NORTHAMPTON — A national no-contract wireless service provider and retailer that recently opened on King Street is enhancing a multi-tenant building at the edge of downtown, according to the property’s landlord.
For Norma Farrick, a Northampton native who now lives in Sun City Center, Florida, the arrival of Cricket Wireless at the 90 King St. building that her family has owned for nearly 90 years is a positive harbinger for that section of the commercial district.
“It’s nice to get something new on King Street,” Farrick said.
The presence of Cricket means that four of the five spaces are occupied in the historic building that borders Trumbull Road.
Cricket, a subsidiary of AT&T, opened in May and focuses on providing prepaid plans for customers, said store manager Vlad Zeygerman.
These unlimited talk and text plans range from $30 to $60 per month. There are also family plans, in which the savings grow as more lines are added, Zeygerman said.
Service includes making sure customers can maintain the number they have used.
“You can keep your phone number, that’s definitely not a problem,” Zeygerman said.
The store also sells phones and all associated accessories.
Adam Berman, regional manager for Cricket, said AT&T bought the company in 2014 and moved to the Northeast to provide another carrier option for people.
Other than GameStop, located in Hadley, no other places in Hampshire County had been offering Cricket, Berman said.
So far, Berman said the location seems to be good for the business, due to vehicles passing by the store as well as pedestrians making the short walk from Main Street.
Farrick said that the Cricket location’s owner, Evan Morowitz, who independently owns three locations through Mountain Mobile Inc., refurbished the interior, with the walls brightened with fresh paint.
She anticipates that the store will bring long-term stability to a spot that has gone through a number of tenants over the years, including Third Wave Feminist Bookseller, Lavender Rose Floral Shop and Feeding Tube Records.
The 8,000- square- foot building includes a Subway sandwich shop that has been in its space for 40 years, and Pam’s Kickin’ Kuts, a decade-old business that is in a location that has long been a beauty shop, both of which, like Cricket, face King Street. The Blush Center for Healing LLC, a site for spirituality events and psychic readings, has its entrance off Trumbull.
The only vacancy is 1,000 square feet where Northampton Running Co. shop was located for 11 years before moving to Pleasant Street in spring 2016.
The building was originally purchased in 1929 by Farrick’s grandfather, Edward Drondoski, who ran the Manhan Potato Chip Company. Manhan manufactured chips first in Easthampton and then at the city site in the mid 1930s.
Later, Drondoski co-founded the Norma Lee Candy Company — named after Farrick — which opened in the late 1930s in Easthampton. Norma Lee Candy moved to the retail spot on King Street in 1955, closing 24 years later.
Norma Farrick and her husband, Robert, ran the shop for more than 20 years, making all chocolate, caramel and nougat candies on site, always using Nestle products. The store’s proximity to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church made it a popular place for getting candy around Easter.
“I used to make 1,000 Easter baskets each year,” Farrick said.
In the early years, before the construction of Interstate 91, the shop drew tourists on their way to Vermont, as well as hunters returning from trips looking to pick up treats for their spouses.
The Farricks moved the store to Bennington, Vermont, in 1979.
Farrick said Cricket’s arrival gives her confidence for the future of the retail space.
“We’re hoping with Subway established for 40 years and Cricket coming, good things are happening,” Farrick said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
