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Marion Hayden opened Home on Main, a home decor shop, in the former Annie Selkie store she'd managed for years.
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Hayden loves botanicals, which influenced the store's atmosphere, a passion that also goes into selections for her store.
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Her curated selections include children's decor.
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Hayden says the response has been good since opening in January and she hopes to add tutorials like flower arranging and table-top setting.

Lenox Home Decor Shop Offers Design Ideas, Annie Selke Products

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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The Albert & Dash rug library is still available and Hayden can order rugs and Pine Cone Hill items. 

LENOX, Mass. — The former Annie Selke store on Main Street is now Home on Main, another home decor venture.

"I had previously worked for seven years as on-site manager at Annie Selke and loved my job and got to know and develop relationships with a lot of the customers," said owner Marion Hayden.

The Annie Selke store closed in October, and once Hayden saw how disappointed people were, she decided to start her own store.

"There was just a feeling that I had that it was the right thing to do, to continue the store and I couldn't shake it," she said.

Hayden opened in January and said she's had a lot of support from the community.

"I've had very good comments and people just stopping in to say we're so glad you're open has been a recurring theme but I only expect that to continue as the season opens," she said.

Hayden attended the New York School of Interior Design and was inspired to open a store of her own one day.

"I've always been interested in design. That's why I loved working here because I just really enjoyed being around textures and home decor and fabrics and just anything to do tactile with the home," she said.

"I'm really excited. I just spoke with a sales rep to bring in a few new lines that are very new to the Berkshires that aren't anywhere else."

She also wants to offer in-store tutorials such as flower arranging, tabletop ideas, and more to involve the community.

Some advice she would give someone who may be wanting to start their own venture like this would be to do it when it feels right.

"There's never a perfect time but when you have that feeling that now is it, jump on it and just don't look back and just do it, it sounds easier said than done but a few years back I couldn't imagine myself doing that but it just seemed that everything just came together," Hayden said.

She would like people to know that she is always willing to help customers with their interior design ideas and loves to help them find what could look best in their home.

She also wants to make sure that people know that her store still has the showroom and that they can still order the same Annie Selke products.

"They can still order Pine cone Hill products and Dash and Albert through here," said Hayden, adding "I've kept the [rug] library up to date, people can still take out rug samples and I match any promotion that's currently online."

Home on Main is located at 36 Main St. and can be followed on Instagram at Homeonmain36. The store is open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.


Tags: new business,   design,   home & garden,   

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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing. 

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said. 

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today." 

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback. 

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director. 

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care.  Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires. 

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs. 

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said. 

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025. 

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