability and function.”
Lauprete neither leans on buzz words to obfuscate sourcing and materials, nor is she such a stickler that she makes no exceptions. “Sometimes a recycled fabric gives you a level of durability or performance that a natural one doesn’t,” she says. “Some of these garments are completely natural, completely organic, hand-dyed, handmade, handsewn. But the soles on my shoes are rubber—you can’t completely avoid certain aspects. And it’s so important that we’re honest about the level of sustainability that we’re able to achieve.” Where she makes no compromises is on the products in your body and in your home—fragrances, skincare, candles, and the like are made from all-natural ingredients, like the 60-hour burn time coconut wax candles from Barratt Riley & Co.
In the future, Lauprete aims to bring home goods and furnishings into the location like she had in the Westchester shop (cloud-like custom armchairs are from the interior design agency that did the space, Klein Agency). And on the fashion front, Lauprete will include expanding into menswear and genderless clothing and moving toward a predominantly exclusive merchandise model. “I am going to be developing my own house line,” she says. “And the other items that we’ll carry will only be able to be found here for most part—custom collaborations with designers, maybe a different colorway or a different cut. There is so much sameness out there. I’m not into a traditional cookie-cutter way of doing retail. I really want to bring something original.”
Lauprete has had the space at 534 Broadway in Kingston since March 2022. “Midtown has always had my heart. It felt like the right place,” says Lauprete, who grew up in inner city Cleveland. Finding tradespeople to do the buildout took about six months. She worked with LA-based Klein Agency to design the space and woodworker James Harmon of Abstract Quality (and Cut Teeth Skate Shop) to do the custom millwork.
Through a break in the foot-thick stone wall and up a spiral staircase, you’ll find an arched brick corridor, where train cars once pulled off the main track, which still runs alongside the building, to load up on cargo. Lauprete conceives of this space as a gallery. To date, she has hosted two visual art exhibitions, including “Exquisite Corpse,” a collaborative exhibit of seven New York-based artists that is up through October 29. In the future, however, she will branch out across disciplines opening up the space to designers she carries as well as furniture makers, artisans, and local artists like Midtown Kingston-based ceramicist Andrew Molleur, who will have a show up November 24 through December 31.
“The gallery is a space that artists, designers, and makers can take over and make their own,” she says. “Andrew has come up with a whole rigging system to hang pieces. He’s going to transform space—that’s what I want. That is my hope—for people to come and showcase space in a way that is really true to them, not just a rack downstairs.” Artist receptions and meet the designer events will connect the public with the story behind the pieces—both in the gallery and the shop.
At Land opened without fanfare in December of last year, Lauprete nursing her burnout and keeping buying to a minimum. “I like to be quiet. I love the art of discovery,” she says. “But I think I’ve been a little too quiet just tucked away here on the hillside.” With the gallery Lauprete hopes to reach a broader audience than she might reach with retail alone.
“I have always been interested in archaic industries that need transformation,” Lauprete says, returning to fashion. “That’s part of why I took on retail—I wanted to see if I could do retail differently, create a more nimble structure for small business, and operate in a way that was good for my soul. I am a retail business that doesn’t want people to keep buying new, new, new. Here, every purchase ensures responsible production, materials, and the health of the elements that go into goods, and also respects and upholds the creative process for how it’s made, so inherently it will make a shift. Even if it’s small, we’re still making an impact for the greater good…At least that’s my goal.”
At Land
534 Broadway, Kingston
This article appears in October 2023.
