Business Profile: Cold Souls, Cold Spring
Cold Spring resident and avid fly fisher James Caroll long held dreams of opening a store for others who shared his hobby. So when he saw a space on Main Street, next to Hudson Valley Outfitters, was for rent in March, he told his wife, Tara, “That’s going to be my fly shop.”
“We were joking about it, really not serious at all,” Tara Caroll recalled. “So we were joking and then we started talking more seriously about it. And then we realized: We were talking seriously about it. So we rented the place and did it.”
On July 1 Tara, who had worked in small business lending, and James, the owner of a hardware store in Manhattan, opened Old Souls, a country lifestyle store with a large selection of fly fishing equipment.
“It starts with trying to find it US made,” James, who’s worked as a fly fishing guide in the Catskills for the past three years, explained. “So every one of these fly reels, for example, is made in the USA. All the rods are made in the USA. Waders are made in the USA.”
The store features everything a fly fisher needs, whether a novice on a budget or a pro looking to spare no expense.
“If you’re new to the sport, you might not want to go over the top with the nicest gear possible, so we also have some really affordable options to get you on the water right away,” James said. “We have high-end setups that would start at about $1,000 to get into, and then we have a $200 setup that’s got everything you need to get out the door.”
For those who, like Tara, aren’t eager to put on a pair of waders and trek into the wilderness in search of trout, Old Souls has a wide range of household products, clothing and items geared towards an active and healthy lifestyle.
“One of my caveats of opening his fly shop was that we’d have to have more than just fly equipment,” Tara, who grew up in the Catskills, said. “We’re aiming for people who have an appreciation for well-made products that are primarily made in the states that are going to last long, that you repair, that you don’t throw out and that you continue to use and hand down to your children as well. The idea is to get away from the disposable culture and to only buy it once, which justifies the cost.”
There’s a little bit of everything at Old Souls, a store with waterproof birding journals, wooden Bluetooth speakers, locally produced jams and honey and Brooklyn-made Mason Shakers. They sell an assortment of leather goods, as well as handmade jewelry from Jane Diaz.
“The jewelry was very important for me to have, but it was very difficult to find,” said Tara.
As with the fly fishing equipment, nearly everything is made in the United States; the Carolls even carry an astronaut pen because it’s the only pen they could find made entirely in the country. They also make sure just about everything, from the jewelry to the leather products, is handmade and not mass-produced. They named the shop “Old Souls” because others often use the term to describe them.
“We would be perfectly happy living here 100 years ago. We have an appreciation and respect for a simpler way of life,” Tara said. “The products we sell in the shop are reflective of that simplicity: well made, built to last.”
James, a Buffalo native, recently returned from a month-long fly fishing trip to eastern Russia and Alaska and will be taking clients onto the Delaware River this fall. Though she hasn’t embraced the sport yet, Tara said she’s beginning to take some interest in learning about it.
“Now I have to actually listen to his stories rather than just hear them,” she said.
Old Souls is located at 61 Main Street in Cold Spring. For more information call (845) 809-5886 or visit oldsouls.com.
