Jonathan and Rebecca Falcon are king and queen of Hudson Valley hustle. In 2021, they took over Ellenville lumberyard Slutsky’s Lumber and, in 2022, Liberty Street Liquors in Newburgh, all whilst managing properties throughout Ulster, Orange, and Sullivan Counties. Most recently, in April the entrepreneurial couple opened vintage emporium Bashakill Bazaar in Wurtsboro, adding yet another gem to their varied lineup of local businesses.
The Falcons have accomplished a great deal in the last few years, especially for a couple who returned to the Hudson Valley unexpectedly. During a 2020 weekend trip to a family farmhouse, COVID shut everything down and the Falcons never left. They wanted a shift from the corporate lives they cultivated in New York City, and Jonathan’s passion for woodworking led them to take over the retiring George Slutsky’s lumber business and keep it alive. Through their other day-to-day job managing properties for different investors, they started running Liberty Street Liquors, overseeing rebranding and operating for their partners who had purchased the building. It’s Rebecca’s interests that led them to this latest venture—vintage shopping.
Growing up right outside of Goshen, Rebecca always wanted to be in the city. She went to FIT and worked in fashion and merchandising in New York City for many years, but she’d still race to local vintage stores every time she returned home to the Hudson Valley. So her investor partners were considering building apartments on the floor above the storefront of her tenant, vintage collector Sara Nahas’ Brother’s Vintage and Variety, at 138 Sullivan Street in Wurtsboro, Rebecca had a better idea. Nahas’s store inspired Rebecca with a vision for the former law office and its homey wood paneling, and she decided to open something completely new.
“With [all the other businesses], I’m paying ode to their name and what it was, but this is a fresh establishment,” Falcon says. “I really wanted to create an approachable, accessible space for the vintage shopper and a fun thing for local people.”
Working with Jonathan to renovate and maintain the space, Rebecca has created a consignment shop that feels both new and familiar. The upstairs floor of Bashakill Bazaar houses over 20 different vintage vendors that Rebecca met through different markets and friends, each with their own personal flair. Each vendor has their own wall or room with a pegboard, which they can decorate and arrange as they please.
Walking through a haven of cozy vintage quilts, antique trains, ceramic sets, and handmade jewelry, you’ll find countless collections from all around the Hudson Valley. In their own room, Cursed Objects Vintage, known for their colorful appearances at local flea markets, lines the walls with snakeskin cowboy boots and vividly patterned skirts. Under hanging, flowery vines, Rust Records hosts shelves of vinyl after vinyl. From Catskill, Synchronicity Gallery hangs gold framed landscapes and abstract art pieces. “Everybody’s super talented and they have their own thing. Whether it’s the Y2K girl in the center room or the Mid-century guy with all the Pyrex options, it really has such a wide array of choices,” Falcon says.
Rebecca has undoubtedly breathed new life into the space, but she’s also done an excellent job of preserving its beginnings. With the creation of Bashakill, the Falcons absorbed Nahas’s store into their vision. Nahas runs the daily operations of the store, and her Brother’s Vintage and Variety collection still occupies the downstairs area. The space feels almost like an inherited cabin, with an assembly of treasures that undoubtedly took years to collect. Old cameras, ceramic kittens, vintage Zippo lighters, tennis rackets, and almost every other antique you can think of sprawls out across the walls and many shelves of the space.
“Sarah knows all the locals, and there’s regulars who come visit her because she has fantastic energy,” Rebecca says. “The art people have been here forever, but I’ve met a lot of Gen Z people in the store who come up and go camping at the campground with their family. To give them something to do in the area makes me feel like their cool aunt.”
You can visit the market on Thursdays through Sundays from 11am to 6pm, and on the second Thursday of every month, you can enjoy a complimentary happy hour from 4-6pm as part of the store’s Sip and Shop.
This article appears in August 2024.
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