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The new consignment shop offers wide variety of quality secondhand items for babies and new moms.

Pittsfield Consignment Shop Offers Infant, Maternity Items

By Joe DurwinPittsfield Correspondent
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A colorful corner at Kikking Kidding Around Consignment store on North Street. The shop dedicated to infant and maternity items opened this week.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Downtown's newest entreprenuer hopes to carve out a retail niche in consignment sales in the Berkshires, offering merchandise geared to new and expecting parents.

Kidding Around Consignment's owner, Jennifer Haven-Lunt, appeared to already find herself fairly busy with foot traffic during a soft opening Tuesday afternoon prior to North Street's 3rd Thursday festivities.

Haven-Lunt says she grew up around secondhand sales, from tag sales to a Lenox consignment shop owned by a close friend of her mother, but her interest in having her own shop began after the birth of her daughter.

"I would do the consignment sale they have in Lee twice a year, and I would just get really excited when that would roll around every six months," said North Street's newest shopkeeper. "I realized I'm good at it, I have an eye for it, and this is just something I want to do."

Kidding Around's owner believes one of the key features of the store is its maternity section.

"It's kind of an untapped resource around here," said Haven-Lunt. "I had to go to Holyoke Mall myself."

Kidding Around will sell clothing and other relevant items on consignment for a cut of 40 percent, a fairly standard proportion for consignment. Those wishing to put merchandise in her shop are asked to call to make an appointment to bring in their wares, which if accepted will sell at the shop for an eight-week cycle, after which if they go unsold the owners can come pick them up.

Among the shop's offerings are a variety of attractive handmade goods, representing the crafts of nine local artisans so far.

Haven-Lunt said she had already had quite a few customers walk in within the store's first few hours Thursday, with two more who entered while she was being interviewed. Dozens more were seen coming and going later in the evening as 3rd Thursday got into full swing.

Kidding Around is open 10 to 5, Tuesday through Saturday, at 397 North St. in the Lloyd Building. While the store  opened to the public Thursday, Kidding Around officially celebrated its grand opening Tuesday, Aug. 21.

Tags: consignment,   infants,   maternity,   new business,   

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ADOPTED! Companion Corner: Cali and Kyzer at Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

Great news, Kyzer and Cali found a home for Christmas already! Still looking for a new friend for the holidays? There are plenty of dogs and cats and small animals at Berkshire Humane who would love to go home with you.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's a bonded dog pair awaiting a new family at the Berkshire Humane Society.

Kyzer and Cali are both poodles. Kyzer is the male and is 7 years old, a quite a bit bigger than his sister Cali, who is a miniature of Kyzer and 8 years old.

Canine adoption counselor Rhonda Cyr introduced us to the two.

"They came from a household that couldn't hold on to them, and it sounds like they may have been abandoned by their previous owner with somebody else, and so they came to us looking for a new home," she said.

The two love to be around you and snuggle. But both are very happy dogs.

"Kyzer is 7 years old, and his personality is that he kind of wants to be in everything. He's very loving, very snuggly, as you can tell. And Callie here, she's 8 years old, and she is kind of like the life of the party," said Cyr. "She wants to tell you everything about her day, and she's a little bit of a little ham."

The two are considered seniors and really like soft treats as Cali just had a few teeth removed and Kyzer has a tooth procedure coming up.

"Currently, they really like soft treats, because they are both on the senior side of things. So they have had some dental work, so they are really in need of something softer. They are not big chewers at this age, really, their main focus right now is just really socializing and cuddling," Cyr said.

The two would love a quiet home with someone who wants to snuggle. They shouldn't go to a home with bigger dogs but if you have a dog, you can bring them in for a visitation with the poodles to see if they will get along. Cats will be fine and the preference is for older and more responsible children so that the pups don't get hurt, as they are senior citizens.

"The perfect home for them would be a quiet home that's not too active. Like I said, they're very social, so they could handle some visitors," she said. "They're very friendly, but I don't think that they would really enjoy any other dogs in the home."

Poodles need to be regularly groomed, and the prospective adopter will have to keep an eye on their health. Kyzer has a heart murmur that needs to be monitored. This doesn't mean he is in bad health, as he could live a perfectly normal life, but he will need to be checked by a veterinary specialist routinely.

"Ideally, he would go to a home that could provide further health care with a specialist in cardiac care. And you know, he could very well live out the rest of his life comfortably and happy," Cyr said. "We just don't have all that information at the moment, but I think that you know the way he's going right now. He's got a good spirit, and he seems to be pretty happy."

The shelter is hoping the to get them a home for the holidays.

"We would love to get them a home in time for the holidays. They've been here since the eighth of November, and they're really, really looking as much as the staff loves them here, we're really looking to get them into a home and somewhere nice and cozy so they can spend the rest of their life together," she said.

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