ADAMS, Mass. — It was a race to the finish but Russ Greenlaw had a promise to keep: open the newest Adam's Hometown Market by Friday.
"There was some thought that we weren't going to make it. There was no product and the place was a wreck so I pulled the team together," Greenlaw, vice president of operations, said on Wednesday. "I told them that I made a promise and that I was going to do everything in my power to get this market open and I am super proud of this team for accomplishing that."
After the Big Y suddenly closed in February, the Connecticut grocery chain swooped in to the rescue and in early March announced it had purchased the Myrtle Street property and planned to reopen the longtime grocery market that was a cornerstone in the community.
The target opening date was March 29 and Greenlaw said every store manager from the company was brought in as well as other resources to get the bulk of the work done in 2 1/2 weeks.
"I have never opened up a store in 18 days," he said. "Our objective was to get people back to work and get food back into the community."
The Big Y's history in the Mother Town dated back a century once it bought the local Adams Supermarket in the 1980s. The Myrtle Street store opened brand new in 1969, close to where founder Jacob Wineberg had opened his first butcher shop. Big Y officials said the store was too small for it to continue and had pledged to work with a grocer that could reopen it.
Greenlaw said when they first approached the town he heard town officials and the community's discontent over losing their only market loud and clear.
"When I first met with the Selectmen I heard it from them and from the customers. The hardship has been great," he said. "Day one, 149 people applied [for jobs] with another 80 online. It was incredible to see my team respond because we did not expect such a huge welcome … We had people back to work in less than a week."
Some 90 employees had been affected by the closure.
Greenlaw said they knew they had to move quickly but it did take the time to "freshen up" the market. He said the layout has been somewhat changed to accommodate more room in the front and in the back of the store.
"Fresh is what we are really about and we want to bring fresh food to people," he said. "So we opened this up to give the customer space to linger and shop. That has been a focus."
Greenlaw said they even went as far to reseal food storage and preparation areas to make sure the market is completely food safe.
They leaned heavily on former Big Y employees to help inform them what would be the best fit for Adams, he said.
"We brought in some feedback from the managers … we figured they know best," he said. "One of the things that is really unique about us is that we are very small so we like to behave very small. We want to carry what the community needs and fill that void."
The grocery will carry fresh and premade sandwiches and soup for those on the go. He said most of the prepared foods are made in-house.
"We make the things that we sell," he said. "We boil the potatoes in our potato salad. Bill the deli manager shared with me that he makes a wonderful ham salad so we are going to sell his ham salad."
Greenlaw said there will be giveaways during the grand opening on Friday morning for the first 200 customers as well as samples.
He said judging by the welcome the market has already received, he expects Friday to be a big morning.
"We have asked a couple of veterans to assist us with our first official flag raising and we will hear some words from town officials," he said. "I am going to spend some time thanking this community for the incredibly warm welcome and, hopefully, everyone is super excited."
Activities related to the opening begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning; doors open at 9 a.m.
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You have it as "Adam's" market when I believe it's actually "Adams" with no apostrophe. Your editors can be forgiven for the oversight as the company misspells it on its own web site in some places.
Adam Bozzuto died in 2002 and his obituary only mentions that he operated a company called Bozzuto's Inc., a food wholesaler. I can't find much history on the Adam(')s market. Their logo has no apostrophe. All media uses I've seen besides yours have no apostrophe. It may be that originally the business had the apostrophe and then dropped it. It would be worth asking the company for clarification.
No reason to be smug about it. It was a legitimate question, considering the lack of an apostrophe on their logo and the use of both variations on their own web site.
I contacted the company directly and the official spelling is Adams Hometown Market without an apostrophe. It may have at one time been called Adam's, but no longer. You should use the correct spelling going forward.
Adams Community Bank Holds Annual Meeting, Announce Growth
ADAMS, Mass. — The annual meeting of the Community Bancorp of the Berkshires, MHC, the parent company of Adams Community Bank, was held on April 10, 2024, at Charles H. McCann Technical School in North Adams.
The meeting included reviewing the 2023 financial statements for the Bank, electing directors and corporators, and highlighting upcoming executive personnel changes.
"In 2023, the Bank experienced another year of growth in assets, loans, and deposits, noting the Pittsfield branch reached $26 million in customer deposits from its opening in December of 2022," President and CEO of Adams Community Bank Charles O'Brien said. "Those deposits were loaned out locally during 2023 and helped drive our #1 ranking in both mortgage and commercial real estate lending, according to Banker and Tradesman."
At year-end 2023, total assets were $995 million, and O'Brien noted the Bank crossed the $1 billion threshold during the first quarter of 2024.
Board chair Jeffrey Grandchamp noted with O'Brien's upcoming retirement, this will be the final annual meeting of the CEO's tenure since he joined the Bank in 1997. He thanked him for his 27 years of dedication to the Bank. He acknowledged the evolution of the Bank as it became the premier community bank in the Berkshires, noting that branches grew from 3 to 10, that employees grew from 40 to 135, and that assets grew from $127 million to $1 billion.
An executive search is underway for O'Brien's replacement.
The Adams Beautification group, which has been quietly sprucing up the town since 2022, hopes to bring in more members of the community during a community cleanup day scheduled for Saturday, April 27. click for more
Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School history teacher Alla Chelukhova has been selected as the April Teacher of the Month. click for more
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane.
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Michael Wynn, who was selected in January to run the center, submitted a level operating budget of $57,500 but said he could pull funding from different lines to ensure there was money for advertising this fall.
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