Store at Five Corners Reopens in Williamstown
Colleen Taylor of Baystate Hospitality Group poses with a wood-fired pizza oven that will be used on Friday evenings at the Store at Five Corners.
"George Washington had breakfast here," the website reads. "You can too."
That may be true. But George had to wait for his breakfast burrito.
You don't have to.
"Early risers love breakfast sandwiches and their coffee," proprietor Colleen Taylor said after Wednesday morning's ribbon cutting at the reopened historic store. "Another interesting thing that we're going to change that wasn't [here] is you can order ahead.
"So you have the ability to order before you arrive. So if you come through here every morning, you can order from your home, and when you arrive, it'll be all set.
"It's more of a grab and go."
Taylor and her brother and business partner Sean Taylor grabbed the concession offered by the Five Corners Stewardship Association, which purchased the store at the junction of Routes 7 and 43 in 2022.
They added the Store at Five Corners to a family of North County eateries that includes the Freight Yard Pub, Trail House Kitchen and Bar and Craft Food Barn in North Adams as well as the Berkshire Catering Co. under the umbrella of the Baystate Hospitality Group.
It was not the first time that Colleen Taylor, a Williamstown resident, has thought about adding the Store at Five Corners to the portfolio.
"I looked at it before when Corey [Wentworth] was going to take over," she said, referring to the chef who reopened the store after the COVID-19 pandemic as the first operator under the auspices of the SAFCSA. "At that time, we had just opened up Berkshire Catering Co.
"And I said to [developer] Duncan Brown, 'I do think that if you can find a couple to open it, I think it really takes a team. It's hard for a single lift. … There were a few iterations during my lifetime in Williamstown, and the couple situation always worked. Corey is one of my good friends. I came down here often. His lease was up … and it was a mutual parting.
"It was a lovely transition between he and I, and he was helpful about some of the things I had questions about down here."
Now, with the catering business well established, is the right time to grow, Taylor said.
"Natural growth is the best way to happen," she said. "There's that time frame where you feel comfortable that you can say, 'OK, I can take on something else because … I have the correct staff and the correct teams in all locations, and they're up and running.' "
Members of Baystate Hospitality's team helped fill out the staff for the reopened Store at Five Corners, which will offer breakfast, lunch and "pop-up" dinners with regular store hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. starting Wednesday.
Four of the 12 staff members at the South Williamstown location already were working in one of the Taylors' other venues.
"What happens is that at my other locations, I have people that are at the higher tier and they have people who could go up to that next tier, but can't," Colleen Taylor said. "Now there's an opportunity [here]. … They've done really well, they're such team players and their skill set is there. For me to be able to keep them and give them that next level, that's how we're able to do it."
After Baystate Hospitality backfills the four positions at its other businesses, the expansion to South Williamstown creates, in all, a dozen new jobs for the corporation.
The grand opening Wednesday morning created a buzz and a full parking lot at the store.
Before cutting the ribbon at the service counter, Colleen Taylor talked about the welcome she and her family have received in Williamstown.
"They are an amazing group of individuals that runs this [Store at Five Corners Stewardship Association] board," she said. "And they were so supportive. … We're so glad to be the next stewards of this amazing long history of being open. The Store at Five Corners, to be in our hands, is a little intimidating, I have to be honest.
"But the community down here, everyone we've met, has been so kind and generous. And that's one of the things we've also been able to do in North Adams. Sean and I have been part of that community for 34 years. And when we first moved up here … they took us in like family. And I felt that same energy here.
"So it must be a Berkshire energy."
Tags: new business, business changes, restaurants,
