To online, that is.
For 35 years Sylvester & Co. Modern General was Sag Harbor’s original boutique home goods store. And although the beloved retailer’s brick-and-mortar location on Main Street within the old whaling village closed its doors in early January, fans will soon be able to get their fix for a wide range of carefully curated goods, clothing, books and housewares. They’ll just have to do it online instead of in person.
Currently, owner Lynda Sylvester is working to redesign her longstanding business model into its newer online presence.
The idea of moving operations to a strictly online presence wasn’t necessarily a shot in the dark. Last spring, when Modern General started hosting a “shop-within-a-shop” summer-long pop-up campaign for contemporary home goods retailer Hudson Grace — which used to have its own physical location in Sag Harbor as well, on Washington Street about half a block away — Sylvester noted the dramatic shift she was seeing among the surrounding local small businesses, citing high rents, accessibility and customer convenience as the culprits behind many stores having to close up shop.
Sylvester’s signature item, Dreamy Coffee, is still readily available for wholesale online as well as at many retail locations across the South Fork and beyond. In Sag Harbor, the distinctly chocolatey organic coffee can be found in cold brew concentrate, single-use cup, whole bean and ground bean format, and most recently was added to the roster of featured items found at Barryville General (15 Hill St.) in Southampton.
Thank goodness!
