Nyack Business Undergoes a Rebranding Transformation

In February 2024, long-time employee Lindsay Owen bought the Maria Luisa Boutique in Nyack. Since then, she has rebranded and relaunched the store with the name “By Land and Sea.”

Although the store was relaunched this March, the ideas behind By Land and Sea’s brand are the culmination of years of Lindsay Owen working in the industry and dreaming of what her own store could one day look like. She explained, “This is what I wanted to do since I was a little girl.”

By Land and Sea sells clothes, home goods, and accessories. Lindsay Owen emphasized that she aims to find products for her store that are transparent, ethical, and fair trade whenever possible.

The store’s name reflects Owen’s personal journey. Originally from coastal Massachusetts, she moved to New York City in 2010 and later on moved to Nyack. The “By Land and Sea” concept blends her Hudson Valley surroundings with her coastal Massachusetts roots.

The name also represents the global reach of her products. “All of the products that we bring into the shop come by land and sea. We’re connecting craft, culture, and communities from all over the world,” she said. Customers can find items from local Nyack makers alongside products from Guatemala, Peru, India, and Pakistan.

Owen’s approach to retail focuses on telling the stories behind the products in her store, as she considers By Land and Sea to be a retail home for many artists. “I get to put all of these different individuals together in this one special space, because there’s a person behind every product and I see that person when I put something on the shelf,” she commented.

She communicates the stories behind the products in her store via handwritten notes describing featured products around the store, highlighting information about the artist who created the product on many product tags, and talking to customers in her store. “There’s something that you’re going to hang on to, something that tells a story,” she said. “It’s not just beautiful – it has meaning.”

Lindsay Owen’s rebranding journey offers valuable insights for local business owners looking to transform their existing ventures. Her rebranding process wasn’t rushed: Owen first purchased Maria Luisa Boutique in February 2024 and initially operated it beginning in March 2024 as “The Reimagined Maria Luisa Boutique” before fully rebranding it and relaunching the new store as “By Land and Sea” in March 2025.

Her  process was both personal and methodical. Lindsay Owen had been documenting her vision for years, keeping journals and sketchbooks filled with ideas. This foundation of documented ideas proved useful when it came time to execute her vision. After she finished putting together her ideas for the new store, Owen worked with a creative agency to get help turning her vision into a reality. The agency helped her develop a wide variety of visual messaging, from colors and fonts to the brand logo. 

“They were able to take a lot of my ideas that, believe me, were endless, and put it all into work,” she explained.