North Adams Saw Businesses Come and Go Over Past Year
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The latest is a branch of investor group Edward Jones being operated by Ryley C. Gaudreau at 71 Main St. Gaudreau was approved for a special permit to operate a professional office from the Planning Board on Monday night.
Gaudreau had been operating out of the Edward Jones office in Berkshire Square in Adams; that office continues under Karen L. Kettles. According to the company's Web site, the Adams and North Adams locations are the only branches in Berkshire County; the next closest offices are in Bennington, Vt., and Greenfield.
 Top: Mardi Gras beads are available at the Party Place on Eagle Street. Above, the former IO Gallery will house Edward Jones Investment; below, I Got Goodies at 85 Main St. and, bottom, Klipper Kingz opened on Eagle Street. |
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Dragonflii Clothing Co. owner Timothy Lanfair also called it quits recently after moving his clothing and accessory store from the Flat Iron Building on Eagle Street into a smaller space across the street.
Lanfair had had great hopes for the space but saw foot traffic drop off precipitously and closed abruptly.
A home accessory shop, A&M Decor, opened briefly last spring in the Flat Iron Building next to Dragonflii.
A children's clothing store, Kids ... Deals, also opened for only a few months in the L-Shaped Mall. We're not sure when exactly it closed, but it didn't make through the fall.
On a brighter note, several businesses have opened or expanded, including two shops bent on making their customers look their best. Pamela Bissaillon and Kim Oakes moved their Shear Madness salon from Adams to 81 Main St. in July; an old barbershop reopened as Klipper Kingz in November with three new tonsorial experts — Christopher Barton, Michael Stubbs and Corey Joiner.
Klipper Kingz is on Eagle Street in the former Norm's Barbershop, which operated at that location for 34 years. The new barbers say their shop's name comes from a desire to treat their customers like royalty.
Relocating to bigger quarters were I Got Goodies, which proprietor and candy maker Janice L. Esoldi had been operating out of Moulton's General Store. Esoldi moved into a vacant space at 85 Main St. last month. (We don't recall what was in there. Anybody?)
The Party Place moved into one of the two venerable bakers that have closed: Molly's Bakery (which closed last year) and Neville's Donuts. Now operated solely by Manna Mason, the Party Place moved into Molly's on Eagle Street in December. "It's a great location," said Mason, who added foot traffic has definitely picked up since the move from Ashland Street.
The Neville's building on North Eagle Street has space for four operations, including the newly moved-in Pooches dog grooming salon that had operated on Holden Street until last year.
Two restaurants went under but new ones have opened in the place. The Hub opened at 55 Main St. last spring in the former Milan at 55 (and long before that, the popular Capitol Restaurant) under owners Kate and Matthew Schilling.
Steeples in the Holiday Inn shuttered abruptly more than a year ago when financially overstretched owner Daniel Borer fell afoul of foreclosures. It recently reopened as the Richmond Grill under chef Drew Nicastro, owner of Isabella's.
Also new is the Elf Parlor, a coffeehouse just opened on Ashland Street across from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Townhouses; Label Shopper in the L-Shaped Mall (replacing Fashion Bug); the Registry of Motor Vehicles office in the former Roberts Co. building; TGL Photoworks on Holden Street; Christo's Famous Pizza (which replaced North Adams Pizza Co.), and the Alley, which opened in the former EGL (Gideon's Nightery) on Eagle Street.
No doubt we missed somebody in all this moving around. Oh yeah, Planet Fitness opened in the former Kmart building and Domino's in the former ... Domino's; and Berkshires Best closed. If we've bypassed a change in downtown business, let us know.
