A longtime staple in Nice Barrington’s downtown retail combine is closing after 43 years.
Annie Minifie, proprietor of Byzantium, has introduced that she is going to shut the long-running girls’s attire and equipment retailer in January following a clearance sale. She based Byzantium, situated at 32 Railroad St., in 1979.
Minifie stated the shop continues to be doing nicely. Nevertheless, modifications within the total enterprise local weather because the COVID pandemic, and her private priorities, prompted her determination to shut.
“It was an instantaneous determination, though I knew it could be coming for some time,” she stated. “I’m not getting any youthful and knew that I’d ultimately be stepping away from the enterprise. Then someday, I spotted that this was the time to do it.”
She famous that the pandemic, and the following financial volatility of latest years, had altered situations within the attire business and elevated the pressures and calls for of working a retailer comparable to Byzantium.
On the identical time, she has additionally needed to deal with private issues, together with mandatory repairs to her dwelling and settling her late mom’s property.
“The pandemic modified every thing,” she stated. “Earlier than that, it was potential to work arduous on the retailer whereas nonetheless having a parallel private life. However the modifications and pressures of the final three years have demanded a complete immersion within the enterprise. Additionally, different circumstances required my consideration, and I used to be getting in too many instructions directly.”
As well as, she stated she made the choice for optimistic causes, together with spending extra time along with her youngsters and grandchildren, touring, gardening, and specializing in creating artwork.
Whereas she had initially hoped to promote Byzantium, that didn’t occur.
“I had ready a complete plan with all the small print in regards to the enterprise, so a brand new proprietor might hit the bottom operating,” she stated. “However then Covid got here and knocked that plan off the observe.“
The trail to being a store proprietor
Having grown up in Annapolis, Maryland, Minifie moved to New York Metropolis as a younger grownup and in addition hung out in Europe. She held a lot of jobs, together with as a mannequin and movie editor—and on the legendary nightclub Max’s Kansas Metropolis.
Finally, searching for a change of tempo, she moved to the Berkshires, which she was conversant in by visits and household connections.
After attending Berkshire Neighborhood School and graduating from Smith School, she labored for a time period as a trainer in Dalton and in addition on the workers of a drop-in heart.
She transitioned into retailing in 1979, noting that it resonated with a lot of her personal pursuits.
“I wasn’t actually happy with what I had been doing, and I had a ‘Now what?’ second,” she recalled. “I noticed this constructing, and the area instantly attracted me. I made a decision to open Byzantium on a whim.”
That whim grew to become a decades-long profession.
Minifie credited her landlord Richard Stanley with serving to her launch the shop. “He’s been an incredible landlord,” she stated. “Once I first opened, he made positive I had every thing I wanted, and he’s continued to be very supportive over time.”
Though her enterprise has undergone many modifications over time, Minifie has adhered to her unique enterprise technique. Her strategy has been to supply a diverse collection of girls’s attire and equipment that meet the wants and needs of numerous clients—a mixture of locals, part-timers, and vacationers—for informal on a regular basis put on, work apparel, and clothes for particular events.
She has made a degree of carrying gadgets in differing value ranges, with an emphasis on high quality and worth.
“We characteristic garments that final and don’t exit of favor,” she stated. “We’re not a reduction retailer, however we provide clothes that’s fairly priced and inexpensive. We additionally supply some costlier high-end merchandise.” She additionally has emphasised personalised customer support. This has led to long-term relationships with clients.
“Working a enterprise in Nice Barrington is great since you’re a witness to and participant in all facets of life,” she stated. “We’ve served households for a number of generations. We’ve dressed clients for his or her on a regular basis actions, in addition to essential events all through their lives.”
That sense of continuity and connection additionally applies to her workers and the product representatives she has labored with.
She began Byzantium as a one-person operation. “It was initially simply me and the stock,” she stated. “Finally, I used to be in a position to rent part-time assist after which a full-time supervisor, and it grew from there.”
She developed a community of full and part-time workers. In the course of the busy seasons she has 5 full- and part-time individuals on workers, and at different instances has one fill-time and one half-time particular person. As well as, others work on an as-needed foundation.
She famous that her workers has included individuals who have been with the shop for 15, 20, and even 40 years, and their youngsters and grandchildren have additionally labored there—and all workers members have discovered different employment for after the shop closes
“It’s been like a big household,” she stated. “Certainly one of my targets once I began the shop was to make it an pleasurable place to work. Folks have been inspired to check out concepts.”
The early days in Nice Barrington
When she opened Byzantium, Nice Barrington was extra of an on a regular basis working industrial heart than the stylish upscale id it could subsequently turn into.
“I selected Nice Barrington as a result of it was the place individuals in south Berkshire County went to purchase their requirements,” she stated. “I preferred that. I additionally noticed that different attention-grabbing shops have been opening up, and it might turn into a vacation spot. I needed to be a part of the expansion of the city.”
With that in thoughts, she and Barbara Watkins, proprietor of Evergreen Crafts, began a company initially known as the Railroad St. Affiliation. Different retailers grew to become concerned and it will definitely advanced into an total downtown affiliation.
“We organized advertising campaigns and promotional occasions,” she recalled. “The objective was to encourage individuals to see Nice Barrington as a spot the place they might come and do their purchasing and in addition to remain and do issues like get pleasure from a meal at a restaurant. Progressively that began taking place, and it took off.”
Through the years, she has needed to be adaptable. Along with maintaining with trend tendencies, Byzantium has gone by ups and downs within the economic system and modifications within the aggressive image and purchasing patterns.
“The opening of latest types of competitors just like the Lee Retailers and chain shops impacted the enterprise, and I needed to change my stock and the sorts of gadgets I carried accordingly,” she stated. “We additionally survived the emergence of e-commerce, when individuals would are available in and take images of clothes to see if they might discover them on-line.”
She stated she discovered many classes over time. “One fundamental precept was the significance of at all times having a full stock readily available,” she stated. “I did that whatever the economic system, even when that meant I needed to cut back my dwelling meals funds throughout tough durations.”
One affect of the expansion of retailing in Nice Barrington has been a notion that the city has turn into gentrified and is extra oriented to an upscale market than to the general inhabitants.
Minifie acknowledged that parts of this are true, however she famous that it isn’t a brand new improvement, neither is it a easy state of affairs.
“It’s been taking place for a very long time,” she stated. “The components that trigger that sort of progress are going to occur. However I imagine as a neighborhood, and as people, we will have management over the way it occurs, relying on how we conduct ourselves. I’ve tried to try this in how I’ve dealt with my enterprise. That’s one purpose I’ve at all times stayed inside a average value level. When a few of my manufacturers elevated their wholesale costs yr after yr, I spent the time trying to find comparable items at cheap costs.”
The affect of the COVID pandemic and subsequent modifications within the economic system have been an particularly difficult interval, she famous.
“Like different shops, we needed to shut within the early months of 2020,” she stated. “We reopened that summer season, nevertheless it took time for purchasers to return. By summer season 2021, site visitors was superb, however then there have been issues with provide chains.”
Amongst different results, she stated, this all modified the character of the business, together with the relationships of suppliers with retailers, and the provision of merchandise.
“Suppliers don’t learn about availability anymore, “she stated. “For instance, it was that I might place an order and obtain the merchandise inside every week or so. Now, in sure traces, you must decide to an order six-to-eight months earlier than we will get it into the shop.”
This unpredictability has made it tough in quite a lot of methods. “Previously, I would test-market an merchandise by inserting a small order for it within the spring,” she stated. “Then if the shopper response was good, I might place a bigger order for the busy summer season season. That’s not potential now.”
Minifie stated these points will possible be resolved over time. “I’m an optimist, and I anticipate issues will come again,” she stated.
If this example had arisen prior to now, she would have achieved what was essential to push the enterprise by it. “However I don’t have the drive or power for it now,” she stated.
She emphasised that though she is going to miss the enterprise and relationships along with her workers and clients, she sees it as a optimistic step.
“I don’t have any regrets,” she stated. “It’s been an incredible run. This enterprise has been a present to me, and I’m grateful. I’ve met great individuals, and it has allowed me to do many issues I’d not have been in a position to do in any other case.”
