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Aubuchon Hardware has been on Union Street since 1987.

North Adams Aubuchon Closing Doors After 36 Years

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The store's cats Abbey and Shawna will be transferred to the Williamstown store. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Aubuchon Hardware on Union Street will be closing this fall after 36 years. 
 
The interim store manager Scott Wascher made the announcement on his Facebook page Tuesday. He was not immediatley available to speak to iBerkshires yesterday. 
 
The closing is due to "falling sales and location," Wascher posted. 
 
The store opened at 41 Union, in what had been a Carr's Hardware, in September 1987. The company's then owner, William Aubuchon, had attended the opening. 
 
The family-owned chain has more than 100 stores in Northeast and dates to 1908. Last month, Aubuchon Company acquired J.B. Hostetter & Sons in Mount Joy, Pa. 
 
Residents won't be without a hardware store, though they may have to travel a little farther to the Williamstown location. Also, Carr Hardware opened a 10,000-square-foot store on State Road in 2012 and a new hardware and lumberyard, Duke's, is opening on Saturday on Curran Highway.
 
The store will hold a clearance sale beginning Oct. 14 and its hours, starting Tuesday, are 8 to 5 on weekdays; it will be closed on weekends. It's not clear how many employees will be affected by the closure and those at the store expressed disappointment at the news. 
 
Abbey and Shawna, the store's cats, are expected to move to the Williamstown store to work with Matt and Annette Moullan. Employees also had said they could have a home with a former store manager. 
 
"The Williamstown store will take over serving our customers in the area," Wascher wrote. "We would like to thank our customers for the continued support throughout the years."

Tags: business closing,   hardware,   

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MCLA Graduates Told to Make the World Worthy of Them

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff

Keynote speaker Michael Bobbitt was awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts. He told the graduates to make the world worthy of them. See more photos here.  
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Amsler Campus Center gym erupted in cheers on Saturday as 193 members of class of 2026 turned their tassels.
 
The graduates of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' 127th commencement were sent off with the charge of "don't stop now" to make the world a better place.  
 
You are Trailblazers, keynote speaker Michael Bobbitt reminded them, and a "trailblazer is not simply someone who walks a path. A trailblazer makes one, but blazing a trail does not happen alone. Every trailblazer is carrying tools made by somebody else. Every trailblazer is guided by stars they did not create. Every trailblazer stands on grounds shaped by ancestors, teachers, workers, neighbors, friends, and strangers."
 
Trailblazing takes communal courage, he said, and they needed to love people, build with people, argue with people, and find the people who make them braver and kinder at the same time.
 
"The future will not be saved by isolated geniuses, it will be saved by networks of people willing to practice courage together. The future belongs not to the loudest, not to the richest, not to the most certain, but to the most adaptive, the most creative, the most courageous, the most willing to learn."
 
Bobbitt was recently named CEO of Opera American after nearly five years leading the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He stressed the importance of art to the graduates, and noted that opera is not the only art form facing challenges in this world. 
 
"Every field is asking, who are we for now? What do we, what value do we create?" he said. "What do we stop pretending is fine. This is not just an arts question, that is a healthcare question, a climate question, a technology question, a community question, a higher education question, a democracy question, a life question. ...
 
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