image description — The new store, Carr Paint, is a state-of-the-art 'Store of the Future' collaboration with Benjamin Moore and will exclusively carry an expanded line of premium and professional grade Benjamin Moore products.

Biz Briefs: Carr Hardware Opens 'Store of the Future'

11:22AM / Tuesday, June 04, 2019Print Story | Email Story

Carr Paint opens

Carr Hardware, a family-owned Western Massachusetts business for more than 90 years, in conjunction with Benjamin Moore, has opened an all-new paint and decorating showcase store located at 358 Cooley Street, Five Town Plaza, in Springfield. The new store, Carr Paint, is a state-of-the-art "Store of the Future" collaboration with Benjamin Moore and will exclusively carry an expanded line of premium and professional grade Benjamin Moore products.

"We are truly proud to partner with Benjamin Moore and bring to Springfield a paint decorating center like no other in the market today. The store is specifically designed to serve the needs of local municipalities, institutions, contractors, interior designers and homeowners, alike," said Carr Hardware President Bart Raser.

Carr Paint also stocks the full line of fine Graber brand window treatments and offers in-home measuring, consultation and professional installation. Also featured are indoor and outdoor rugs by Kaleen, top quality rugs with fashion-forward designs. For the contractor, property manager, institutional and commercial customer, Carr Paint offers free local job site delivery, very aggressive pricing, convenient early store hours and a dedicated outside sales force.

Carr Paint is an approved supplier to the commonwealth of Massachusetts and Mass Higher Education Consortium (MHEC) through their statewide contracts. Store hours are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The store's direct phone line is 413-266-8235.

Xtraordinary Day

Berkshire Bank offices will close at noon on Wednesday, June 5, for employees to participate in volunteer projects as part of its Xtraordinary Day of Service. The day highlights the company’s commitment to supporting all of the communities that Berkshire Bank serves.

Berkshire Bank Employees will participate in 36 service projects across six states. In Berkshire County, employees will work with the Outreach Program to package over 100,000 meals, which will be provided to the Food Bank of Western MA and benefit those in need. Volunteers will help with everything from unloading and measuring supplies to weighing and packing meals for shipment.

MountainOne Insurance and Investments open

MountainOne Insurance and Investments has opened its doors at the company's newly renovated and expanded space at 85 Main St. in North Adams, adjacent to the bank's main office and headquarters. The significant investment in downtown North Adams enables MountainOne to bring all its financial service offerings of banking, insurance and investments together.

MountainOne Investment's North Adams team has moved back into the newly renovated space at 85 Main St. after a temporary move to its headquarters at 93 Main St. MountainOne Insurance’s North Adams team has relocated from 26 Union St. to the new 85 Main St. location. MountainOne Insurance’s Employee Benefits division and its partners from OneDigital, formerly located at 795 Main St. in Williamstown, have also relocated to 85 Main St., North Adams. MountainOne’s presence in Williamstown, which includes banking and Investments at 795 Main St., and Insurance and Investments at 296 Main St., remains unchanged.

"With this expansion, we look forward to better serving existing and prospective bank, insurance and investment customers. Having a convenient, one-stop, full-service experience, where our team of banking, insurance and investment professionals can completely and efficiently serve the needs of individual and commercial accounts will be a significant benefit to our customers," said Robert Fraser, MountainOne president and CEO. "Through this major investment in downtown North Adams, we continue our long-term commitment to our community."

WCMA Summer Space

WCMA Summer Space at 76 Spring St. in Williamstown includes an exhibit and shop. It is open while the museum is closed for renovations for the summer.

The Williams College Museum of Art Summer Space gallery and shop is now open at 76 Spring St. in Williamstown. Summer Space will replace the museum’s permanent home in Lawrence Hall while the building closes from June 3 through Sept. 5 to undergo a series of renovations.

Open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sept. 2, and free of charge, Summer Space will be a place for visitors to gather, shop and sip a cold beverage while surrounded by works from the WALLS collection. WALLS, which stands for “Williams Art Loan for Living Spaces,” is a special collection of original artworks that go on loan to Williams students every semester.

WCMA also will continue its popular summer series, Ologies, with programs at different unique locations around the Williams College campus on Thursdays from July 11 through Aug. 15. A reception back at Summer Space will follow each program, which will include topics such as physiology, campanology and etymology. For complete program information, visit the website.

With an emphasis on contemporary design and local makers, the WCMA shop offers art and design-inspired books and zines, home goods, jewelry and gifts for all ages. It features local and international designers including poketo, areaware and Chronicle Press. This summer, a newly debuted selection of beverages by Yes Folk Kombucha, Green Bee sodas and Quivr coffee will be available for visitors to purchase and enjoy in Summer Space.

The main WCMA galleries in Lawrence Hall will reopen Friday, Sept. 6.

Flag collection

For the seventh year in a row, in honor of Flag Day, Big Y is collecting worn, torn, faded, or badly soiled American Flags for proper retirement. Big Y is working with local Boy Scouts, American Legions, VFW’s, and military organizations to properly retire the collected flags.

Through June 12, all Big Y locations, including Fresh Acres and Table & Vine, will have special receptacles for accepting the worn flags. These flags will be delivered to the local organizations listed above to ensure proper retirement with dignity and respect. Since 2012, Big Y has collected close to 46,000 American flags for proper retirement.

The collecting organizations will hold a special flag retirement ceremony that conforms to the United States Flag Code. "United States Federal Law provides that "fhe flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." (36 U.S.C. 176(k)) The burning symbolizes purification and rebirth when performed during a ceremony. After a final tribute, a flag is cut in 13 strips that represent the original 13 colonies, and the 50 stars to pay homage to the 50 states. The strips are then respectively placed on a fire. The ashes are then collected and buried after the Pledge of Allegiance is recited and a moment of silence is observed.

Flag Day was established in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson. It is celebrated every year on June 14 to observe the adoption of the first national flag in 1777.

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BRTA Focuses on a New Run Schedule

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:26PM / Wednesday, April 29, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is still working on maintaining its run schedules after dropping the route realignment proposal.

Last Thursday's meeting was Administrator Kathleen Lambert's first official meeting taking over the reins; retiring director Robert Malnati stayed during a transition period that ended last month.

Lambert is trying to create a schedule that will lessen cancellations. There was a two-hour meeting the week before with the drivers union to negotiate run bids and Lambert is working with the new operating company Keolis, which is taking over from Transdev.

The board spoke about anonymous emails from drivers, which Lambert said she has not seen. iBerkshires was not able to see those letters, but has received some.

"They were lengthy emails from someone describing themselves as concerning BRTA employee, and there was a signed letter from a whole group of employees basically stating their concerns. So, you know, to me, it was a set of whistleblowers, and that, what my understanding is that this really triggers a need for some type of process to review the merits of these whistleblowers, not going to call them accusations, but basically expressions of concern," said member Stephen Bannon.

A letter iBerkshires received spoke of unhappy drivers who were considering quitting because of decisions being made without "input from frontline staff," frustration and falling morale, and the removal of the former general manager shortly after Lambert came in.

Lambert said it's difficult to navigate a new change. She also noted many drivers don't want to do Saturday runs and it has been hard negotiating with drivers on the new runs.

"I would like you all to keep in mind that the process of change is super difficult. Transdev has been here for 20 years, and some of these drivers have never known any other operating company, the way some of the operations have been handled has been archaic," she said. "So getting folks up to speed on how a modern transit system works is going to be painful for them. So I don't want to say that I'm unsympathetic, because I am sympathetic, but I am trying to coax people along with a system that's going to seem very strange to them."

The board spoke about better communication between them and Lambert, citing cooperation will be best moving forward.

"There's just a lot of stuff in the air right now, and there are a lot of fires to put out to make this a coordinated effort. And if we don't keep our communications open and be straightforward, then you get blindsided about how you know the input that you could get from us about your position, and how you know what's going on in your direction, and we get blindsided. And I think that we have to make sure that this is a collaboration," said member Sherry Youngkin.

"Both sides have responsibilities, because in the long run, this advisory board is going to have to make decisions as to how we brought forward and if we've gone forward in a fair and helpful way. And I think that's hopefully what everybody is looking for also."

Transdev and Keolis held a three-day recruiting event interviewing almost 40 candidates and offering jobs to eight, but only three stayed on to start training. Lambert said it was disappointing but she will keep trying to retain more people.

In her first report to the board, she noted that ridership dipped a little over 10 percent, but still remains higher than last year, adding that was because of cancellations of services because of the lack of drivers.

Like the last meeting, some of the advisory board members were torn over the start of the Link413 service, worried that the start of the service took drivers away and the numbers of riders are low.

Lambert, however, said the ridership has doubled from last month.

"As I've spoken before, we have, generally, a six-month adoption for brand-new service before you can really go in and evaluate, are you being successful based on the grant that my predecessor wrote along with the team for PBTA and RTA, we are ahead of schedule, which is pretty good, so I'm hoping that will continue to improve," she said.

Member Renee Wood said the board never approved the service, adding the only thing she could find in the minutes was a vote to accept the equipment. She said it was supposed to be put on the agenda to discuss.

"The Link413 service has been three years in the making. It's been a grant that was accepted and has been working with our partners, PVTA and FRTA, to put into place. So I don't have the entire history of how that process worked, but it's been three years in the making, and did we not understand that once we accept that grant that we were going to put in new service?" Lambert said.

The board discussed if Title VI, the Civil Rights Act, was followed with an accurate review and accurate amount of time for public comment period on the service changes and if its attorney should review if the grant conditions were properly followed.

Lambert said changes had the 60-day comment period included in the proposed route realignment packet, giving the opportunity for the community to respond to that as well but will look into the legality of the situation with their attorney.

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