Page 8 - BusinessWest August 19, 2024

Easthampton
at a glance
Year Incorporated: 1785
Population: 16,211
Area: 13.6 square miles
County: Hampshire
Residential Tax Rate: $13.56
Commercial Tax Rate: $13.56
Median Household Income: $45,185
Median Family Income: $54,312
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Berry Plastics Corp., INSA, Williston Northampton School, National Nonwovens Co.
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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT >>
Easthampton and Its Lifestyle Are In Demand
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
Stacey Blanco says she’s always been entrepreneurial. Although she’s worked in office settings — and those experiences have helped inspire her current venture
— she has preferred working for herself and has had side hustles, if you will, like teaching Zumba classes.
During the pandemic, she and her husband, Israel, began thinking about new business opportunities and needs they could meet. And they settled on footwear and related items and ultimately opened Hide’n’Sneakz in a storefront on Cot- tage Street. There, as the name suggests, they sell sneakers, but also apparel (such as T-shirts) and skateboards.
The store opened roughly 15 months ago, and not long thereafter, Stacey, seeking to learn more about the ins and outs of running a business — and improve her odds of suc- cess — became part of the first cohort for a new program created by the Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce called CO.STARTERS.
The 10-week entrepreneurial training program, lauched with $50,000 in ARPA funding, is designed for those who have started a venture, said Moe Belliveau, executive director of the chamber, but especially for those who are exploring a new idea or getting close to starting up. And it was conceived to complement, not compete with, other programs within the entreprenerial ecosystem, such as EforAll.
“We cover everything from assumptions going in to your work style, knowing your customers to brand identity,” said Belliveau, adding that the first cohort drew some established business owners as well as those thinking about starting
ventures ranging from a vegan restaurant to an outlet provid- ing chef’s chothes for women.
“I wanted someone to check and see what I’ve been doing thus far and help me make wiser decisions about what direc- tions to take next,” Blanco said, “and that’s what I found at CO.STARTERS.”
“Everything we’re doing is smaller-scale projects, but when you take the aggregate
of everything that’s happened over 20 years, one plus one has equaled three, and it’s brought an uplift to Easthampton in general.”
The iniative, soon to launch its second chort, is just one of the intriguing new programs at the chamber — another is its WorkHub on Union, a co-working space several years in the making that is set to open its doors next month — and one of many interesting storylines in this former mill city that has, over the past 30 years or so, reinvented itself as a home for the arts, hospitality businesses, and, well, entrepreneurs of all kinds.
It has become an increasingly popular place to live, work, and operate a business, said Dave DelVecchio, vice president
8 AUGUST 19, 2024
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