Business 2025 Year in Review
This year Berkshire County saw many new businesses open — from restaurants to local goods — as well as new owners taking over existing companies.
Pittsfield Economic Development
Perhaps the biggest news was the development of an optics technology hub at the Berkshire Innovation Center.
The proposal attracted $5.2 million transformation grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Innovation Institute, a $2 million state earmark in the economic development bond bill, and another $1 million from Pittsfield's economic development (GE) fund.
The BIC will construct a 7,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing hub to its 23,500-square-foot floor plan for Myriad Optics Inc. to establish a manufacturing lab, and with EMA [Electro Magnetic Applications], an existing client, as a second anchor.
Myrias expects to invest $10 million and hire at least 55 people by 2028 with average salaries between $110,000 and $120,000 per year. EMA would be able to continue expanding in Pittsfield, adding a dozen jobs over the next two years.
Pittsfield also saw the opening of Ollie's Bargain Outlet in the former Big Lots, bringing back a department store with low prices.
The CEO and President Eric van der Valk, even has a personal connection to Pittsfield as his wife and her family grew up in Dalton, and they spent five years trying to get the outlet into Pittsfield.
Ollie's is the third discount store to operate at the location within the last five years. Price Rite closed in 2020 after 14 years in the space, and after investing $1 million into the store that same year.
New Ownership
After Jessica Rufo announced she was closing Dottie's Coffee Lounge in Pittsfield to focus on her personal life in July, many were wondering what would happen to the popular spot.
Rufo encouraged someone to take over the community hub, a mainstay on North Street for 20 years. Her hopes were answered a couple months later when former barista and shift lead Loic Adandedjan said it would reopen under new ownership.
Adandedjan is sublisting with the hope to buy. Rufo stayed to mentor Adandedjan until he was prepared.
Dotties was able to reopen on Oct. 1 with the same "vibe and energy" so the community could keep a space that is clearly loved.
Another popular entertainment space and sports tavern, this time in North Adams, has new owners. Eric and Hannah Reinhard, owners of Water Street Grill in Williamstown, opened The Greatest of All Time (The GOAT) Sports Bar and Grill in the former Mingo's.
New Business
In North Adams, Andrew Fitch and Meghan Daly, opened their long awaited lounge Steeple City Social offering baked goods, light food, coffees and teas, and cocktails and wines.
The two started selling their baked goods in 2023 at the local farmers market, and once they knew their goods were special, they opened in the former Pizza House that Fitch purchased in 2021. The two raised more than $22,000 on Kickstarter to start their venture.
This year, Pittsfield was able to get a fun space for families to hang out at Tyler Street Arcade, which opened in October at 214 Tyler St.
Owner Edward Krzysztof grew up in Pittsfield and spent a lot of his time at this building, which was formerly Finn and Feather Pet Shop. He wanted to make sure kids had a safe space to hang out and do something fun in the community.
Dining Relocations
Two popular eateries moved down the road into new quarters this past year: Grazie and Common Table.
CJ Garner and Marcus Lyon opened Common Table in a small former pizzeria in Cheshire in early 2024, and quickly found success. A year later, they were rehabbing the former Bass Water Grill on Route 8 to accommodate a growing clientele.
The restaurant on Cheshire Reservoir closed in 2022 and the building has been used as a real estate company office. Garner and Lyon plan to open the larger restaurant for dinner and will turn the current Common Table into a breakfast and lunch space, and open it in the beginning of 2026.
Matt Tatro had opened Grazie in 2016 as a partnership with developer David Moresi, but by 2025 their visions no longer aligned. Tatro moved the restaurant to the former Hot Dog Ranch on State Street and added more non-Italian offerings and more takeout options. He sold his other Marshall Street eatery Tres Ninos Taqueria.
Moresi, meanwhile, has been renovating the Mohawk Tavern and the restaurant in the Mulcare Building with plans to open another Italian restaurant.
Husband and wife restaurateurs Bryan "Swifty" Josephs and Jenny Klowden took the long road to bring their popular comfort food to a permanent home. They had a residence at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, worked in area restaurants, sold their food to farmers markets and operated a catering business. That lead them to Hotel Downstreet, where they opened Door Prize in July.
Community Rescue
Small businesses thrive with community support. That was the case and more with Savvy Hive in North Adams.
Jessica Sweeney posted on her Facebook one day asking the community for help after she came back to work after maternity leave, relying on paid staff to operate the store. As the owner, her maternity leave was unpaid and said her business, like other small ventures, has been facing financially hard times.
Sweeney called on the community for help raising the $10,000 she needed to survive the winter months — they answered. In just a couple of days, Sweeney hit her target goal.
She has encouraged other small businesses that need help to not be afraid to ask. With the added support, she launched the North Adams Small Business Winter Fund, where every January she will dispense the funds raised to small businesses to help them survive the winter if needed.
Business Losses
The county started the year losing big chains like Chilis, Joann's and Big Lots. One local loss felt by the North Adams community was Village Pizza.
Owner Christina Nicholas took to Facebook to announce the closure in April with an emotional goodbye, explaining that medical issues were forcing her hand.
Village Pizza had been serving the community with late nights for 40 years, with Nicholas working there since she was 14 and buying it in 1991.
Its closure meant that there's no pizza place on historic Eagle Street for the first time in at least 50 years as the Pizza House and its several successors closed on the south corner in 2020. Currently the space still sits vacant.
Another local loss was Pittsfield’s Berkshire Habitat ReStore who closed their doors in August after 15 years.
The store that took donated items and resold them to help build houses, found it was not profitable enough to keep going. The business also suffered with unwanted donations the cost from needing to get rid of the unwanted donations also did not help keep the store open.
The community also lost the historic Otis Poultry Farm, which had been in business for 121 years.
In April the third generation owner, Andy Pyenson and his wife, Lynn, announced they would close and retire to Ohio.
Pyenson's grandparents, David and Rebecca Pyenson, started the farm in 1904 and he worked on it after his father, Maxwell, took over. Pyenson and his brother took over in turn about 25 years ago and he became the sole operator in 2010.
Pyenson had hoped a buyer would come forward to keep the historic staple open but had no luck.
Tags: Business, year in review,
