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City Councilor Lisa Blackmer, left, Bart Raser, Mayor Richard Alcombright, Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, Erin Clark, Marshall Raser and Rich Talbot.

Carr Hardware 'Opens' To Eager Crowd

Staff ReportsiBerkshires
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Above, Rich Talbot, of True Value, presents a beaming Bart Raser with plaque of appreciation; right, the store was crowded around noontime. This is the Raser family's 50th year in operating the Carr chain.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — More than 1,000 people had been through the doors of the new Carr Hardware on State Road by noon on Saturday.

The grand opening celebration kicked off on Saturday morning and included popcorn, specials, live music, Whoopee radio and plenty of specials. It continues Saturday until 5 and picks up on Sunday with new specials. 

"The turnout is spectacular," said owner Bart Raser after a ribbon cutting with Mayor Richard Alcombright and state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams. "We've had over a 1,000 people come through our doors today and it's only 12 o'clock ... We're exceeding expectations."

Cars were trying to find places to park and the lines at the register were five and six deep at some points as costumers scooped up bargains or just wanted to check out Carr's new digs.

The new store is triple the size of Carr's former cramped quarters on State Street. The former car dealership at the corner of State Road and Roberts Drive has 10,000 square feet of space that's allowed the True Value store to expand its offerings for hardware, rentals, kitchen and bath fixtures, some home goods, lighting and paint, as well as a line of Agway products.

"It's a tremendous reuse of space that we had here," said Alcombright. "I think the location to this store is absolutely critical  [between North Adams and Williamstown]. And the addition of the Agway store ... to bring that back was just a great business choice."

North Berkshire has been without an Agway since the longtime store in Williamstown went out of business a few years ago. Carr now offers its line of bird food and pet products, among other things.


Carr buckets were being sold to benefit BFAIR.
Shoppers were filling up yellow Carr buckets for 25 percent off. The sale of the buckets for $3.99 were benefiting Berkshire Family And Individual Resources.

"People are supporting BFAIR, which is a good organization," said Raser. "We're selling buckets and giving them the proceedd and they've gotten almost 500 buckets so far."

True Value representatives Rich Talbot and Erin Clark were on hand for the festivities. Clark, a regional manager overseeing some 350 True Value stores from Maine to Connecticut, said the Carr and True Value had shared interests in "standing up for the community."

Talbot, a retail consultant for the region, presented Raser and his staff a plaque recognizing the opening.

"I work with the store on a daily basis and I cover stores from Central Mass west," said Talbot, whose region extends to Albany, N.Y., and includes all five Carr Hardwares. "This is a big event: a new store, new opportunities.

Talbot said the new Carr is laid out along the True Value prototype. "The concept of the layout for this store has been out about four years," he said. "It's been a success for us, I think it's going to be a success here for them ... If you look at today, it's looks like it's being very well received."


The store opened earlier than planned in January. Raser said he was pleased with the response since.

"Business has been strong," he said. "It's a great location, we're just happy to be here. ... The team we've been able to put together has just done a great job."

The new Carr is open Monday through Fridays from 7:30 to 6; Saturdays from 7:30 to 5 and Sundays, 10 to 4.




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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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