NORTHAMPTON — Bird’s, the prominent century-and-a-half-old corner store in Florence, has officially reopened after taking a short flight across Maple Street to its new location, hatching a new beginning while vowing to maintain its commitment to the Florence community.
“It’s a new beginning, but it’s still the same old roots,” Bird’s owner Gaurang Patel said inside the store’s new location at 81 Maple St. on Tuesday.
“Even this counter is the same counter that was there,” Patel said, pointing to the store’s previous corner store location at 94 Maple St., where Bird’s opened more than 150 years ago.
Bird’s moved into its new location next to the Florence Fire Station — inside a building he owns — after a swift weekend move, welcoming many of the regular customers who have been patrons of the store for decades. On Tuesday, Patel and company helped put Bird’s original sign onto the new storefront, marking the new beginning.
Bird’s will continue to sell the same items that could’ve been found at the old location, with everything from everyday groceries to smoke shop and convenience store products, board games and greeting cards. The store will continue to operate under the same hours.
On opening day Tuesday, regulars were making small talk and cracking jokes with Patel and his father, Hasmukh Patel, while continuing to make their usual purchases, like Florence resident Tom Waldron.
“It’s sad (because) that’s the original,” Waldron said about the move while buying a scratcher lottery ticket. “But this is so nice and the people are so nice that own it, so you just follow through.”
Waldron said he has been a customer of Bird’s since the Patels became owners 28 years ago, and he doesn’t see any customers, like him, stopping their routine visits.
Gaurang Patel said Bird’s had to move because the store could not stay in “the environment” at the previous location in the Parsons Block building. He said that it became increasingly difficult for the store to survive due to increased expenses, low temperatures inside the space and parking that will soon be limited by new condominiums that are in the works behind the complex.
“The expense was going up too, too quick. Unknown expenses would be going up, there was no limit to that,” Patel said. “I want to set it (Bird’s) up where this environment … I can set it up in a way that is sustainable for next person to run this. It’s just common sense.”
Patel recently finished construction of the building at 81 Maple St., which is located next to another property he developed more than a decade ago at 100 Maple St. The two buildings are separated by a parking lot. Between the two buildings, Patel said there are four commercial spaces — including Bird’s — and 10 residential units.
Patel explained that while Bird’s is a store, it is also a gathering place for people in the community to socialize. He said many customers will come to sit down and play Keno. “But if it’s 55 degrees in there all day long,” it makes it more uncomfortable, referring to the temperature in the store’s former location.
One of those customers is resident Sue Stone, 66, who has been coming to Bird’s her entire life. Stone said she is thrilled that Bird’s is staying in the center of town next to the hardware store and other shops, which are “the things that have made Florence wonderful all my life.”
“There’s a whole cadre of us who come here because of these people (the Patels) and the nice little neighborliness,” Stone said. “You know we’ll sit there every once and a while and have a Keno game together or something like that.”
Stone said the Patels are a “wonderful family” and have helped keep Bird’s alive while contributing several single-room occupant apartments in the building. She said those units at 81 Maple St. are important for people who don’t have cars, older residents and people in subsidized housing, providing walkability to the center of Florence.
“They (the Patels) really provide a big service for them … I want to support a business that helps keep Florence the way it is,” Stone said.
Jim Mias, who is retired but still works part time at Bird’s, said he moved into a place on Main Street in Florence more than 50 years ago to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Bird’s was one of the first stores he went into.
He said he didn’t think he would be staying in Florence after school, but he soon met his wife, started his life in town and Bird’s just became a part of “the circle of my life.”
