Dave Pillard of Tender Land Home

Dave Pillard from Phoenicia’s very own Tender Land Home is a true Catskills visionary - selling amazing home and gift items long before the Brooklyn hipsters descended upon our quaint little community. Dave’s boutique has a gift for every occasion and he pretty much knows everything there is to know about Phoenicia and the Catskills. I’m happy to call him a good friend and my very first marketing client. Okay, let’s meet Dave...

What first brought you to the Catskills?
A friend. The singer Leslie Ritter, is a good friend of my former partner. We used to get away for weekends to see Les and hang out in the Catskills.

What inspired you to open Tender Land Home?
Like so many people who want to live full time in the Catskills I was looking for a job that could support me here. My then partner Bill Forbes had The Tender Land so when a space became available on Main Street in Phoenicia we figured let's open another store!

Tell us what the name means?
The name is based on Bill's favorite opera, The Tender Land by Aaron Copland. It's an appropriate name for the beautiful Catskill Mountains.

What are some of your top sellers?
Top sellers are jewelry, candles, kids merchandise and rugs.

How has the digital age affected your business?
The digital age has made it easier for people to purchase larger items online. I used to sell a lot more furniture. But now people can order sofas, chairs and tables online and have them delivered to their home. I adjusted to this by adding smaller, more unique items that can fit in the environment of a Catskills cabin or a Manhattan apartment.

How have you seen Phoenicia change over the years?
It's like the old saying that is something to the effect "everything is different and everything is the same." Phoenicia is still a really special place where everyone fits in. There's no pretense here - no struggle to live up to some kind of reputation. That is really great. And what's also really new and great is that a younger generation has discovered the beauty and charm of the Catskills and sings it praises.

When you’re not selling the best gifts ever, what do you do for fun?
For fun I like to work out - gym, swim, ride my bike, walk on the reservoir. My partner Robert Hessler and I love to binge watch series on Netflix or HBO - especially in winter (I'm also an admitted Real Housewives of New York and New Jersey junkie). I also love yard work - it's sort of a zen thing for me.

What are some of your fave places to grab a bite in the area?
We are blessed with great places to eat here! The burger and fries at Peekamoose are the bomb! Nobody does it better!! One slice of the chicken alfredo pizza at Brio's is a lunch in itself and I really dig their grilled cheddar cheese sandwich with apple and bacon. YUM! Sweet Sue's pancakes are still the best in the world!!!! Robin's homemade fudge at The Nest Egg is such a sinful treat. And I always love going to see Margaret at the Phoenicia Deli because she's so wonderful and also makes a wonderful sandwich. I could go on and on and on about the food around here!! LOL!!!

Do you have any advice or someone wanting to start their own business in the Phoenicia area?
Make your business plan and then throw it out the window!! The Catskills is such a quirky business environment that no matter what you plan for you're going to be thrown lots of curve balls that you didn't see coming. Doing business around here is like going for a roller coaster ride - you have to hold on tenaciously through the ups and downs. Put aside more money than you think you're going to need to get started (because guaranteed you'll need it) and in a few years you'll see the fruits of your labor.

Okay Dave… Time for the SPEED ROUND:
Fave Color: Blue
Fave Food: French Fries
Fave Book: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Fave Song: “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd
Fave Movie: A tie between The Wizard of Oz and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (but there's also Blade Runner and most of Stanley Kubrick's movies too.... Oh well)

Visit Dave at Tender Land Home, 64 Main St, Phoenicia, NY 12464

Chris Bick's Picks: The Best of Ulster County, Vol 1

Sweet Sue’s: 49 Main St, Phoenicia, NY 12464. Their hours might be early for those who like to sleep in on the weekends (Breakfast/Brunch only: Fri - Mon, 8am-1pm) but the food SERIOUSLY is well worth the early alarm call, trust me. Pancakes as big as your head crafted with Sue's secret recipe… 'Nuff said!

Hot Spot Yoga: 218 Plaza Rd, Kingston, NY 12401. Tucked in the elbow of the Kingston Plaza, this haven of heat (A Bikram Yoga series in a steamy 105° room) has been my ultimate savior for the past few years. Don’t miss their Black Light Class on Black Friday.

Uptown Coffee: 288 Wall St, Kingston, NY 12401. Truly the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe. I'm Cookie Monster so I know. Soft, warm and chocked full of melted chocolate chips. I could just go on and on... Oh, and I'm totally addicted to their coffee and relaxed vibe too!

Sacred Traditions Healing: 530 High Meadow Dr, Kerhonkson, NY 12446. Owners Tammi Price and Steeven Lall Price have created a gorgeous haven of healing and tranquility. Steeven’s “bone setter” massages are incredible and NOT for the faint of heart. Mind, body and spirit healing.

Tender Land Home: 64 Main St, Phoenicia, NY 12464. Store owner Dave Pillard is one of the sweetest, kindest and hottest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s stocked his store with great gifts, accessories and home decor items for every occasion. And if you want to know anything about the Catskills, just ask Dave… He knows!

Bluestone Basecamp: 4170 US-9W, Saugerties, NY 12477. Mark Dunbrack and Ryan Jennings have created this chic yet casual Bed and Breakfast in a beautifully restored brick manor. Downtown NYC LGBTQ performer Justin Vivian Bond is a besties of the guys and and frequent guest star at the basecamp.

Half Moon Books: 35 N Front St, Kingston, NY 12401. Need a book outlining the feminist philosophy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Just ask store owner Jessica DuPont… I’m sure it’s on her shelves! And who the heck does those amazing window displays?!?

Antique Barn at Water Street Market: 10 Main St # 501, New Paltz, NY 12561. Where else can you get lost in the various vintage worlds of the past and wind up with a box full of classic mid-century Christmas ornaments, a light up globe lamp and a mushroom yard sculpture... All before 11am?

Woodstock Playhouse: 103 Mill Hill Rd, Woodstock, NY 12498
I think it’s amazing that we can live this far out in the country and still have such talented performers entertain us with incredible Broadway standards. When I saw Spring Awakening there, it changed my life... Forever!

Old Dutch Church: 272 Wall St, Kingston, NY 12401. I love this place. The history, the architecture, the steeple, the catacombs, the gravestones… They’re all symbolic of the rich history we have here in Ulster County. I also love the spooky stories they tell in the graveyard at Halloween time. A total treasure.

ABOUT ME: Hi, I’m Chris Bick, the owner of Pioneer Agency in Kingston, NY. Hope you enjoyed my list. I do marketing, social media, web development, retail window display installations and architectural drafting. I know, it’s a wide array of services but I love the variety. I owned a successful online store in NYC for over 15 years but wanted something more… A quieter life surrounded by nature and authenticity. Hence Ulster County. Now I live in Mt Tremper with my 2 cats Charlie and Vern and I thoroughly enjoy using my marketing experience to help small Hudson Valley businesses fulfill their dreams. You can catch me this fall playing the Subway Ghost at The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck's adaptation of Ghost The Musical.

Lots of fun new clients and websites that I'm working on. I thought I would give a shout out to them all to show my gratitude for the opportunities. I hope you'll visit their sites and book or buy their services. Each one is extraordinary at what they do! xo

Le Shag: the premiere hair salon of the Hudson Valley, leshag.com. Site is live but currently under construction.

Cabane Studios: fine photography for our ever changing world, cabanestudios.com. Site hasn't been launched yet. Stay tuned.

Arcane Cane: the exclusive walking cane for those needing support and protection, arcanecane.com. Site hasn't been launched yet. Stay tuned.

Graydon Yearick Architect: a boutique architectural design firm, graydonyearick.com. Site is live but currently under construction.

Another new window installation completed at the wonderful Half Moon Books in Kingston.

I initially pitched an entirely different scheme that Jessica, the owner, didn't seem to keen on. She kept mentioning flowers... So, I knew I had to get her some summer blooms for our 3rd summer window together. Viola, "summer reads" was born.

I used books as petals strung to pegboard. I had found this cool technique of crocheting yarn on pegboard, so I used it for the middle of the bloom as well at the stem. It looks so simple, but the work was painstaking.

Have a great summer and make sure you pop into Half Moon Books to get all your summer vacation reads. xo, Chris

Detail of the big white daisy.

Detail of the yellow sunflower

Detail of the orange marigold.

It's done... Grass, Plant Maker Signage and little bees added

Detail of sign and bees

My original design sketch for the Flower Window.

Buddy Valentine and Chris Bick

Inspired by the "Swak" lips murals (see below) that I did with artist (and my husband) Buddy Valentine back in 2014 for the O+ Festival, I introduce the Lips Bike Rack in Kingston, NY.

It's been well over a year since we entered and WON O+'s bike rack design competition and the Lips Racks (3 total) have finally been produced and are being installed along Cornell Street in Midtown Kingston.

This one was installed today the Lace Mill. Another one will be installed at the Cornell Street Post Office later this summer and the 3rd and final one will be located at the corner of Cornell and Broadway once the complete street / bike path construction is completed in the Fall. Stay tuned and we love ya... MWAH

I'm building a case that my little hamlet of Mt Tremper, NY has some of the coolest design popping up in the Catskills. We have some Passive Solar Houses, Modernist Style, Prairie Style and a new breakfast place with the most deelish "chubby squirrels" pastries ever. Planning a visit to the Catskills? Make sure you include Mt Tremper on your agenda.

New spring marketing graphics for one of my fave clients... The in store and online retailer, Tender Land Home. Great new items too... Be sure to check it out and start shopping. tenderlandhome.com

A trip down memory lane showcasing some of my best Valentine's Day display motifs from the Fred Flare store in Brooklyn. Gosh, I miss Fred so much! Happy Valentine's Day everyone and enjoy! Love ya...

Main Tasting Room

I am so happy to finally get to show you all the amazing work we completed at Tousey Winery. We did quite a phenomenal transformation.

Here's what we did in the Main Tasting Room...

• Removed existing tile and exposed concrete slap. Polished and sealed

• Added bricks to back bar wall

• Wood framed mirrors to either side of existing menu

• New curved bar with polished concrete top. We added pergo flooring boards to the face of the bar to give it that found wood vide. Edison bulb lighting.

• Gray feature wall has an old Tousey Winery sign that they used to use in past trade show booths.

• Sliding barn door to private tasting room

• A renovated retail boutique (not pictured)

• window seating (not pictured)

• new bathroom (not pictured)

• Farm table seating with edison bulb chandelier

Gray Feature Wall

New Bar

Private Tasting Room

In the private tasting room we did the following...

• Exposed concrete floor

• Found wood TV presentation wall

• reused existing live wood bar as farm table seating with edison bulb lighting

• reused "I heart NY wine" graffiti art from previous trade show booth

• renovated kitchen and bath (not pictured)

Before: Main Tasting Room

Before: Main Bar Area

For the Winter 2018 Window Installation at Half Moon Books I wanted to do something colorful and fun to offset the grayness of Winter. I was watching an episode of Orange is the New Black and was mesmerized by the book display they made in Poussey's Library during the prisoner siege. That episode was my jumping off point for the latest in my Half Moon Books greatness.

Orange is the New Black from Netflix

Books hanging on strings

I wanted to use all different colored yarn and this display is a great way to sell the books right out of the window. It's pretty easy to switch out the books.

The side view is really fun. You can look at this from all angles and see something different.

One of my favorite details are the piles of extra yarn on the floor. It's the simple things.

2017 was an incredible year. Thank you to all our amazing clients, friends and family. We did some incredible store window displays, some transformative interiors and are working on an exclusive Bike Rack design for the City of Kingston. With 2017 being so amazing, we can only expect great things from 2018. Stay Tuned...

Just finished installing the newest window display for Half Moon Books in Kingston, NY. I call this display... "My Roy G. Biv Soho Loft Vintage Book Fantasy." I've used the fake brick paneling before but have never painted it. Once it became white, it gave me that NYC loft vibe. Jessica and her team did a terrific job picking rainbow books. And a huge thanks to Ken for helping me build the shelving unit structure.

This picture really looks like it could be a window display for a hip store in a cool, artsy town... Wait, it is!!! And yeah, there's a little stump down there for realness.

I also designed and installed brand-new store window decals. They look great. And I picked some fun Christmas items from the thrift store for the museum pedestals.

And finally, the client didn't like how the glass display case showed thru to the back register area, so I found this funky polka paper to block it visually. I think it turned out great.

A huge thanks to Jessica and everyone at Half Moon Books for another successful display! Happy Holidays! xo, Chris

Just finished re-merchandising one of my fave clients store for Holiday... Petalos Florist in Uptown Kingston, NY.

The store is really tight and the client needed a slightly better layout for their work area behind the register. I centered the work table on their storage armoire and electrified the chandelier. I cleaned up the wrapping station to the left and added some display shelves above. I also got in the Christmas spirit and added pops of light all over... But not too much!

I'll add pics of the store window in a bit!

My new ad for the Holiday/Winter issue of Visit Vortex magazine. It's an ad inspired by these great graphics that Google sent be showcasing my Google Reviews! And I'm trying to highlight my Interior Design services! #interiordesign

Our new Holiday 2017 campaign for Tender Land Home. The client wanted a winter scene that captured a "quiet winter" feeling. I then added the oval medallion for branding inspired by the Perry Como song. The lower image is the version I used for boosting on Facebook. That has no text because the Facebook doesn't allow text on boosted images... It says it's spammy.

A visual tour of my trip to the Keys to help my dad clean up his properties! Some of the pics are quite shocking.

Buddy and I hanging out at that exquisite Fisher Center building at Bard College by Frank Gehry. Simply sublime!

Check out the booth design that I assisted on for Tousey Winery's recent exhibition at the 2017 Hudson Valley Food and Wine Festival.

The Tousey staff at the Floral Entry Arch.

We created an initial "floral arch" at the booth's front with hanging flowers for dramatic impact. A second structure was installed within the booth for additional foliage, display, menus and branding. Tousey Winery won both "Best Winery" and "Best Booth" with this display.

Interior booth display with display and menus.

The amazing floral arrangements were designed and installed by Shehung Ji from Athabold Flowers.

For the Tousey booth that I worked on in 2016, click here.

For more information about Tousey Winery, click here.

Our initial design sketch on the chalkboard at the Winery.

Ben and I at a design meeting.

Since starting back on my Architectural adventure, I've learned so much. Not only have I dived into bushing up on AutoCAD and learning SketchUP, I've also become totally obsessed with Passive Solar Housing Design and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). A few weeks ago, I couldn't have even told you what both terms even meant. In passive solar building design, windows, walls and floors are made to collect, store and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer.

After I master the computer programs a bit more and then start sending my resume around, I plan to start researching courses so I can get my certification in Passive Solar Design and LEED. Wish me luck!

Hung some lights yesterday... A trio of Edison Bulbs on dangling pendant light fixtures to be exact! Thx @karinadresses for the opportunity. Now, can you find me and Buddy in the pic?💡👗🛍 #windowdisplay #windowshopping #display #dresses #dressshop #retail #karinadresses #kingstonny #uptown #storefront #storewindow #edisonbulb #pendantlights