Thistle & Mirth Owners Opening Burger Joint in Downtown Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
02:19AM / Tuesday, June 01, 2021Print Story | Email Story

Flat Burger Society will open in the former Flavors that closed in December.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — "Flat burgers" are coming to downtown Pittsfield.

Co-owners of Thistle and Mirth Joad Bowman and Austin Oliver are embarking on a new endeavor in the former Flavors of Malaysia at 75 North St.

Flat Burger Society, a burger joint and future performance venue, will focus on flat, stackable burgers made from beef that is processed in-house.

It will also serve hand-cut fries, milkshakes, a small selection of salads and soups, and have a full bar.

"Between Joad and I, we have 30 years of experience in this business," Oliver said. "And our primary goal is, we don't take ourselves too seriously, and we are here to make sure everyone has a good time. All the bits and pieces, we're gonna make as good as possible, and at the end of the day we want people to just be having a good time."

Oliver's inspiration for the flat patty model came from his own distaste for large, thick, burgers. His will be cooked to uniform temperatures and can be stackable with as many additional burgers and toppings as desired.

"The cows come from a local farm, we butcher the cow ourselves," Oliver explained, "The entire cow goes to make the burger. Each week or so, when we're butchering we'll take a cut of it, and do a steak for that night."

Customers will have the option of getting fries cooked in cow's tallow or a vegetarian option.

"Boozy milkshakes will be a huge component as well," he added.

Bowman and Oliver acquired the space that previously housed Flavors of Malaysia at the end of March when Thistle and Mirth reopened as a bar and ramen restaurant. Flavors closed in late 2020, citing financial issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The duo plans to open Flat Burger Society in July. They will serve lunch and dinner immediately and once they settle in, restaurant operations will focus heavily on live entertainment on the in-house stage that space boasts.

They plan on having the restaurant/venue close around 11 p.m., before Thistle and Mirth, which is a popular late-night spot in non-COVID times.

Oliver said various kinds of entertainment will be welcomed to the stage.

"I'm open for anything cool," he said. "And also other shows as well, it doesn't need to be music-specific, it can be comedy, burlesque, it can be all over the place, but just a venue in Pittsfield."

He and Bowman have a desire to look at what Pittsfield needs and deliver something unique rather than replicate what is already successful in the area.

"We've been just finding things that Pittsfield is missing, instead of just replicating what already works here, that puts us up for plenty of risk and failure, but it feels better to try to succeed doing something want to do."

Oliver said Thistle and Mirth has found success in its ramen venture and they look forward to being able to function more like the original Thistle — but still with some pandemic precautions — as comfort levels increase.

Tags: new business, restaurants,

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

Save & Earn with Greylock

3.30% APY 6-month certificate. Click to learn more! Insured by NCUA.

www.greylock.org

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield's This and That Sports Celebrating Six Years

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:34PM / Friday, October 23, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — This and That Sports is celebrating its sixth birthday with a party.

Owner Reggie Davis opened the collectables and card store at 128 Fenn St., pursuing a hobby he has had since he was a teenager.

He started with small card shows and later collected a broad range of items, including sports memorabilia, autographs, Beanie Babies, and Matchbox cars.

"It's been a long time, and it's not just cards. I mean, I collect everything. I love sports memorabilia, autographs," he said.

Originally from Great Barrington, he moved to Connecticut and operated a collectibles store there from 2004 to 2014 before moving back to Berkshire County. He worked for FedEx before opening the new store in 2020.

For the first six months, he balanced the store with his career with FedEx, with help from his wife, Crystal, who worked around her own overnight hospital shifts. He left FedEx to focus on the store full time and works with his son, Bret.

He said it is more than a job and he is happy to open his doors to the collecting community.

"It's like something that I looked at as a pleasure business. It wasn't about the money. It was more like bringing the collecting part of the hobby to Berkshire County," he said.

Davis said he misses live baseball in Pittsfield, recalling Pittsfield Mets games. He said collecting brings him closer to that feeling of watching a local team when he was younger.

"I've always remembered growing up as a kid of the Pittsfield Mets and then the Pittsfield Suns and baseball being here and I was a big sports person, I played a lot of sports, and it's kind of sad and I think I want to continue the sports collecting part, the hobby. You can't go to a baseball game here unless it's like a high school game. So it's kind of continuing the collecting part of the hobby without the actual sports being here," he said.

Davis said the store's customers have become friends. He added that he likes to see the younger generation open packs of cards.

"The amazing part about it is not just the kids, but the customers. Like, I have customers that've been coming in for four, five, six [years] even new ones that just started coming in like a month ago," he said. "We've been out to dinner with these people. We travel. Customers have become friends, even close friends, which is nice."

He said one of the most challenging parts of the business has been to keep everything in stock especially with the surge in popularity of Pokemon cards.

"We have people that stop in all the time, and they're like wow you got a great selection of Pokemon, you have a big selection, and I think that's you know we have distribution for sports and Pokemon, but it sells so quick," he said. "I think the hardest thing is to be able to keep product on the shelf."

Not only does he sell collectibles, but he also purchased a card grading company called Revolutionary Card Grading that he opened next door. The company, based in Georgia, produces specialized color-matched designs but card grading and customer submissions are now handled locally since taking full ownership of the company last year.

View Full Story