New Thrift Store Brewsters Opens in North Adams
Casey Albert's been thrifting for years. Above, some the vintage and pretty things she's been able to find.
Brewsters held its grand opening at 18 Marshall on Thursday; it's open 10 to 7 p.m.
Casey Albert said the name for her store — Brewsters — is from a favorite childhood 1980s television sitcom, "Punky Brewster."
"She's kind of eccentric and wears unmatching things, and I wear unmatching socks all the time. So that was, kind of my nickname, was Brewster," Albert laughed, adding the store's the crowned-crow logo is because "I love crows. And crows kind of get shiny things and bring them to you as little gifts. And I thought that was kind of representation of thrifty things."
She's always loved thrifting and has been selling items online with the goal of eventually getting a storefront.
"I started out selling online with eBay, and it was going pretty decent. And I've always loved thrifting, so I thought it would be great to have something local," she said.
The downtown could use another store, Albert said, because "it's a little bit of a ghost town, although we do have a couple great places here."
Brewsters will offer vintage and new items, and will accept donations from people just wanting to clean out their closets.
"I will outsource some items like, I have a lot of vintage items and antiques that I will go out and purchase on my own and try and flip, whether it's estate sales, tag sales, or auctions, things like that," Albert said.
"I will definitely take donations. I might try to make it on certain days, so then it's not on a really busy weekend, or something like that. I have to figure all of that out right now. I was just doing pickups. I did post on the Facebook page that we're able to do pickups for donations at this time, probably one box per household, because we're a small business, I can't store a lot."
The merchandise on display includes home decor, dishware, figurines, albums, books, and seasonal decorations.
The space was formerly occupied by Berkshire Blends, a smoothie shop that closed in September. Albert jumped on the space not long after and started to make it her own.
"When I saw that Berkshire Blends was leaving this location, I thought it would be perfect. Not only are you in walking distance to [Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art], but then you're just like, right around the corner from Main Street, and then you have this huge storefront window," she said. "So I was hopeful that that would help."
Albert said once the store has been open for awhile she'd would like to partner with other businesses and organizations, and maybe host events.
"I would like to do something with the community, whether it's getting a bunch of items and figuring out how to thrift or or decorate yourself, or maybe we take things and make it into something else," she said. "I've got some ideas, we'll see."
The store hours are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a .m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday noon to 5.
Tags: new business, grand opening, thrift store,
