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Aubuchon Hardware has been on Union Street since 1987.

North Adams Aubuchon Closing Doors After 36 Years

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The store's cats Abbey and Shawna will be transferred to the Williamstown store. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Aubuchon Hardware on Union Street will be closing this fall after 36 years. 
 
The interim store manager Scott Wascher made the announcement on his Facebook page Tuesday. He was not immediatley available to speak to iBerkshires yesterday. 
 
The closing is due to "falling sales and location," Wascher posted. 
 
The store opened at 41 Union, in what had been a Carr's Hardware, in September 1987. The company's then owner, William Aubuchon, had attended the opening. 
 
The family-owned chain has more than 100 stores in Northeast and dates to 1908. Last month, Aubuchon Company acquired J.B. Hostetter & Sons in Mount Joy, Pa. 
 
Residents won't be without a hardware store, though they may have to travel a little farther to the Williamstown location. Also, Carr Hardware opened a 10,000-square-foot store on State Road in 2012 and a new hardware and lumberyard, Duke's, is opening on Saturday on Curran Highway.
 
The store will hold a clearance sale beginning Oct. 14 and its hours, starting Tuesday, are 8 to 5 on weekdays; it will be closed on weekends. It's not clear how many employees will be affected by the closure and those at the store expressed disappointment at the news. 
 
Abbey and Shawna, the store's cats, are expected to move to the Williamstown store to work with Matt and Annette Moullan. Employees also had said they could have a home with a former store manager. 
 
"The Williamstown store will take over serving our customers in the area," Wascher wrote. "We would like to thank our customers for the continued support throughout the years."

Tags: business closing,   hardware,   

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North Adams Takes Possession of Historic Church Street Houses

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The porch collapsed on 116 Church several years ago. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The state Land Court in February finalized the city's tax taking of four properties including the brick Church Street mansions.
 
The prestigious pair of Queen Anne mansions had been owned by Franklin E. Perras Jr., who died in 2017 at age 79. 
 
The properties had been in court for four years as attempts were made repeatedly to find Perras' heirs, including a son, Christopher. According to court filings, Christopher reportedly died in 2013 but his place of death is unknown, as is the location (or existence) of two grandchildren listed in Perras' obituary. 
 
Mayor Jennifer Macksey said the next steps will be to develop requests for proposals for the properties to sell them off. 
 
She credited Governor's Councillor Tara Jacobs for bringing the lingering tax takings to the Land Court's attention. Jacobs said she'd asked about the status of the properties and a few days later they were signed off. 
 
It wasn't just the four North Adams properties — the cases for three Perras holdings in Lanesborough that also had been in the court for years were closed, including Keeler Island. Another property on Holmes Road in Hinsdale is still in the court.  
 
The buildings at 116, 124 and 130 Church St., and a vacant lot on Arnold Place had been in tax title since 2017 when the city placed $12,000 in liens. 
 
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