Open the door to Cedar Closet on Factory Lane and you will find more than children’s clothing, books and toys. The new Pine Plains shop, which opened March 21, reflects proprietor Francesca D’Allessandro’s long love of thrifting, her years working with children and a dream shaped by family life and personal hardship.
Inside, D’Allessandro has arranged the store with families in mind. Directly opposite the entrance sits a low table with tiny chairs where children can play while parents — or grandparents — browse. The play area includes a stable filled with horses.
“The horses are for sale, but not the stable,” D’Allessandro said. “I’ve had the stable for 25 years. It was in my day care, and then my own kids played with it.”
D’Allessandro grew up in Bedford, in Westchester County, and moved with her family to Pine Plains seven years ago. She and her husband have three sons, ages 17, 14 and 8, who attend Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center and Stissing Mountain High School.
“The kids love it,” she said. “Pine Plains feels like home.”
After running a day care and later working in preschool for 15 years, D’Allessandro began to imagine a business of her own.
Judith Wolff / The New Pine Plains Herald
“Cedar Closet started in our house. I’ve always loved to thrift. There was a cedar closet in the house where I kept things I found. I carried the name over to the shop.”
Much of the clothing in the store is “previously loved,” including some items once worn by her own children. There are also new pieces, including shoes, along with specialty items such as a christening dress. The books include classics such as the Dick and Jane series and “Are You My Mother?” Madame Alexander dolls line a shelf above the displays.
“I think it’s important to teach children and show by example that things have another life in them,” D’Allessandro said.
She seeks out children’s clothing “in good shape” and stocks a range of items — play clothes and everyday basics as well as dressy outfits — for babies to teens in every season.
“I want everyone to find what they need.”
The store’s opening on March 21, D’Allessandro said, felt “uplifting.” Families and grandparents came in to shop.
“It reminds me of my mother. She’s always picking things up for the kids.”
The opening followed a difficult stretch. Two years ago, D’Allessandro began cancer treatment that lasted two years.
“You have time to think.”
When the space next to Whistle Stop Boutique, operated by Naomi Calabro, became available to rent, she decided the moment had come to pursue her dream.
“You dream of something and it comes true. Follow your dream,” D’Allessandro said. “Even if it’s hard, it can come true.”
Calabro and her husband, Dominic, bought the building in 1987.
Judith Wolff / The New Pine Plains Herald
“My sister re-did the space in 1989,” Calabro said, “and had a children’s store, Cool Kitty Cat, in the 90s. Then it was a pet store then Linda Rosatta had it as a hair salon. After that, it was empty and needed work. Hammertown Barn needed it for storage. Hammertown used it for 15 years.”
Over the winter, the Calabros renovated the space and put up a “for rent” sign, setting the storefront on its next chapter.
“The timing was perfect,” D’Allessandro said. “Naomi has been so helpful. And I have support from my family. My husband built that rack and my son built this little shelf.”
For D’Allessandro, the store is more than a business. It is the realization of a long-held idea shaped by family, resilience, and optimism.
“I look at the positive things in life,” D’Allessandro said. “This store brings me joy.”