Page 9 - BusinessWest October 17, 2022

Community Spotlight
Creative Economy Thrives in North Adams
By Kailey Houle
In a small city like North Adams, Ben Lamb says, economic growth is easy to see. “Historically speaking, there’s always been
a smattering of small businesses downtown, and we’ve seen that number grow; I believe there were at least six or seven small businesses that opened downtown over the last year,” said Lamb, director of Economic Development at 1Berkshire. “Some of those are growing even at this point; they’re expanding.”
“Historically speaking, there’s always been a smattering of small businesses downtown, and we’ve seen that number grow.”
In the past two years, small niche busi- nesses have been moving into a downtown area where Lamb thinks people are looking for more than just a transaction; they’re looking for an experience.
The Plant Connector is a good great example
of a shop that started very small on Eagle Street and, within the period of the pandemic, “scaled up fivefold from one footprint to another” because business was so strong, he noted.
However, while business has been strong, Nico Dery, Business Development director for the North Adams Chamber of Commerce, noted that there seems to have been less tourism this sum- mer than in recent summers, with the possible exception of festival weekends.
“It’s all kind of speculation why that could be, but I do think that a part of it is the lift on COVID restrictions,” she explained. “People aren’t travel- ing as close to home as they would be. So we’re losing some of those tourists from Boston or New York who might be going abroad or somewhere else within the country rather than making the short trip over to the Berkshires.”
Lamb agreed. “That’s where the downtown small-business community can rise to the occa- sion,” he said, adding that business that can identify opportunities can make a workable busi- ness model out of a fairly niche opportunity.
North Adams
Continued on page 12
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FEATURE
OCTOBER 17, 2022 9
North Adams at a Glance
YEAR INCORPORATED: 1878
POPULATION: 12,961
AREA: 20.6 square miles
COUNTY: Berkshire
RESIDENTIAL TAX RATE: $18.53
COMMERCIAL TAX RATE: $39.26
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $35,020
FAMILY HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $57,522
TYPE OF GOVERNMENT: Mayor; City Council
LARGEST EMPLOYERS: BFAIR Inc.; Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
* Latest information available