Cascade School Supply President Douglas Newport

CLARKSBURG, Mass. -- What was a much anticipated yearly shopping spree may now be a weekly treat for area teachers, preschool and day-care instructors, and those who use office, school, and art supplies.

Cascade School Supplies' annual "tag sale" has been discontinued in favor of a year-round outlet store opened at the former Strong-Hewat Mill on River Road. The site opened for business on March 23 and the company plans to operate the multi-room shopping space from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. The store will be open on March 24 but will not open on March 25.

The standard operating hours are expected to launch next week, said company President Douglas Newport.

"I think this will be better for the customers and for us," Newport said of the store opening. "We'll be running the store 2 1/2 days a week."

The yearly tag sale was a successful means of ridding the company of overstocked, returned, or discontinued items, but there was a drawback to a once-a-year, widescale event, he said.

"We would start putting it together in January and it would take two months to get it all together and ready," he said of the sale preparations. "And once the sale was over, we'd have to tear everything down so that we could start shipping [orders from customers] again. I'm very happy with the outlet and the opportunity the outlet gives us. Before the store, we had four days to sell items, and if they didn't sell, they didn't sell."

The outlet hosts several rooms of merchandise including metal filing cabinets, locking door cabinets, and freestanding shelf units that are priced at under $100. There are plenty of office and schoolroom supplies lining the store shelves, including a variety of staplers, tape dispensers, pencil bundles, gel ink, felt-tip and other styles of pens, "classpacks" of colored markers, tempera paints, stickers, scissors, art supplies, books, paint-by-number sets, craft kits, and more. The prices are very competitive; a floor-standing double-sided child's easel was priced at under $40.

The entire store space will house for-sale items three seasons each year, with the largest section of the space set to be used as a warehouse for Cascade products during the summer months, Newport said. The company headquarters are situated on Brown Street in North Adams.

The outlet space had been leased from local businessman Michael Meehan. The property was sold to Clarksburg Realty, which is owned by descendants of Cascade founder Robert Wells. Clarksburg Realty purchased the property in February for $410,445. The school supply firm is owned by Wells' children William Wells and Jane Molloy.

The store's stock is suited for many needs but may be especially beneficial to teachers and those with home offices or starting small businesses, Newport said.

"From a teacher's point of view, this is good stuff," he said. "We'll continue to stock the items that teachers buy. There are items here that are discontinued items, but some people need these things. A lot of this stuff is the kind of stuff that if you can use it, it's good to you."

The Cascade Outlet Store accepts specific credit cards, purchase orders, and local checks.