The Cottage Street Cultural District in Easthampton has long been known for its quaint New England setting at the base of Mount Tom and, in recent years, as a burgeoning arts community and a hotspot for unconventional artisanal businesses. As a result of the growth though, retail space has become hard to come by.
“There’s some availability, but it’s limited,” says Bob Canon, who’s been a real estate in the area for over 30 years. “It’s pretty affordable and it’s a great place to get started… Going through downtown on the evenings, it’s a challenge getting through Cottage Street.”
Off the Map Tattoo has been a Cottage Street mainstay for over 10 years. Owner Gabe Ripley says the business outgrew its space at 112 Cottage St. a couple years ago and has since overflowed into a temporary space in the Button Building at 123 Union St. while the search was underway for a permanent home. Ripley eventually entered into a purchase agreement for the old Majestic Theater building, which included 82½, 84, and 84½ Cottage St. The move to will once again consolidate the business, which includes Ripley’s tattoo-centric web and media company, TattooNow, under one roof, but it also meant that long-time tenants KW Home and New England Felting Supply had to find somewhere new to set up shop. But, while temporarily inconvenient, the shake-up seems to be mutually beneficial all around.
KW Home owner Keith Woodruff, who occupied the space at 82½ Cottage St. for 14 years, is currently working from a satellite office and visiting clients in their homes while renovations on his new space in the Keystone Mill building at 122 Pleasant St. are completed. KW Home, he says, was one of the first on Cottage Street’s “new scene,” and has grown since those days to serve clients all over New England.
“It’s a sign of the times as things progress and the area becomes more popular,” Woodruff says. “Unless you own your property you don’t have a say in the matter.”
But Woodruff is far from upset by the move. In fact, he says, he’s excited.
“It’s much more of an open industrial space that’s going to accommodate a better way of displaying furniture and furnishings and giving me a nicer environment for my design studio,” Woodruff says. “I receive freight and everything so this is actually going to be much more functional for me because I have a loading dock, which I didn’t have at the previous location.”
Moving in alongside KW Home will be its longtime neighbor, New England Felting Supply, formerly at 84 Cottage St. for nine years. A press release from the business says that they’re the only felting-specific store of its kind in the U.S. NEFS hosts felting instructors from around the globe, providing a learning and collaboration space for those interested in learning the art of matting together different fibers to make the textile. Store manager Christine Laverdiere says she’s excited about the new, larger space.
“It’s a nice new opportunity,” she says. “The building is coming along really well and I think it’s going to be a wonderful home for our next decade.”
Both KW Home and NEFS plan to reopen at their new locations in late April.
As for the Cottage Street space, Ripley says he’ll be collaborating with two other yet-unspecified businesses to fill adjoining storefronts at 82½ and 84½ Cottage on either side of the main space at 84. The theater space will be used as the main studio, but also for conventions, seminars, and the webcasts that the shop has become known for.
“It was tough to find a spot in Easthampton,” Ripley says. “There’s not a lot for sale, but it was amazing because it’s only four doors down.”
Luthier’s Co-op, a full-service luthier shop by day that pours local beer and serves as a music venue by night, has earned itself a reputation as a favorite hangout among locals. It had been reported earlier that Luther’s Co-op was planning on expanding into the soon-to-be-vacant Off the Map space next door, but Luthier’s employee Greg Silvera says the business can no longer discuss plans for the space at this time. The business and building owners were unavailable for comment.•
Peter Vancini can be reached at pvancini@valleyadvocate.com.
