New Faces and Fresh Starts on Coop’s Pioneer Street

By BILL BELLEN
COOPERSTOWN

For decades, Cooperstown has served as both a prime example of the beauty of small-town Americana and a staple of small business success. Nothing displays this more clearly than the recent group of new storefronts opening their doors on Pioneer Street. At least four new businesses have been welcomed by the community since fall 2024 on this short streetscape, bringing new offerings and life to that part of town.

Beginning this wave, CEO Emilie Rigby—self-described as “craft enabling officer”—opened a brick and mortar location for Rigby Handcraft, which has held an online presence since 2021.

Rigby’s business specializes in unique gifts, particularly Christmas ornaments, selling the work of roughly 30 artists. The store also offers a variety of craft supply kits for shoppers to try their hand at crafting themselves.

Rigby Handcraft prides itself in its second-hand tools and materials initiative, where the proceeds of the sale of unwanted craft items given to Rigby go toward benefiting organizations like the local food pantry.

“We are having a warm winter accessory-making competition for the winter carnival,” Rigby shared. “It’s the first week of February, and we’re gonna have prizes for every category…We will be raffling off all of the items to raise money for the food pantry. If you want to enter that, more info on my website.”

A little over half a year later, The Hotel Pratt got a new neighbor with the addition of Mountain Magic Market. The brainchild of medium Christene Springle, the store began selling a plethora of gifts, books and candles in April of 2025. Springle performs the art of tarot and animal communication, hosting workshops and circles to promote community engagement with her practice. Activities in these circles—of which there are four free each month—can include discussing dreams, talking about intuition and general community building among like-minded people.

When asked about the importance of having more niche markets in Cooperstown, Springle responded, “I think it’s important. So many people that come into here are like, ‘Thank God you’re not baseball’…[Tourists] want an experience of Cooperstown, not just the Baseball Hall of Fame.”

Springle went on to share that she is starting a book club soon.

After a short stay in Richfield Springs, Xuan Barletta ventured to Cooperstown, bringing with her the pleasant midsummer opening of Golden Swan Trading LLC. Having been visiting the area from Arizona during the summer for 20 years, Barletta made the transition to more permanent residency around the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Utilizing both local and international partners, Golden Swan seeks to bring an authentic Vietnamese experience to the streets of rural New York.

“People might think I’m like a coffee shop and stuff but it’s really not,” Barletta stated. “I’m from Vietnam, so I import a lot of stuff from Vietnam…I work with people who make sales online, and then I’m part of shipping things out for them and scouting for products in Vietnam, and then with the shop I have something like a little bit of coffee and tea, selling handmade stuff from local people.”

Barletta went on to show off some of her varied products, speaking proudly of embracing her heritage with many items representing different facets of Vietnamese culture; including the staple coffee and tea her shop has become known for. Barletta also noted the importance of making sure Cooperstown is on the map for more than just baseball—a line of thinking shared by many of the business owners south of Main Street.

Pioneer Street welcomed its most recent new face with the “rebirth” of Sybil’s Yarn Shop. A family business since 1973, ownership was taken over by Jeanetta Osterhoudt in 2017, who moved the shop to a building adjacent to the Milford Corner Store. Tragically, both of these locations were among the losses incurred by the July 18, 2025 structure fire that blazed through four buildings in the center of the Village of Milford. Luckily, thanks largely in part to strong community support, Sybil’s was able to reopen in its new location on September 23.

Though a smaller space than before, Osterhoudt’s business continues to focus on knitting and crocheting, teaching classes, and conducting skill builders—making sure to do so while utilizing as much locally grown and spun material as possible.

When asked what it takes to run a small business, Osterhoudt replied, “I think it’s very hard if you don’t love what you’re doing to have a good business and have a business that other people love going to…I think [there is a] community that’s built around the table here.”

Osterhoudt thanked the Cooperstown community for being so welcoming, saying how excited she was to see what next summer

Osterhoudt then shared some even more exciting news regarding the future of her business endeavors.

“A few years ago, I started this idea of having a retreat space about eight miles from Cooperstown,” Osterhoudt said.

She explained that a 27-acre property she was eyeing for the concept was bought by a couple who told her, “‘[We] love the idea of a folk school that you have.’ And so, my gear shifted…Milford doesn’t need a yarn shop. I was there. It was a great space to be in, but I think Milford definitely needs that corner store back, ‘cause I think it was the heart of the community.”

Osterhoudt spoke very fondly of the potential of her new folk school, both for its increased retail and parking capacity, as well as its potential as a boon for tourists and residents alike with year-round specialized courses. These classes could teach many skills, such as beekeeping, furniture craftsmanship, and expanded sewing, knitting, crocheting, and weaving courses akin to those that have been Sybil’s bread and butter for years. While this is largely hypothetical for the time being, the role Sybil’s new location on Pioneer Street will play in allowing Osterhoudt to achieve her goal here is hard to understate.

Those who wish to experience any of these wonderful stores for themselves can find all four within no more than a few minutes’ walking distance south of Main Street’s flagpole on Pioneer Street—Cooperstown’s new heart of small business success.