Steeple City Social Slowly Opening in North Adams
Andrew Fitch and Meghan Daly wanted a place where residents can gather for a coffee or a drink.
The long-awaited Steeple City Social is in "soft open" mode at the moment. Last weekend, friends and bakery partners Meghan Daly and Andrew Fitch opened the doors for people to see the new spot and try some of their items.
"It's right in the name with 'social' that we want it to be a space where people could hang out, spend time together, get a nice, you know, something nice to eat, and just really be in communication with each other," Daly said.
Fitch, a city councilor, and Daly started producing baked goods and beverages in 2023 at the North Adams Farmers Market as A&M Bakery and utilizing First Fridays as well.This was to help test a concept before making it a storefront.
"We were doing breakfast sandwiches and pastries and coffee and lemonade," Daly said. "And it was really just to kind of test the concept, and sort of it's a great way to get out there at the farmers market. So we did that every week for that summer. During that time, we also did some pop-up kind of bar concepts with First Fridays out on Eagle Street."
Fitch bought the former Pizza House building a couple years ago and knew he wanted to bring something to downtown for people to enjoy.
"So three years ago for me, I had this vision of, like, I'd love for these buildings to provide an excellent experience for everyone around town, and to really, like, help bring up all of downtown North Adams and to create a bunch of foot traffic. And I immediately, too, hoped that there would be kind of a daytime activity and an evening activity," Fitch said.
Once he tried Daly's pie for the first time, he asked if she would consider opening a bakery. While it was a no at first, they finally decided to make it a permanent place last year. Daly had a bakery in Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving to North Adams in 2020.
"I had previously run a business for several years by myself, and it was, you know, it's a lot of work to run a business, and it can be very stressful, and it can be financially challenging, and all those things," she said. "And I was still a little too close to the first business, I think, for me to consider doing another one."
Daly said Fitch "planted the seed, though, and then I simmered on it for a while, and then I approached him to say, Would you be interested in doing something with me at the farmers market, to start to sort of test things out before we really jump all the way into a storefront? You know, it's a lot a lot bigger commitment to have a physical location, versus like weekly at the farmers market."
They used Kickstarter to raise capital for the venture, collecting some $22,421 by November.
Fitch and Daly's goals for the space are to set regular hours for people to come more often. As of now they are opening their doors on the weekend. They were open for First Friday and will be open Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. They are also hoping to start doing events.
"I'm also looking forward to us rolling into events season, like it with the summer season, especially like being a real active participant in First Fridays and the Eagle Street Beach Party and other downtown initiatives as well, where we can just contribute to all of that and, like, latch on to all of that and help make all of that even better," Fitch said.
They are also excited to be able to have outdoor seating as well.
One of the things people might not know about Steeple City Social is that most of the items in there are repurposed
"I think we both take great pride in the fact that just about everything in the space is repurposed, you know, like tables, chairs, carpets, rugs, yeah, the stools, the lights that we have in the space. We've tried to use secondhand, just about everything that we could," said Fitch.
Steeple City Social will start out the day as a cafe serving pastries and coffee and other beverages, and then will turn into a bar space in the evening.
"I think having more of a cafe, coffee shape kind of feeling and then having that transition more into a bar in the evening I think is a unique concept for the area." Daly says.
The bar will also have light food including snacks, bakery items, and shareable items.
Some of their favorite things they make are Daly's orange miso sticky buns, a chocolate stout pie, and an egg sandwich.
"We've hopefully created a warm and welcoming environment here, a comfortable space where everyone will feel like they can come and hang out with their friends, make new connections, rekindle old connections, and just have a great time," Fitch said.
Steeple City Social will be soft launching for the next couple of weeks; check their hours on Facebook or signage on the door. http://facebook.com/steeplecitysocial
Tags: new business, bars, taverns, restaurants,
