Ben Reigle has been a tattoo artist for 16 years. “I came from a street-shop environment, walk-in tattoos, small designs, many in a day,” he said in a recent telephone interview. Over the years, as he developed his skills, he kept seeking out higher quality, custom-tattoo-shop positions. “Being surrounded by positive, entrepreneurial people lit a fire under me as to what I could accomplish,” he said. With a loan and business assistance from the FCCDC he opened his own shop, Great Spirits, on Federal Street in Greenfield, in 2016. However, a health scare in 2018 motivated him to shift the
Read More

Walter Kleeberg Finds Success Through Commitment to Clients and Securing a Niche of His Own There’s a vital piece of infrastructure without which many businesses can’t function: the portable toilet. Walter Kleeberg, owner of Deerfield-based Carson’s Cans, understands that he’s filling a niche. “It’s not for everybody,” he concedes.   And when it comes to the odor emanating from the products he supplies and services for countless farms, construction sites, outdoor recreation facilities, and festivals throughout the Pioneer Valley, don’t worry about Walt. “I don’t smell it,” he said with a smile. “It all looks like cash to me.”  The business he took
Read More

Bookstore as Art Project with Social Justice at the Fore  When Andrew Ritchey began exploring the idea of opening a bookstore, his mind traced out the usual steps: get a lease on a space, buy a lot of books, hire people, etc. However, the traditional path was not for him. He decided on a unique business model, an anti-profit online bookstore, which places his values and social justice first.   Ritchey opened Massive Bookshop in 2020, operating out of his Greenfield home at first, and then in 2022 moving into the Franklin County CDC’s Venture Center. The bookshop’s structure gives
Read More

Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op in Orange, Massachusetts, is a grocery store and so much more for the community it serves. The store offers a full range of groceries for local shoppers as well as “Community Shares” programs that help to make food affordable to low-income customers.    It buys fruits, vegetables, meats, and other products from the small farms that dot the rural North Quabbin region, giving those farmers a predictable market for their goods. But, as the store’s Board Chair Cathy Stanton notes, the co-op most importantly provides a community gathering space for locals and pulls economic activity to
Read More

A group of Moroccan professionals attending the Amherst-based Institute for Training and Development toured the Franklin County Community Development Corp. last month. The nine visitors work in varied careers, from municipal jobs, to business owners, and professionals in education and nongovernmental organizations. They were here to learn about the FCCDC’s approach to helping small businesses and overall economic development. Executive Director John Waite and Business Development Director Amy Shapiro led the tour, along with Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center Food Business Coordinator Kate Minifie. Waite and Shapiro provided business counseling to one of the visitors previously, and even went to
Read More