ADAMS, Mass. — A new shop will be celebrating its opening this weekend, but its first day of business on Sunday will be bittersweet.
Kayla Pierce and her fiance, John-Michael Bradbury, are opening up "Smalls" at 64 Summer St. for two reasons: to support local crafters and to keep her son's memory alive.
Eight-year-old Noah Brown was tragically killed when he was struck by a car on East Road last year.
"We want to keep Noah's name alive, and it is important to me 10 years down the road that he is not referred to as that kid who was hit by a car on East Road," Pierce said. "I want him to be remembered as Noah Brown; it is important to me that his name stays."
Smalls was her son's nickname; his photo hangs behind the register.
"We decided to name it Smalls and have a grand opening to show everyone in the community that we are OK and we want him to be remembered," she said.
Pierce said the store's merchandise, which includes locally made crafts, furniture, organic health products, and much more, will be on display Sunday along with a 50/50 raffle and baked goods.
Proceeds from the raffle and the baked goods will go into the Noah Brown Scholarship Fund, to be presented to a Hoosac Valley High School student.
Pierce said this is her first business venture but her fiance has run similar businesses in the past.
Bradbury said a main focus of the store is to empower residents to shop locally.
"We want to bring people in and let them see that other people out there have their crafts in here," Bradbury said. "Sometimes you see a store set up and fail within months, and we are not going to allow that. It is not about paying our bills it is about getting people in here to see what other people are up to and get them out of Walmart."
Pierce agreed and said they also want to help reinvigorate Adams.
"We want to see our community succeed so we are trying to keep most of it local," Pierce said. "We want to bring the business back to downtown Adams because it hasn't been here in years. A lot of businesses are starting to open up downtown and we want to be part of that."
The store will hold its grand opening this Sunday at 1.
It will be open from 10 to 6 except Sundays, when it opens at 1; closed Tuesdays.
