Pittsfield Subcommittee Supports GE Funds For Old, New Business
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Councilors were glad to see a long-time and a new company put forward for a total of $700,000 in economic development funds.
On Monday, the Community and Economic Development subcommittee supported requests of $200,000 and $500,000 for the Pittsfield Economic Funds, also known as the GE funds. A half-million dollars would help Jain Americas Inc. expand Chicopee operations to Pittsfield, and $200,000 would support a design and manufacturing studio for Elegant Stitches.
"First, I want to say to the mayor, thank you," Councilor at Large and committee member Earl Persip III said to Mayor Peter Marchetti.
"You brought us two companies, one new one and one expanding one. When we talk about these funds, if we have somebody that's new, the talk is, 'Why aren't we helping someone local?' and then when we bring someone local, it's 'Why aren't we bringing someone new in?' so you killed it the first time out here with these two."
President and owner Alfred Enchill said, "The story of Elegant Stitches is the story of Pittsfield." The company was founded in 1997 and plans to relocate its production to an 11,500-square-foot space at 17 Downing III.
"Twenty-eight years ago, a husband and wife started with a single-head embroidery machine in our basement, going to trade shows and selling embroidered stuff. Two years later, we moved out of our basement to the corner of First and Fenn Street, right around the corner here," Enchill explained.
"A few years later, it got burned down, and everyone that lived in Pittsfield long enough knows what happened to Elegant Stitches, but the people of Pittsfield stepped up, supported us."
Today, the company offers embroidery, screen printing, promotional products, and more. Elegant Stitches has eight employees, several of whom are long time, and the project will add six new full-time staff, including a marketing director and a director of operations.
Head of Business Development Auric Enchill, who was raised in the family business, detailed the First Street location's spatial limitations. They plan to have the new space up and running by the new year.
"It's not a terribly big space. It's actually very small, and when customers come in, they hear the production, they see it, which I think is a nice, cool thing, but we'd like to expand that space into purely retail and customer service, so we can display our products better," he explained.
"And all the production will be at 17 Downing III, that's going to be an increase in embroidery, an increase in screen printing, and the space works out nicely. It's a flat, open production space, so we're not going to have any real challenges in getting our equipment in there and operating, and then there's loading docks, which we need."
Councilors praised the company's expansion, noting Elegant Stitches' time in the community.
"You have a wonderful product. I know that we've all experienced the magical atmosphere of your current location," Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said.
"When you said that you intend to keep it, that actually made me really happy."
Ward 7 Councilor Rhonda Serre noted the company's professionalism and dedication to the city.
"I'm just here to be a cheerleader. You guys know this. I've talked to you on and off over the years. I love your product. I love your company," she said.
Jain Americas is purchasing a more than 150,000-square-foot facility at 10 Conte Drive to expand its building product offerings. It is triple the size of the company's Chicopee facility.
From 2012 to 2025, the business has grown from $2 million to $26 million, and aims for $50 million by 2030. The company's two major product lines are signs and graphics and building materials.
"Why we want to move part of our operation immediately from Chicopee to Pittsfield is for the space limitation. The plant has to run very efficiently, so to run the plant efficiently, you really need to create a good layout for the flow of the material. So because of space limitations, we're not able to have a good flow of the material in our current plant," President and CEO Narinder Gupta said.
"... Our initial plan is to move some of the operations over here, because we do not want to stop the production completely, so over two years, we may shift everything to the Pittsfield location."
The expansion adds another 30 employees to Jain Americas, but officials said it would be more than 100 employees if the company moves all operations to Pittsfield.
Tags: business development, GE fund,
