Piermont Business Owner Sees Village Bouncing Back

When Lily Chapin looks out onto Piermont Ave. in Piermont, she sees a village still on the rebound.

“Sunday was a really lovely day and there were lots of people out,” she said. “You can start to see people coming back to Piermont.”

Superstorm Sandy hit Rockland Oct. 29 last year, and Piermont was one of the hardest hit areas in the county. Many businesses in Piermont were hit hard by the storm and were forced to close, such as the women’s clothing store Chapin co-owns with her mother, Bonnie Chapin. Abigail Rose and Lily Too had to close two weeks after Sandy due to flooding in the basement.

“We never had a problem with basement flooding before in any other stores,” said Bonnie Chapin, who has owned the store for 28 years. “The electricity was off and it took a while to go back on.”

Some businesses are still even working to clean the mess the storm left. On Tuesday of this week, Abigail Rose and Lily Too’s nearby neighbor across Piermont Ave., Cibelle Salon, re-opened for the first time since the storm after spending the last four-plus months renting space in Nyack.

“We’re so happy to have them back in the village,” Lily Chapin said. “It’s nice to see things starting to turn back around.”

She added that she thinks more people will start coming back to Piermont once the weather heats up a bit.

Still, Abigail Rose and Lily Too recently got in its spring items. The women’s clothing store focuses a lot of natural fibers and comfort, and Bonnie Chapin said the store’s spring collection includes items from companies such as Lilith, Comfy and CP Shades. They also have Epice scarves, as well as plenty of new hats and bags.

The owners said they’re also working on getting an online store up in time for the summer.