Earlier this month, we hosted a holiday pop-up at one of our favorite coffee shops: Arden’s Rowayton. A neighborhood café with a coastal flair—appropriately located on the Long Island Sound—it’s the kind of place that makes you feel like a regular, even if you’re just swinging by for the afternoon with a hefty supply of cable-knit sweaters and French terry sweats.
Before we took off, we sat down for a cup of coffee with co-owner Jill Arden Lukeman to discuss the inspiration for the shop, her favorite menu items, and her gifting strategy heading into the holidays.
What was the impetus for opening the shop in the first place?
When I was a kid, I wanted to open a bread company. It was going to sell half loaves of bread and be called Singles Bread. I was in fourth grade, and I thought, okay, one single person will be shopping…they’ll see somebody else in the aisle…it’ll be great marketing. That never happened, but I’ve always had this entrepreneurial itch. Moving out to Rowayton from the city, I really missed the experience of a community-driven coffee shop. And I felt like there was an opportunity out here. So much of what we’ve tried to build is bringing something that people from the city want and bridging it with the history of this town.
How important is the community aspect to Arden’s?
For me, that’s been the most rewarding part. It’s been beyond what I’d anticipated. We kind of built the space thinking, ‘Let’s see what it becomes.’ And the community has dictated a lot of that. Window Shopping Wednesdays [during which our pop-up was hosted] is a perfect example.
It’s very much a living, breathing thing. So many talented people live here with very diverse backgrounds and experiences. That’s the magic of it.
What inspired the overall decor and vibe in here? It’s so specific.
We wanted it to be a reflection of the town and this area [which is close to the water]. But we also wanted it to feel travel-inspired. Some people will say, ‘Oh, it reminds me of California or it reminds me of Portugal,’ and so it kind of resonates differently with different people, which I love. But we wanted to keep the space relatively simple and let the people be the color in the room.
What’s your favorite item on the menu?
I get asked this a lot, and it changes so often because our menu is seasonal. My favorite item of all time is only available for, like, a month and a half, and that’s our tomato toast. We use these heirloom tomatoes, we basically only serve it in September, and it’s just the simplest toast with sea salt flakes.
What’s your go-to coffee order?
Usually I’ll have a drip coffee for the first cup, which is what I’m having right now. Our coffee, Ilse Coffee, is unbelievable, all single-origin, super thoughtful. I actually had the chance to go with them to Colombia on a coffee sourcing trip when we first opened, which was the experience of a lifetime. And then [for my second cup], I’ll switch to a latte. I’m an oat milk gal.
What are you giving as gifts for the holidays this year?
I’m in the process of opening a vintage store for home furnishings and small wares. It’s called The Mariner and the Muse. And so I’m trying to gift my friends and family recycled treasures from there with little stories that are specific to each of them.
Any favorites from our pop-up here?
My partner, Skyler, he’s a big Mack Weldon enthusiast. I want the oatmeal-colored cable-knit sweater. Obviously, the boxers are so comfortable—it’s like I want to steal them for myself. And he has the sweatpants, but he only has them in navy. So maybe I need to get him the Sage Heather over there. Those three items for me are crowd-pleasers.