About Us
A shared space for small business, community, and local life.
Common Ground is a hosted community space in Fleischmanns, NY — built to give vendors, makers, practitioners, and creatives a low-risk place to grow.
The origin
"We came looking for land — originally to build out a small housing community. Then we found the Old Flower Shop. We couldn't say no."
Alyssa Maio and Alex Converse first drove up to the Catskills for a birthday trip — rented a cabin, fell in love with the mountains, the quiet, the way the towns felt like they still had something real in them. They came back looking for land.
The original plan was a small housing community — the kind of place where people could live differently, affordably, with intention. Then they found a converted flower shop on Old Route 28 in Fleischmanns. The space told them what it wanted to be.
Both come from hospitality. Both had always wanted to run a space together. Alex co-owns the property. Alyssa is the primary operator — and the one who spent the last decade trying to solve a different version of the same problem.
February 2026
One vendor. Minimal promotion.
15 customers. $500 in sales.
Three immediate commitments from people wanting to be involved. That was our opening pop-up, and it told us everything we needed to know.
For makers & businesses
Rent a table at the market, teach a class, offer a session, host a pop-up — without signing a lease or buying equipment.
See how it works →For visitors & neighbors
Come for the Saturday market. Stay for a yoga class, a ceramics workshop, a community dinner. This is where the Catskills shows up — in person, together.
See the calendar →Community
A place is only as alive
as the people who use it.
The Catskills is growing — second-home owners, remote workers, people re-rooting. But economic development hasn't kept pace. There are talented people up here with real skills and no infrastructure to build around.
Common Ground exists to change that. Every vendor who earns income here, every class that draws a new face, every market that brings the town together — that's what we're building toward. Not just a storefront. A foundation.
Longer term, we want to contribute to the housing and economic development challenges this region faces — supporting the kind of place that makes it possible for people to actually stay. That work is ahead of us. But it starts here.
What's here
Café
Coffee and pastries to keep you going. A reason to slow down, sit, and connect. Open to everyone.
Retail
Curated goods from local makers and resident vendors — things you won't find on any shelf online.
Events
Markets, workshops, classes, and pop-ups. The calendar is the heartbeat of the space.
Video coming soon
A look inside Common Ground with our founders and early vendors.
Vendor stories
Meet the people
making it real.
Coming soon — interviews, profiles, and stories from the vendors, practitioners, and creatives who call Common Ground home.
Read their stories →