27 Eagle Street

Home to a over a one-hundred year tradition of small businesses serving North Adams.

27 Eagle Street has seen an influx of different businesses since it was first built as a home in 1816. The first owner of the home was Jared Damon, who owned much of the street in the 1800s. He likely used the house for part of his saddle and harness business. In the later nineteenth century the house changed hands on several occasions without a steady owner, or business occupying the space.

Nearly a hundred years after first being built, 27 Eagle street became home to the Standard Mercantile Co. Grocery Store. While this was not the only grocery store in North Adams, they were known for their quality service, as noted in most of their advertisements. The grocery store occupied 27 Eagle street for about ten years until 1926 when a shoe store bought out the space. The Self Service Shoe Store moved onto Eagle Street from a different location in North Adams, and would eventually celebrate their fourteenth anniversary on Eagle street. According to their advertisements they offered the best deals on shoes in the town. Nearly ten years later, in 1935 the Self Service Shoe store would move in location, but still remain on Eagle Street. While both the grocery store and shoe store had ownership over 27 Eagle street they occupied the lower levels of the building. Different and multiple tenants occupied the upper levels of the building throughout this time.

In 1937 the Mazza brothers took up ownership of the location, and opened what would eventually become the locally famous bakery Molly’s. The bakery was originally based in Williamstown, but moved to the larger location on Eagle street in 1937 to keep up with popular demand. In 1966 Kurt Halder took over the bakery after it was closed for a short time when the brothers retired. Halder opened and closed multiple locations of the bakery in his 18 years of ownership, but always made sure the baking was done at the Eagle St. location.

Judy and William Tietgen brought the bakery from him on January, 10th 1984 after working under Halder the previous few months. At this point the bakery had a loyal local following, and in 1987 the Pavlak family took over the bakery and would own it for the next ten years. The final owners of Molly’s Bakery purchased the store in 1998 from the Pavlakis, after it was closed for the first half of the year. Kevin and Lorraine Poette were happy to bring the bakery back to the locals who did not want to see their beloved long time bakery close. Ten years later, however, the bakery closed for the last time in March 2008.

In more recent years 27 Eagle street has served as a home to multiple small businesses under several different owners. After Molly's Bakery closed, The Party Place, a party supply store, opened at the location, and remained open until about 2011. At one point, for a very short time an artist supply shop took up business in the building. Next there was a small gift shop. Eagle Street Artisans sold locally made art, small gifts, jewelry and other goods made by Berkshire artists. This artisan consignment shop, which opened in 2016 closed in 2018. It remains to be seen what will come next to continue the long history of small businesses at 27 Eagle Street.

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27 Eagle St., North Adams, MA 01247