A few days before Christmas, I had a gift exchange planned with a couple of close friends. As usual, I’d waited until the last-minute to pick out perfect gifts for each person, and was running out of time. While picking up odds and ends at the Berkshire Food Co-op, I remembered their recently-opened retail store upstairs, The Attic. I went upstairs and, within minutes, had an abundance of great gift options: a lavender-filled eye pillow for one friend, a ceramic cat candle holder for another, a colorful set of hand towels for myself. As Marketing Manager Devorah Sawyer boasts, “there is something for every personality in The Attic.”
The Attic, a sister shop of the Berkshire Food Co-op, opened last April to accommodate a growing interest for general merchandise items within the Co-op. Just upstairs from the grocery, you’ll discover an expanded collection of kitchen essentials, home goods, gifts, and more—with a focus on local artists and craftspeople.
You won’t find any food in The Attic, but you’ll recognize the Co-op’s core values of local, sustainable, and high-quality, with an additional emphasis on uplifting area makers. The Co-op’s focus on accessibility is also echoed upstairs—store management emphasizes that their goal is to offer prices affordable for almost any Berkshire resident. “We are really interested in value and affordability with our product selection,” shares General Manager Jessica Bosworth.
A refreshingly eclectic quality of browsing The Attic is how personal and informal the shopping experience feels. Even on their website, The Attic indicates, “we don’t take ourselves too seriously.” Quirky mugs dot the reclaimed furniture serving as shelves, and the shop clerk is always nearby to tell the story of any product you’re eyeing—whether it be a candle, apron, greeting card, teapot, or a kitchen utensil.
As the Co-op is itself a BerkShares business, it’s no surprise that its upstairs counterpart proudly accepts our region’s local currency as well. “BerkShares are a really great way to keep money circulating locally and support local small businesses, or, in this case, a new business that is trying to get its feet under it,” Devorah underscores. A key benefit these days, she adds, is that paying with BerkShares helps small businesses avoid the burden of credit card fees.
It feels good to stop in at The Attic. Why? Because it’s owned by the community and supplied by the community, and their consideration shines through. Next time you stock up at the Co-op, pay a visit to its “fun, funky, and informal” upstairs neighbor—and don’t forget our community’s currency, BerkShares!
In Community,
David Fix, Program Administrator for BerkShares, Inc.
