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The country store's new space offers an ice cream bar and indoor seating as well as a commercial kitchen for more food offerings.
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The store opened in 2020 as a space for local businesses to sell their wares. It has many different home items and food.
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Lanesborough Local Country Store Expanding

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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LANESBOROUGH, Mass.— The Lanesborough Local Country Store is expanding into the space next door with plans to open at the beginning of August.

It's currently located at 20 Williamstown Road. However, when Berkshire Mantiques closed, the space on the other side of the complex became available. Owner Ana Bradbury took it as an opportunity for growth and started working on it in the fall. 

The store opened in 2020 to help give a space for local businesses to sell their wares. It has local and regionally produced items and gifts, wines, bakery, deli, ice cream and groceries. .

"We're really excited and grateful to have this opportunity," Bradbury said.

The business has received so much support from their loyal customers to their landlords, she said. "Our mission was to be a hub for local small businesses." 

With the end of the pandemic, came the openings of little kitchen businesses, handmade goods, and other sellers, she said. 

"We wanted to give them a place to sell. For us, it was kind of an eye-opener to see all of the existing Berkshire businesses that were around. I felt like there wasn't a lot of places that you could go and find them all together. So that's what we wanted to do," Bradbury said. 

The larger space will allow Bradbury to make her business into something she always wanted.

"This is what we envisioned it being years ago. So we're finally taking that chance."

The new building will be about double the size giving more freezer space, and a seating area, which is something people have been asking for.

"We just found that there's a want right in this particular area for sit-down seating. That's something that we're going to be adding," Bradbury said. 

"All of our customers are always asking if there's a place where they can sit and eat the sandwiches, or they can sit and eat the ice cream." 

The new space will have an ice cream bar with seating for people to enjoy a wide range of flavors including new ones, as well as a full commercial kitchen for more meal options.

In addition to the original deli sandwiches, store will be able to serve burgers and wings. 

Bradbury said there will more bakery items, such as cakes, and the gift shop will be adding more merchandise from across New England.

She also plans to expand on the events the store has been offering and wants to collaborate with nearby Jake's Java coffeeshop. 

She hopes that the larger space will provide a place where community can come together, hang out, enjoy their time.

"It's really gonna bring something to this side of Lanesborough, and give it more options, like a community space to sit down feeding," Bradbury said. 

The store is open daily from 10 to 6.


Tags: Business,   business changes,   

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Lanesborough OKs Open Space Plan, Short-Term Rental Forms

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday set fees for short-term rentals and adopted an Open Space and Recreation Plan.
 
Town Administrator Gina Dario discussed the draft for STR registration and certificate of inspection since the new bylaws were passed at the annual town meeting.
 
The draft shows the process to file for inspection through Permit Eyes, the town's online permitting system that includes the state building code and safety requirements. Dario said members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and the building commissioner looked at other town models to come up with the best process for registration.
 
Inspections will be annually for non-owner occupied units and five years for owner-occupied. The inspection fee is a flat $50. The last suggestion discussed was the posting requirements for key information.
 
Dario said they looked at about four other communities on how they used non-sensitive information on owner contacts. Chair Deborah Maynard motioned to have the information posted both inside and out to help with law enforcement if needed.
 
"I'm going to make a motion that we put that relevant information not only on the inside of the short-term rental but on the outside, so if the police need to respond, ambulance needs to respond, fire especially needs to respond, all that information is there, nobody has to go searching for it," she said. "If push comes to shove, and it's a matter of minutes, that's going to make a big, a big difference in the outcome of the incident."
 
The board then heard a presentation from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's community planner Andrew McKeever and Open Space and Recreation Committee Vice Chair Mark Hawthorne.
 
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