Christa Proper, General Manager Of Richmond Telephone And Richmond NetWorx

12:00AM / Wednesday, February 28, 2001Print Story | Email Story

There are maybe 126 independent telephone companies left in the United States, said Christa Proper, the general manager of Richmond Telephone and Richmond NetWorx. This Berkshire-based company is branching out. She is navigating. Richmond Telephone has provided service to the town of Richmond for 98 years. Under Properâ€™s guidance, and with the help of Massachusettsâ€™ recent deregulation of telephone services, Richmond Telephone launched Richmond NetWorx in March, 2000. Richmond NetWorx competes with Verizon in Pittsfield, North Adams, Great Barrington and the surrounding communities. They are giving the Berkshires a choice in their phone service, Proper said, maybe for the first time. The stateâ€™s Telecommunications Act of 1996 aimed to enhance competition: it allowed small companies to expand, using their competitorsâ€™ networks at discounted rates. The Richmond Independent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) did so. They added a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC). They began under resale, leasing Verizonâ€™s equipment at a discount. They have been putting in their own, though. They will switch over entirely to their own equipment in March of this year. Proper said Richmond NetWorx has limited resources, both financial and human, compared to behemoths like Verizon and Bell â€” at Richmond, everyone has to know a little bit of everything. Richmond has, she said, better rates and higher quality customer service. â€œWhen you call, you get a person,â€ she said, not a recording â€œfor customer service, press one.â€ Richmond NetWorx promises to stay regional, to keep the feel of the company with one service man who knows his customersâ€™ first names and prides himself on same-day service, and a president customers can stop on the street if they have questions. They want to be sure Richmond NetWorx does not grow too big too fast, Proper said, but they are doing well. Richmond Telephone had four employees when Proper joined the company. Richmond Telephone and Richmond NetWorx combined, employ 15 today.They have moved to the Howard Building on Fenn Street, in Pittsfield. They share the historic bank building with an antique shop and an Internet technology company. As a small company, Proper said, Richmond NetWorx feels it is important to keep up with technological advances and to offer a broad band solution to the county. They launched DSL (digital subscriber line) in Richmond in February, and will do the same for Richmond NetWorx later this year. They offer local, long distance, Internet service, caller ID, and voice mail. It is always a question â€œhow are we going to give quicker service,â€ Proper said. She added that the Internet has changed the way people communicate more than any other recent advance. Richmond NetWorx will also evaluate wireless solutions for cellular phones but, she said, they have no immediate interest in cell towers. Proper has spent her whole career in small telecommunications companies. She grew up as the youngest of seven children on a Craryville, N.Y. dairy farm, and credits her parents with teaching her ethics. She began at Taconic Telephone Company in Chatham, N.Y., with a degree in business administration. Lorinda Ackley-Mazurâ€™s grandfather founded Taconic in 1908, and her father bought Richmond in 1961, converting it from crank to dial service. She is president of Richmond Telephone and Richmond NetWorx. When Ackley-Mazur sold Taconic, in 1998, Proper came to Richmond Telephone to pilot its expansion into Berkshire County. Proper had background in planning and new business development, she explained, and it was a good fit. At Taconic Telephone, Proper managed the long distance company. She was the administrator of a Signaling System 7 network, a system for the way calls are rooted. She also worked with a cellular partnership, developing the new business. Ackley-Mazur has been her mentor, she said. Properâ€™s professional life in the Berkshire has been easier with Ackley-Mazurâ€™s leadership. Proper has been accepted and treated well, she said; great progress in the acceptance of women in business in the last three years. Aside from the shops, museums, music, art and scenery in the Berkshire, she said its economic development efforts have been phenomenal recently. Those efforts encouraged Richmond Telephone to expand, she said. She praised the efforts of PR chamber events and technology alliance groups. Richmond Telephone and Richmond NetWorx take pride in their involvement with Berkshire County organizations: Kidsâ€™ Place, the Technological Alliance, the Berkshire Museum, Downtown Inc. â€œWe are very serious about allowing our employees to donate their time elsewhere,â€ she said. â€œIt is key for a small business, and for the community.â€ Spending time in the community and having connections matters to her both professionally and personally, she said. Proper commutes from New York state, just over the line. But she enjoys the Berkshire, and often brings her children here on the weekends. (She has two children, and a third on the way.) Her family are members of the Berkshire Museum, among other places. Someone who manages to keep their professional and personal life in balance is very lucky, she said, and can be very successful. She feels that she has.

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North Adams Shop Offers New & Vintage Games to Play

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:18PM / Saturday, February 21, 2026

The shop is located in the corner of the Oasis Plaza, next to the ice cream shop.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A new card shop is bringing old and new games and trades to Oasis Plaza.

Renzi Retro and Repair owner Christian Richardson opened last Friday at 150 American Legion Drive, right next to the ice cream shop.

Richardson grew up collecting and playing different types of video games. He was recently selling games and cards on Facebook before deciding to find a space last month.

"I really just liked video games. I play a lot of video games, and I just started collecting them. And then one day, I was like, Oh, why don't we try seeing if I can make some money doing it?" he said.

His shop is filled with older game consoles, Pokémon cards, sports cards, and video games new and old. He hopes to give people a better deal than other places.

"We're just trying to be different. We're trying to give people better prices than they're given other places. Since prices have got kind of crazy and it's hard to live nowadays, so we're trying to make it a little bit easier," Richardson said.

His shop will also take in items like consoles, cards, and other game accessories for trades or cash back.

"We pretty much take anything in, from cards to retro to modern games to consoles, accessories," he said.

He plans to get televisions and host tournaments on Sundays in the future.

"Tournaments are going to be a big thing that we're going to be working towards. We're also be working on getting TVs set up for certain days so people want to come sit down," he said.

Richardson wants his shop to be a space for people to gather and have fun.

"I just want to get more people off the streets. I mean, the area is not always the best, and people get involved in the wrong things around here," he said. "I just want to be able to bring people in at a younger age and give them a place to be able to play cards, or at some point, we're going to get TVs up so they can play video games. And I just want not everybody to be stuck on the streets and give them something to do in the community."

He hopes to one day expand and create a room dedicated to game play.

"I really want to get a whole store set up just for people to be able to come and play video games and and that's it not to buy things, but more of a place with a membership where you come and you play games, or you you do tournaments all day," he said.

His store is open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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