PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It was about 10 years ago when Beth Carpenter wanted to get rid of some excess jewelry making supplies.

 

She sold them online and turned a decent income. Sales grew and eventually took over her living room. It got so large of an operation she brought her husband, Greg, on to help run the business.

 

Yummy Treasures continued to grow from there.

 

Two years ago, she opened a storefront on Commercial Street.

 

Now, Yummy Treasures is the No. 1 shop on Etsy for jewelry and crafting supplies and the winner of the Massachusetts Small Business Administration's Microenterprise of the Year.

 

"The fact that you are a family business means so much. We have a lot of legacy businesses and they all started like this and so many started in their living room. And that's the beginning of your story, starting at a kitchen table," state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier told Carpenter at the shop on Thursday, when SBA officials joined local officials to celebrate the award.

 

SBA District Director Robert Nelson presented the award to Carpenter in Boston a week ago but came to the Berkshires Thursday for the local celebration.

 

He said the organization offers a lot of assistance for small businesses from technical assistance programs to loans. The organization just got another federal grant of $500,000, which could match small businesses up to $12,000 to expand or start exporting -- which Yummy Treasures does.

 

"It is really important for me and what we do in the commonwealth to make sure that businesses all across the state know about the SBA programs and services. We're really happy we had nominees from the western part of the state and a winner from Pittsfield," Nelson said.

 

State Sen. Adam Hinds was particularly taken by the way Yummy Treasures can be successful on both the online marketplace and in a storefront.

 

"You are putting your finger on something we are all struggling with right now. How do our downtown shops exist when folks are moving to online sales? And here you've become the No. 1 on Etsy. It blows my mind," Hinds said.

 

Mayor Linda Tyer praised the work of all involved, from the SBA that helped perfect the company's business plan to the state for funding the SBA and the city officials on the ground helping to allow the business to grow.

 

"It is a great addition to this rich fabric of economy we have in Pittsfield. We are really grateful that you took a risk on our city and you are opening your business right here," Tyer said.

 

Yummy Treasures wasn't the only small business SBA officials visited on Thursday.

 

Red Apple Butchers is opening in its expanded location on North Street on Wednesday. It was just four years ago when butcher Jazu Stine was asked to join four other businesses in co-leasing a space at Berkshire Organics. He took the leap and started the nose to tail butcher shop.

 

"I really believed there was an opportunity in this community to bring better food in, to close the gap. I am a believer that the food we eat is of vast importance and the system hasn't been working in our best interest for a long time, in particular when it comes to meat. I think there is a much better way to do it," Stine said. 

 

"We took a risk and it was a great opportunity to grow and start small. We quickly realized that we were right, there is a need for that, and that we needed more space."

 

Now they'll be offering baked goods, produce, dairy and other food products out of its Crawford Square location. 

 

"It is not just about meat but a philosophy of how you approach food, how you respect it, how you utilize it properly, how to not waste it," Stine said. "We now have the room to do that."

 

Keith Girouard, the regional director of the Berkshire office for the SBA, said Red Apple Butchers was provided financial modeling and forecasting, helped with a business plan and scouting locations, and was aided in getting financing through Lee Bank and the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corp.

 

"This is what the Small Business Administration is all about, trying to help small businesses grow and succeed whether it is through our loan programs or our technical assistance," Nelson said. 

 

The opening of such a shop supports a growing number of people living downtown, Tyer said. Recent years have seen the upper floors of North Street buildings being transformed into market-rate apartments and condominiums. A butcher shop adds to the changing dynamic of North Street.

 

"I'm really happy to be here to celebrate the opening of a new business right in our downtown that is going to be a great compliment to the art and culture scene, to the new downtown living we have and the emerging growth of market-rate housing," Tyer said. "It is a great moment for Pittsfield and North Street."

 

Farley-Bouvier said people didn't want to live downtown years ago but now that is changing. 

 

"I think it is so cool when I see small businesses popping up to support the people living downtown," Farley-Bouvier said.

 

Hinds said focusing on the companies that are "right here, right now" is a winning proposition.

 

"The more we can do that, the better off we all are," Hinds said.