Eagle Street Shop Peddles in the Unique and the Utilitarian
Jared Shockcor's little shop on Eagle Street offers new and thrifted wares from the utilitarian to the unique.
The software engineer's turned the former Hearts Pace Tea Lounge into Mastic, fulfilling a dream of doing something different.
"I've always liked retail, particularly like finding weird and unusual things. So last year I became gainfully unemployed and so I decided to try it," he said.
He chose to name his shop Mastic after tree resin, an old form of chewing gum.
"It's a tree resin. It's used in cooking. It's a flavoring ingredient, and a lot of Greek cooking, or some Greek cooking particularly, and it's also used in esoterica as an incense. So it seems like a kind of, it was kind of crossing the things that I do," Shockcor said.
He felt the name fit because it bridges the two worlds he loves and stocks in the shop: kitchen items and unique items, so it reflects the blend of themes in his store.
"I wanted to find, or to bring a place that would allow someone to come and get a gift, a unique gift, and something curious and something maybe a little unusual, but also some staples and some basic items that were hard to find around here," he said.
"I think I skew towards a little bit like, bougie-looking, but it's not like in the window, I have pretty flowers and things like that, because I like it. But also, at the same time, there's really something for everybody in here, and it has a pretty good sense of humor about itself."
He wants to have price points that can accommodate a range of shoppers, so he keeps affordable housewares and smaller items, as well as more unique wares. Shockcor wants to expand his offerings in the future, including onto his website, and host summer exhibits, joining into the gallery atmosphere of Eagle Street.
Mastic will be participating in the monthly First Fridays and Shockcor plans host an event during Berkshire Art Week, which starts this Friday.
He's also considering how he might be able to sell a small, curated selecton of wine, "because I also really like wine, and it's sort of my family business. My mom's in the wine business has been for years."
Shockcor has items from local makers and artists and is always looking for more. His intention is to switch out his merchandise so that it never looks the same, in part so its "new and fresh" and to amuse himself. He's encouraging passersby to take a look through the shop's interesting things.
It had been a dream to open a shop, but also shopping is one of his favorite things to do.
"I really, I like shopping. I like going into stores that are explorable and have a lot of things to look at," he said. "And I've always liked sort of the antique and vintage side of things too, like a lot of folks, and I had a large collection of things that I had collected over the years, a lot of which are sort of on theme and also just really to my taste."
Mastic at 15 Eagle St. is open Thursday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. The store has an Instagram page; the phone number is 413-217-0809.
Tags: new business, gift shop,
