image description — Brewsters, a thrift shop, held its grand opening on Thursday at 18 Marshall St. Owner Casey Albert stands with some of the merchandise available for sale.

New Thrift Store Brewsters Opens in North Adams

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:05PM / Thursday, December 11, 2025Print Story | Email Story

Casey Albert's been thrifting for years. Above, some the vintage and pretty things she's been able to find.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The new thrift shop on Marshall Street is a little bit "Punky" with an eclectic mix of shiny, vintage and eccentric curated items.

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,

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Northern Berkshire United Way: War and Peace

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
09:38PM / Saturday, February 28, 2026

Northern Berkshire United Way is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Each month, we will take a look back at the agency's milestones over the decades. This first part looks at its successes and challenges during the war years.

The Community Chest started the decade on the upswing but ended with a decline in fundraising. A bright spot was its establishment of new agencies to help the citizens of North Adams and Clarksburg.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Community Chest ended its first decade on an upswing, even as the clouds were darkening over Europe.

But what goes up, must eventually come down.

The 1940 campaign drive again set a goal of $39,600 and volunteers toted up $23,000 at the first meeting.

James Hunter Machine was the first to attain 100 percent enrollment with annual gift of $6.13 per person for a total of $1,275. Some 200 businesses and organizations hit their red feather level of 100 percent, including all of the schools as well as State Teachers College.

The litany of businesses and organizations included long-gone establishments such as Simmons Funeral Home, Spofford Motors, McCann Ice Cream Co., C.H. Cutting, West End Market, Apothecary Hall, Florini's Italian Garden, and Pizzi's, along with still existing enterprises like Whitney's Beverage Shop, Cascade Paper and Mount Williams Greenhouse.

The now annual dinner was served by the Ladies Aid Society of First Congregational at the YMCA, and attendees were entertained by singers from the Advent Christian Church, directed by the Rev. Martin Ball and accompanied by his wife on the piano. "Assisting in useful capacities" were YMCA junior members Howard Goodermote, Roy Modlinger, Fred Myers, Norman Remillard, George Grenier, Wallace Konopka and Anthony Pessolano.

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