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Shipping Business PostNet Opens on North Street

Look for the banner over the door, next to the A-Mart.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — You can now design, print, bind and ship all from the same location downtown — and pick up your mail while you're at it.

Siblings Bina and Gary Patel recently opened a PostNet location at 524 North St. The worldwide chain offers shipping, printing and mailbox services.

Gary Patel also owns the convenience store A-Mart right next door.

"PostNet is a one-stop destination for shipping and printing. You can ship your stuff with the multi-carrier, because we offer UPS, FedEx, DHL, and post office, also, and we have a printing press here," Bina Patel said. "So if you want to print something like a brochure, business cards, banners, you can print here, and we also provide the mailbox services here also, so we have a physical mailbox and virtual mailbox both here."

The printers can accommodate large banners and print logos on shirts. The store also has tape, envelopes, other stationery items, packing materials, and shredding services.

The Patels said they were looking into a shipping business and had a friend who used PostNet and liked it. They researched for two years about the business and signed a contract with PostNet in October. 

They said they wanted to their destination to provide customers everything they needed to do, noting shipping services are scarce after FedEx closed its Pittsfield location last year. They had been getting inquiries about FedEx options and UPS, which has a store in Pittsfield and one in Williamstown.

"We just went many times, around here, maybe one UPS Store, even in Berkshire County, we have the A-Mart, and we're trying to make it like one stop," Gary Patel said. "So whoever comes from the hospital, comes for lunch or whatever, and they want to make it one stop to drop a package or something, and that'll help out the community."

The store also provides competitor prices from other carriers for customers to compare.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, with Sunday hours currently by appointment. 

Pittsfield Council Says 'Yes' to Soccer at Crane Park

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:35AM / Saturday, June 13, 2026

The pitch will have the logos of the city and the US. and Massachusetts soccer associations. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is gladly accepting a "mini-pitch" from the U.S. Soccer Foundation to bring games back to Crane Park. 

Fueling excitement around the World Cup, U.S. Soccer has been working with the Massachusetts Youth Soccer League to make these facilities available to 20 communities — one of which will be at the park at the intersection of Benedict Road and Springside Avenue. 

The City Council accepted the gift on Tuesday during its regular meeting. 

A mini pitch is a compact, modular field typically used for soccer, and it can also accommodate inline skates. It has a galvanized steel border with built-in goals and a rubber plastic surface that is clicked together; installed on the existing inline hockey court. 

Ward 2 Councilor Cameron Cunningham said he has gone door to door speaking with nearby residents, and they are "really excited" about the upgrade. He also sees it as a great addition. 

"They say that nobody really uses the court a ton now, and they are excited to see kids back on there playing," he said. 

Decades ago, the Crane Park facility was a wading pool. It closed in 1980, and before the turn of the century, it was filled in and marked for hockey. 

Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resources Manager James McGrath explained that the wooden border around the rink is showing its age, has been vandalized and tagged, and the facility is seeing a "real decline" in use. 

"This would seem to be an appropriate spot for us to remove the board system that's in place and install the mini pitch system through this grant," he said.